Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold

"The creative process starts with the idea that I'm in divine space, tasked with producing a miracle in the form of fine jewellery. Whatever I'm invested in designing shows my supramental faculties working towards a creation of beauty beyond compare. From that terrible pulpit of arrogance, as the jewel takes shape, I submit to its mastery and the fact that it has a life of its own. The roles are reversed. I am led to the design by the ornament that guides me to its completion in a wholly organic way. True art, its core virtues of beauty and universality intact, comes about in no other manner but this. And it humbles us all." - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold

"While gold jewellery has become mostly mass goods or serial commodities, the antidote to such reckless commodification lies in creating with veracity ornaments that are unique and universal both. The idea is not merely to make fine jewellery but to empower each of them with our past, present and future - entirely handmade" - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold

"In a time when the pace of invention and innovation renders redundant very quickly what was once considered great, everything seems to age very fast. In such a scenario of continued 'creative destruction' and rapid ageing, we are in vital need of enduring beauty and a certain timelessness of spirit. That alone can sustain us and make the very idea of us everlasting. Handcrafted fine gold jewellery of veracious design and manufacture takes us there with confidence, care, and uncompromising elegance." - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"The art that enshrines our past, present, and very hopeful future is the only art I practice in the fine jewellery I create for you. The depth of my considerations and sentiments lead me to the final design which, while being universally entrancing, speaks individually to you and ensures your spirit imbues the jewel for all time." - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"I believe the merger of history and individual expression best manifests itself in bespoke fine gold jewellery. That's why I create each piece as a unique ornament, to be as timeless as you are." - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"Tradition is the basis for redefining the future . . . " - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"To know oneself is vital, and then to reveal one's thoughts, feelings, ideas and beliefs in a way that's beautiful and meaningful to others is the essence of art. With that in mind, I express myself through the jewels I create." - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"Tradition is the basis for redefining the future . . . " - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"Tradition is the basis for redefining the future . . . " - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"Tradition is the basis for redefining the future . . . " - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"It's from history that we draw the greatest lessons even in art, and so we create new and beautiful things not by erasing the past but by sculpting it and including it to suit the future." - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"I believe the merger of history and individual expression best manifests itself in bespoke fine gold jewellery. That's why I create each piece as a unique ornament, to be as timeless as you are." - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"We all stand for the values we believe in. For me, that would be, first, truth and beauty. When age-old handicraft is transformed by the touch of pure gold, its technique of making remaining loyal to its history, and then enshrined in guinea-gold jewels wrought by the very best of artisans from Bengal, both those virtues become intrinsic to the ornament. Such jewels hold in their heart the past, present and future with great veracity and meaningfulness. They can only make you immortal." - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"The idea is to take history and ease it into the timelessness of gold as fine jewellery that is unequivocally beautiful and trend immune.” - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"The pursuit of beauty can't possibly ignore history, tradition, or culture. For me, the art is to evolve all of those into a personal expression in fine jewellery so universally meaningful and pulchritudinous that it will transcend time and speak to the very soul of the wearer, for ever and ever." - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"Conversations with history, debates with tradition, and an intimate tête-à-tête with the self is essential to create art of any kind, and especially that of fine jewellery. To infuse ornaments with meaning, we must engage with the past, but also with our ethnicity. Without this alliance the very idea of precious ornaments, as self-adornment, that reflect upon our self-image is defeated." - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"I've always felt my fine jewellery, just as my clothes, give expression to my true self - the me I know I am and who I want to show to the whole world. There's no place for the ordinary here. Rare and precious as we women are, our jewellery must match our uniqueness and speak through their art of our grace and beauty, and of the great power we hold within us." - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

“A perfect harmony of structure, statement and spirit begets great jewellery. Even the small can be monumental if it has something to say which is meaningful in a manner that's universally appealing.“ - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"The greatest romance in our lives is with ourselves. And fine gold jewellery is the indispensable go-between that relates our pulchritude to our soul. What we hold in our heart and our very spirit is enshrined in the precious jewels we choose to ornament ourselves with. They're a vital expression of the 'we' that we unequivocally love." - Brinda Sirkar

"I have selected only those that contain the emotive heart of the artists in them. Each of them - the paintings and the ornaments - are masterpieces in their own right. Naturally, they're unique. No two Artwear can ever be identical. That's the nature and essential spirit of the Artwear Collection." - Brinda Sirkar

