1. Tell us something about yourself and how did you get into jewellery design?

My journey into the design universe is a fairly serendipitous one. After my MBA, I was pursuing my corporate career with CNBC TV18 in Mumbai. A vacation in Italy introduced me to the world of Glass Art and that’s what set the ball in motion. I started scanning the internet everything I could find about it. Articles, youtube videos,blogs, any information on places I could learn the art form, but unfortunately there are no official courses that one could undertake. Fortunately I got an opportunity to apprentice under renowned glass artist Atul Bakshi and it was in his studio, working with the glass craftsman, that I learnt the nuances of glass art. Glass fusion, which is the technique I use, popularity known as Murano (A tiny island off the coast of Venice) is the technique that I found my calling in and Jewelry became my canvas for expressing this art form. That’s a nutshell the story of how I became a jewelry designer, though I still feel I’m more of a glass artist.

                       

2. What is your inspiration?

There is no end to the things that inspire me. But if I had to say one, I would say my favorite source of inspiration is art… And by that I don’t mean a painting, it could be anything created by an individual(s) as an expression of self in any format… that’s what gets me hooked. It could be a painting, an installation, prose, a youtube video, a photographer’s instagram page, an illustrator’s art work.

If it’s something that I look at and go wow! I don’t think I have seen anything like this before bam! That gets me thinking. The whole idea of “What led to this person thinking of creating this work for me to be able to see and admire “is how I would describe my collective sources of inspiration. Which is also what I strive for my work to be. The best feeling for me is when I meet clients who see my work and say they haven’t seen something like this before. That’s a home run.

3. State 3 factors which are unique to your designs

    So three unique things about us are

       • We are the only brand that combines the European glass art technique of glass fusion with Indian karigari in the country and possibly in the world

       • No two pieces of glass that emerge from the kiln are every identical. This is  most evident in the coloured collection. Thereby making each piece of                               jewellery unique and one of a kind.

   

4. What are the upcoming trends in the jewellery sector and how does handcrafted jewellery fit into current trends?

Its actually the best time for handcrafted products. We are at the help of a cultural revival of our arts, something that we are a people have taken for granted for a long time. We saw so much of it growing up that we lost the value of handmade. But fortunately that changing, organization are now working on reviving art forms, contemporizing them so they are relate today and same applies for jewelry as well. Jewellery, formerly an expression of opulence has evolved into an expression of self, of personal style, of an individual aesthetic, therefore a lot more people are buying alternative materials and valuing the artisanal nature of it being handcrafted.

Upcoming trends in jewellery that we will be expecting in the coming season are a lot of statement pieces in alternative materials, Hand and neck accessories are going to be bigger and more prominent in look. Unique accessories like those for the hair or for the body will also see a lot more presence.

5. Can you name one piece which is very special to you? And how/why you created it?

My latest favorite is the Orbit ring, made using iridescent glass which is seen prominently see in our Be-clear collection. It took a lot of trails and errors to develop the glass suitable for the collection and the ring was the first sample designed and it continues to be our best seller till date.