I went to a U2 concert with him —
at fifty-seven, would you believe?
I cut my hair to a wavy bob, and wrought
bonsai magic with my bare hands
And loved myself more because in<...

I went to a U2 concert with him —
at fifty-seven, would you believe?
I cut my hair to a wavy bob, and wrought
bonsai magic with my bare hands
And loved myself more because in
all these years I wasn’t me till we met
and decided on a life together where
I’d be I and he’d be he and we’d both
emerge the better for it.

Did I ever calculate the odds of
a second chance at life? — No, likely not.
But it’s not as if I didn’t think of it.
Yet with six decades or more of which
so much was spent as who I was not
I now feel young and brave of spirit
as if life and love were nascent again,
brimming with possibilities, all within reach.

Gold hadn’t touched me for years (where was
the happiness needed for that?). I decided
I’d commemorate this resurrection of me
with an ornament that showed
the simple as perpetual —
A chain that wraps itself snugly all around
my neck like an eternity ring,
and a pendant that’s a clock in disguise
with twelve everlasting diyas, always alight,
to illumine the path of my freedom
and the freedom of my thoughts and desires
from a crepuscular past.
A scallop frames time as if to decorate it
and mango finials in pairs bracket the clock
with a sweet fecundity of action and imagination
that fills every moment of each day I wake up to.
A solitary ball, polished like crystal, tells my future
while a lone rudraksha in the centre of my world
seats Varada on His throne and Lakshmi on Hers
as we unite to become a single force of beauty bright and fulfilling.

At the U2 concert, I disagreed with :
“I still haven’t found what I’m looking for . . .”
I had. I’d found me! And so had Vincent.
And we both loved what we’d found —
We always will.
I know we always will.

This is an adaptation. Nothing more need be said.
You know the Latifa-Hydrangea Hansuli from May, last year, only too well for us to have to reiterate the legend of the jewel's making. That orna...

This is an adaptation. Nothing more need be said.
You know the Latifa-Hydrangea Hansuli from May, last year, only too well for us to have to reiterate the legend of the jewel's making. That ornament's been re-done in exactitude as a choker, the only differences in detailing being the removal of the triangulated wire-ball edging and the substitution of the polished ball-jhur fringe with one that incorporates split-ball jhumurs of the kind that make a light jingling sound.

Naturally, the goyna having transformed from a torque to a band, the tapering of the former to its makar-mukh ends was not required and it is, as a result, shorter by measurement but not in the least in terms of coverage which, in fact, is generous as far as chokers go.

Being a bespoke jewel, a fitting is always advised. Besides, as is the case with adaptations of any kind, what you leave out is critical to the success of the same story in a new form that could prove more popular and of wider acceptance. It should have all the virtues of the original but must speak that same narrative in its own unique voice.

For those who'd still like to know of its design provenance and method of manufacture, we've included below the relevant excerpt from the Latifa-Hydrangea Hansuli's legend :
"The name of the jewel comes from the central arrangement of little flowers that draws directly from the rare Latifa buti (named after the master weaver who designed it, Latif Mian) of the traditional Benarasi weave. The golden hydrangeas are fantastical, of course, because they’re never ever creepers, scrolling or otherwise. Here, in this magic garden, they’ve become sturdy vines of the kind you’d find on the baroque Beldaar borders on Benarasi sarees. While those are Persian-influenced Mughal patterns of continuously scrolling vines, ours gives it a heady east-west twist with the hydrangeas.

In honour of Latif Mian, whose glorious buti design graces the central panel of the jewel, and the rest of the virtuoso naksha infill provided by the Beldaar hydrangea patterning, we present to you the Latifa-Hydrangea Hansuli. Made with bare hands working with iron tools a century old, the ornament, here, is finished in vermilion that, if you want, you can change to a natural rich-yellow-, blackish antique-, or gero-polish."

Funny, how memories find their way into fine jewellery, and sweet objects that once occupied pride of place in the home, and which have since disappeared, somehow return in a more intricately interpre...