"Baidyanath Murmu was a discovery. His paintings - vivid enamelling on metal plate, framed in polished teak - adorn my home in Shantiniketan. For the Artwear Project he's contributed his characteristically bright and buoyant paintings in miniature and each throbs with the pulsating rhythms of Santhali art and culture. Almost sublimated to abstraction, his work shines with the brilliance of emotive authenticity : the joy of realising the sacred and spiritual not as a monumental quest to be embarked upon separately and with great preparation but in the simple living of everyday Santhali life that includes within it an inseparable and constant commune with nature. Look deep and you'll find symbols of agrestic traditions that are shared with other communities as also creatures of the wild, but there's a lot that's esoteric as well and specific to the Santhal tribes. The magic of those must remain a mystery so that we may not seek explanation for the ethnic but instead feel its exclusivity. The oneness must come from true experience, and perhaps a visit to Birbhum and to a Santhal village there could yield the answers you're looking for. Till then, let the Artwear of Baidyanath Murmu, enshrined fittingly in their meticulously detailed, hand-chased temples, decorate your beauty with all the power and pulchritude of the Santhal spirit distilled into fine art." - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"Jewellery, as a work of art, must be possessed of a certain beauty that's at once unique and universal. And as all art should, it must speak to each in their own way. However, 'universal' doesn't mean 'uniform'. Every jewel needs to have character and personality such that it's differentiated by both in its final presentation. The soul's the same, the heart as well. But they're dressed symbolically or expressionistically or with revolutionary thoughts or with romance, history, folklore or esoteric investigations into varied cultures, so that they appear different in each ornament. That's the organic process of thought that goes into conceiving the jewels. Not every one of them will rouse you to rapture but I can claim them each to mesmerise you as they'll no doubt leave the spectators entranced." - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

The depth and breadth of Indian craft is vast and the importance of keeping them alive through their authentic practice and in their truest tradition cannot be stressed enough. Yet, to keep them relevant and of a vitality that makes them endearing to generations, irrespective of age, it's essential to adapt and make innovative select craft, even if it means breaking from tradition, though without ever compromising an iota of skill, genuineness, and the vernacular culture which informs that selfsame craft. My endeavour with Bidri and Gold is a stellar example of this. - Brinda Sirkar

We met Rudra Dev Sen when he was in his Masters programme in Fine Arts (Painting) at Visva Bharati. He had already developed a distinct idiom of his own which he felt did justice to his interpretation of how he saw his art encompass an infinite future. By exploding vivid colours and through irreverent but energetic brushstrokes, he brings alive traditional stories and mythical creatures without any attempt to represent them in the actual. You still feel the narratives come alive and the creatures too, and that's his special talent.

Not many would take up such an individualistic and highly expressionistic form of art so early in their productive lives. There's safety in being rote. Not for Rudra Sen, though. He's the kind who'll spin the most imaginative of yarns in his canvases, and his distinctive style and favoured medium will inevitably result in pulling you in so that you stand in thrall of his artworks. In the Artwear programme, his work stands out for its metaphorical, mythic and imaginative power as much as it does for its confident articulation of colours." - Brinda Sirkar

"Goutam works best in the mythical genre and uses memory as a potent brush with which he brings alive in his own way the 'chaalchitra' and 'prabhamandali' form seen best in Durga 'mandaps' across not just West Bengal but the world. It's not mere tradition though that imbues his paintings, the imaginative finds greater space, as do the seasons of Birbhum which are celebrated in mesmerising detail in these miniature works. The sensitivity of his approach - always keeping in mind the aesthetic of art within art - makes the aureate jewel that frames his paintings 'Just as unique as the painting is.'

"In the Artwear programme, thus, his work commands as much attention for the demanding shapes he's chosen to work with and the technique he deploys to make them aesthetically virtuous as for the unusual colours and details of his paintings which make the ornaments framing them unequivocally remarkable." - Brinda Sirkar

Fine gold Bidri enshrined in pure guinea gold.
A transformation through self-expression that preserves history
and creates a beauteous new future of gold.

"There's no formula to design. Everything's organic and depends on the feelings that accompany the process of creation. Also, there are considerations at play : we have to work within the limitations of weight and volume, both of which have to be kept rational if the jewel has to be wearable and in proper proportion to the human body. It's the body that acts as a canvas for the jewel. Without the function of adornment of the body, the ornament has no credible claim to artistic merit. Also the craft itself, finely nuanced as it is, must be noticed for its exquisiteness and the virtuosity of the human hands that create them.

"In the case of Bidri and Gold, this becomes doubly vital as there are two rare crafts being exhibited within one jewel: the 24k gold-inlaid metal-work of Bidar, and the unparalleled fine gold jewel-craft of Bengal. Hopefully, I have been able to bring about an integration that makes them inseparable and raises the final jewel to a shining example of the greatness of India's art and craft heritage." - Brinda Sirkar