Funny, how memories find their way into fine jewellery, and sweet objects that once occupied pride of place in the home, and which have since disappeared, somehow return in a more intricately interpreted form as guinea-gold ornaments. That has oftentimes been the case with us, and you’ll have seen it before in our Nabaratna Stick Mantasha of 31st August, 2016 that was inspired by an old Pick-up-the-Sticks game.

This panel pendant, in all its pierced-naksha glory, traces its origin back to Cambridge, England, where on Mill Road there used to be a quaint toy shop called Touchwood managed by a kindly German lady. As the name suggests, they sold mostly wooden toys, all hand-made or -assembled, and had the most magical window display (there were two bay windows, actually) ever among toyshops.

A marble run, exquisitely put together like a birdhouse, saw little robins (or at least that’s what we thought they looked like) fitted into a standing rectangular structure decorated with flowers and medallions. The birds were placed cleverly in a way such that when a marble was placed in the beak of the top one, it would tilt down and drop the glass ball into the beak of the next bird, which would then send it to the next one, and like this the marble would travel from beak to beak of all four robins and would finally drop to the stand at the bottom with a soft thud. It looked simple, and was too. But the delight it gave us all – the elders, young ones, and babies – was infinite and unencumbered by strategy or competition. This was a game of great and equitable pleasure and was more than perficient in its motive of keeping toddlers engaged in a creative pastime.

The fringe benefit was that parents and seniors were just as motivated to spend time with the birds (and thus each other) that seemed to have all the patience and energy in the world to entertain an eccentric family. They were never going to abandon their home, unlike the very children for whom such games are meant : they, born into this artificial-reality century, who feel that to ‘make it big’ on this planet they must, must fly the coop.

Memories of the bird-and-marble game remain as clear as if it were yesterday that we’d ventured into Touchwood after chancing upon the shop on a not-so-short visit to Cambridge for a friend’s convocation. Memories of us and the children playing with it over and over again any time of the day, for days on end, stay even stronger in the mind and the heart.
Why suddenly it led to a jewel will never be known. Such organic aspects of the faculties we use to create things of beauty must never be subject to examination – they wouldn’t ever stand up to the scrutiny of science that seeks to know our inner workings. The mind, yes, can be sorted out. But it’s for us and us only to sort out the matters of our heart.

And here’s one that comes straight from the heart, and assumes the form of an enchanted aam-amla tree upon which the birds, their beaks open like in the game, are poised to pass on the pearls (instead of marbles) as fruits. The mangoes come in different sizes and are variously floriated, bevelled and frosted, with the larger ones on top showing prominent chhela veinage. The leaves are dramatically pinnate in their venation too and the amla-pearls are all set in individual collects. The anfractuous stems flourished naturally (just as those in such a plant would), as did the single ‘chamor’ blossom that you see at the apex of the panel.

A simple beading frames the tree, and the ball border ends in decorative brackets at the lower ends. The triangular chhela-wire edging is a favourite and anchors itself to a polished pipe from which hangs a merry line of pearl and gold-ball clusters, and the shining-sun medallion with its large pear-pearl drop helps in balancing the pendant which is, despite its delicacy, quite formidable. The pradip crown, which holds within it a sapling of the aam-amla tree, sits on a base of two simple kalkas. This crown, essential to the rustic regality of the jewel, also hides behind it the loop, which, here, harbours loose scarlet threads bunched together as a dramatically contrasted tie-back tassel.

But all this is information, that too provided without any concern for concision. Yet, it’s not enough, for human communication cannot ever be pared down to mere information. And no jewel, however cherce it may be, can escape the fact that it must ‘speak’ to its wearer first or else risk being reduced to a commodity. There’s no ‘message’ the ornament harbours within it but it does store your feelings, considerations and sentiments with great pride. Over time, the jewel is imbued with meaning and it becomes an indispensable repository of your thoughts and reminiscences and your independent views of the future. Your autonomy is secure in the goyna, and you relate to it as you would to your closest friend and confidante. It witnesses all your special moments and you trust its presence on you to bring you great and enduring happiness and peace.

Touchwood ! — is such a jewel. The shop it’s named after downed its shutters a long time ago but toys like the puzzle-blocks and memory tiles remain still in their storage boxes at home, neatly and with care kept for the next generation. The delightful birdhouse marble-run didn’t make it but the lucid memory of it has willed this recherché pendant into existence.

Virtuoso handcrafting in vermilion-tinged guinea-gold sees a child’s game from many, many years ago come alive as an elegant but monumental pendant that serves to be not just a rare jewel but also a tangible metaphor for the relationship between us and our offspring, between wearer and maker, and between hopes/dreams and reality.

We are — all of us — in this jewel, immortalised in gold. Search your heart to find yourself in it. Touchwood! — you will.

Drawn from our Bengali version of the Addigai, of 2013 vintage, this belt necklace acknowledges the joyous aspect of Indian handwoven textiles just as it rings in the monsoon with its fringe of merry ...

Drawn from our Bengali version of the Addigai, of 2013 vintage, this belt necklace acknowledges the joyous aspect of Indian handwoven textiles just as it rings in the monsoon with its fringe of merry kadamphul.
The chevron pattern is formed by individual zigzag katai pieces strung together using rich maroon thread. Below that, witness a march of mangoes held between gote chains. Elaborate floral butis are placed prominently on two sides of the pati and the central pankha is an unmistakeable ‘nefet’, the traditional Egyptian fan so ubiquitous during the Akhet season there that spanned from summer to fall in ancient times.
The patterns are all common to the handloom Benarasi sarees with the exception of the fan which, of course, is an eccentricity, but a rather delightful one, even if we say so ourselves. The serotinal flooding of the Nile was celebrated, you see, and makes bright the very thought of a griseous waterlogged Calcutta.

Handcrafted with ingenuity and skill in a combination of chhela-pat, katai and ball-work, the necklace isn’t a commemorative jewel nor is it a homage to Indian handloom. It just came about unconsciously in a way where traditional Benarasi patterns and motifs were incorporated into the goyna and the final jewel, comprising these disparate characteristics (the ‘nefet’ was the only deliberate inclusion, though Egyptian fans and Benarasi brocade can hardly find common ground ; somehow, here, it does) turned out a copacetic combination in pure guinea-gold.

In original jewellery design, good things happen when you let the organic nature of ornaments take over from disciplined thought. There’s no doubt each jewel has a life of its own and seeks to mould itself in terms it feels are most suitable to its enduring beauty. Later, when they find a loving custodian and companion, they assume the spirit of the wearer and become catalytic in bringing out their inner beauty.
Such an ornament is the festive and mildly fabulous Tantuparva.

It's been eight auriferous years from when we first brought alive in gold the nocturnal garden of love that Mayurpur is and proposed it as a monsoon venue for you to be lost in romance in.
Who am...

It's been eight auriferous years from when we first brought alive in gold the nocturnal garden of love that Mayurpur is and proposed it as a monsoon venue for you to be lost in romance in.
Who amongst us isn't an 'abhisarika'? Do we not, in our heart of hearts, each of us, seek to be loved with a passion that makes the kurchi flowers blossom, the peacocks dance, and Kamadeva himself descend upon Earth to unfold and hold aloft his banner declaring us champions of the love romantic? Are we not they the strength and veracity of whose 'prem' lights fires in the sunless bosom of the woods and gently douses those flames of passion with the scented sublimity of our after-love?

Two crescentic banners with their makar bearers, and a falcate bannerette beneath them — the pierced-naksha narrative of each quite the same as that of their forebear — are arranged in a three-step graduated form. All are fringed with seed pearls and beneath the lowest crescent is a ball-polished warning bell with its marvellous pearl-drop clapper. An earthy polish imparted to the jewel recalls the wet earth of the rainy season and its petrichor is clearly discernible.
Provided with a tassel to wear it as a necklace, it allows for chains to be fitted as well so you could convert it into a Sita-har. If required, even the tiers can be made detachable for you to wear in configurations that suit the scope of the occasion. Otherwise, you can wear it without reason. Like we love without reason.

Mayurpur, the Sita-har, is now given you in meticulously handcrafted guinea-gold as your secret garden of love in the form of a three-part necklace that triples the breadth of your passion. It debuts, as did the original, in a time of thunder and rain, and brings with it a certain charm that urges towards profound love the Vasantsena in you.

We're Indian women. It is only we who know and practice the divine art of raising the erotic to the spiritual.

The pair of perched peacocks; raindrops caught on slender vines that by morn turn into festoons of dew; a kinder sun, its polished rays softened by jade and pearl beads like droplets of brishti collec...

The pair of perched peacocks; raindrops caught on slender vines that by morn turn into festoons of dew; a kinder sun, its polished rays softened by jade and pearl beads like droplets of brishti collected and clustered together, reflecting the griseous sky and revived verdure ; and a solitary madhumalati bloom, unfurled, taking centre-stage and delivering her sweet fragrance from a throne of leaves while a wreath of fresh kadamba flowers engarlands her and holds her aloft —— all of these complete this endearing symbol of a benevolent yet plenipotent rain goddess.

A light but intense guinea-gold necklace (with a divine insignia as a centrepiece) that celebrates the Indian monsoon, this is just the sort of jewel that can be worn with great success by anyone, be they ingenues, airlings or glamazons.
Crafted by hand with supreme care and designed with an imaginative zeal that makes ethereal what is essentially ephemeral, Meghanandini speaks of the rejuvenating and forgiving aspects of our femininity and, like fresh rain, the power we are invested with to renew and raise our world to a beauty beyond compare.

This festoon necklace has a distinctly western sensibility to it but is made quite in the Indian tradition of ‘nabaratna’ goyna. All nine gems are fitted in the tiny collets forming the flowers and ga...

This festoon necklace has a distinctly western sensibility to it but is made quite in the Indian tradition of ‘nabaratna’ goyna. All nine gems are fitted in the tiny collets forming the flowers and garlands below them and the drops — the turned square attachments to the pipes between the flowers and those affixed to the bunting, as well as the trifoliate ones that form colourful margents to the festoon — are all pavé set. There is an exception in that the ruby and nila trefoil pieces have a mukto-firoza quaternion as an extension. Each drop has, alternately, pearls and faux turquoise beads that complete them and, in fact, make the necklace something out of a bohemian fantasy.

Note how the flowers interspersing the naboratna ones, quaternions and beads are all in mukto-firoza. They set a strict code of colour to make the patterning visible, and this is a masterstroke because if all of the jewel were done in naboratna, nothing would be discernible.
The festoon and every other flower are polychrome gem-studded, and the matching earrings are also multi-coloured.

How this necklace’s form and detailing came about is lost to time. It’s a two-decade old design the provenance of which is left unrecorded. We weren’t super-diligent about organised storage then and many a sketch or drawing has been misplaced or simply gone missing. Still, it’s fair to declare the ornament a classic, though one that’s not advised for the faint-hearted who can’t imagine experimenting with traditional joroa. There's no call for reticence, here.

Crafted and set by hand with equal parts ingenuity and dexterity, the Digantaratna Jhalor necklace can be made in 22K or 18K gold depending on what stones you choose, and naboratna is only one of the gemstone combination options because there is no hard and fast rule for settings, here. We'll do the colours and stones you prefer.

The Merlion, a mythical creature with a lion’s head and a fish’s body, is a popular (and probably official) mascot of Singapore. But it isn’t any hoary traditional symbol at all and was developed by t...

The Merlion, a mythical creature with a lion’s head and a fish’s body, is a popular (and probably official) mascot of Singapore. But it isn’t any hoary traditional symbol at all and was developed by the Singapore Tourism Promotion Board as a mnemonic device that spoke of Singapore’s importance as a port to the world's maritime trade and also addressed the country as the ‘lion city’ of its original name.

From a 1984 tour of the south-east, the imposing merlion statue located at a point on the riverfront remains an abiding memory.

Less about identity and more to do with history and atmosphere is this choker strung with seven strands of freshwater pearls. It's a simple reiteration of the city-state as a crown colony —— that’s why the new guinea with a rather solemn Victoria on it —— and then an independent nation whose vernacular name, Singapura (the city of Lions), is epitomised by the two regal beasts that support and guard the banner in the middle.

In a concentric, ribbed frame sits the erstwhile regent while all around her wave-like swirls — referencing the choppy seas, where once only local fishing boats plied — together with ribbed and plain foliage, justifying another of Singapore’s sobriquets : that of being a ‘City in a Garden’, in pierced naksha, make up the frieze. A ball-karai edging goes round all four sides and the lions pose in a stately manner on their pearl ‘ashons’.
The terminal bars, like pillars, to which the pearl strings are tethered, are fluted and ball-topped but they could be a bit too long and may be reduced by one-eighth of an inch on each side.

Singapura comes alive in a lovingly handcrafted 22K gold choker that’s at once compact, charming and magnificent without having to shout it aloud. In the true spirit of the city-state (that’s also one of the greatest ports in the world) and in keeping with its incomparable civic discipline, the jewel is eye-catching and yet steeped in rich reserve.

Created for someone who could well be termed the First Lady of the Arts in Singapore, the whole choker resonates with her beauty and regality.
It’s not so much the form and motifs, though, on the jewel but its character that bestows upon it a power not known to goyna of such measured avoirdupois and volume. Very Singapura, don’t you think.

It isn’t news that we, from time to time, access the M.B.S catalogue (the official jewellery catalogue of our forbears M.B.Sirkar, from about eighty years ago) and recreate designs from there, either ...

It isn’t news that we, from time to time, access the M.B.S catalogue (the official jewellery catalogue of our forbears M.B.Sirkar, from about eighty years ago) and recreate designs from there, either in exactitude, if that’s your desire, or with our trademark innovation as part of the character of the jewel which otherwise remains the same as in the book.

It’s not wise to tamper with heritage, more so when it’s of the kind that’s ageless. Whatever change may be effected thus has to in no way compromise the integrity of the jewel, the alterations subtle enough to not make them seem foreign.

A 'TAYARA' TURNS COLLAR

This jewel, from page 4 of the M.B.S.catalogue, is termed a 'Tayara', the Bengali equivalent of the tiara, and was meant to be worn as a prominent head ornament. The curvature was made more narrow to suit the neck and the independent sprigs, richly floriated, were drawn into a single vine that curled in the middle to surround an elaborate rosette and then organically meandered up the two sides to form the collar.

A COMBINATION OF STYLES

Now, the whole ornament is of the joroa flat-work style which means the anfractuous vine’s mildly undulated and its various flowers and buds realised almost on the same plane. The central rosette differs : it’s a double bloom that’s revealed using the turquoise collet in the middle to ‘pin’ the pearl flower into the turquoise flower, thereby raising the bi-coloured blossom above the rest of the vine in a manner that attracts the eye and makes the frieze come alive.

A CALIBRATED SETTING

The entire jewel is pavé set, with pearls defining the foliate parts and both pearls and turquoise carefully calibrated to distinguish the flowers. The sinewy stems of the vine are left polished yellow gold because, colour-wise, it’s the perfect contrast to the mukto’r pata and firoza’r phul — here the jewel exceed its limits of mere design and technique to become truly magical — and ably complements their rich and cheerful opacity.

THE MAGIC OF AUTHENTICITY

Look carefully. The collar isn’t symmetrical, even though it might appear to be so at first sight. It’s as if the plant has been left to its own design. And, in a way, it has. There is a distinctly organic aspect to it and there are at least three different kinds of flowers showing on the same vine. You’ll know that even more when you note the leaves, new and old, to be all the same –– except in the swirling centre where it seems the creeper has discreetly coiled itself into a plant of varying character that’s birthed the wondrous central bloom.

Everything’s left imperfect (zoom in to see closely the infringement of what constitutes a 'balanced' ornament) and unrestrained and gives rise to a core that’s proudly playful. Pulchritude, it seems, can also come from the lighthearted.

Lacking any pretence to any high symbolism whatsoever, the jewel has no layered message within it. In fact, there’s nothing hidden at all. It’s all right there for you to see in sweet guinea-gold worked upon with dexterous hands to carve out for you this magical vine of many flowers with a prima donna of a blossom at its heart –– all unnamed.

It's merely joyous, this jewel. And it’s so because it isn’t calculated in its beauty.

A CODA OF FREE-WILLED LOVELINESS

All things in life cannot be evaluated, calculated or even fine-tuned. Or even if they can, they shouldn’t be. What’s the point in assigning ourselves a life we know all about when if that selfsame life is left unknown, uncharted, it helps us glide from youth to senescence with a beauty that’s so much more glorious than what we could ever imagine.

The Labanya Latika collar, in all its free-willed loveliness, personifies this very precept of spontaneity in the way we might live our lives — adventitiously, intuitively, impulsively even, but always with great beauty.

There’s a case for deriving jewels from jewels. And we’re truly delighted to make it possible for you to have your favourite ornaments from us, even if it involves a significant resizing and modificat...

There’s a case for deriving jewels from jewels. And we’re truly delighted to make it possible for you to have your favourite ornaments from us, even if it involves a significant resizing and modification of the original design, or breaking into bits or separating its several elements to reassemble them as a new goyna.

Last October, we gave you the Aad-Bastar necklace with matched earrings. Drawing from its character, and borrowing a few of its design elements, we bring you this light and lovely threaded jewel that’s not a classic Aad and has no reason to reference Bastar iron-work. Yet the bosses, forming a graded trio, each with their ball surround and chhela wire flower, are taken directly from the earlier necklace, the barfi drops (down to their single-karai finial) and the four-leaf clover on the connecting rings from the earring.

Look to the flanks and you’ll witness a pipe rondelle, a teota piece and two fluted bicone beads strung together to extend and complete the necklace. The pipe rondelle is almost similar (the ball chokhas have come together here whereas in the original they are seen at the edges of the pipe), the teota piece identical. Only the bicone beads are new.

Strung in smaragdine cotton and with a single emerald set in the middle of the central topa, this necklace was commissioned by a client who wanted a lighter set of the same idiom as the Aad-Bastar : something more casual and suitable for day-wear, and that she felt was more her kind of goyna.

That’s what bespoke is –– all about you, your life story, but includes some part of ours as well, and the artisan’s whose brave and blessed hands make real the jewel of your imagination. It stands against every attempt by new world commerce to reduce authentic handicraft to mere product and the act of purchasing fine gold jewellery to vulgar consumption.

Remember always : your bespoke jewellery speaks your character, tells your story, and, in time, makes the wonderful history of you evident to not only those who shall one day be the proud custodians of your goyna but to all who know you and love you and care for what you care. Even the smallest of jewels such as this have the power to draw out your inner beauty. And they forever answer to you.

All your ornaments need not be remarkable or extraordinary in the grand sense. It’s enough for some just to be beautiful in the light of your beauty, virtuous because they garland your virtues — in that their remarkability and their extraordinariness, to you, is secure. The Teota-Topa-Tutan Necklace is one such jewel.

Distinctly Edwardian in its construct, this supremely elegant festoon necklace in 18K yellow gold (you’ll know about the yellow bit later) is not of our design but a faithful replica of a family jewel...

Distinctly Edwardian in its construct, this supremely elegant festoon necklace in 18K yellow gold (you’ll know about the yellow bit later) is not of our design but a faithful replica of a family jewel the provenance of which remains adamantly unknown. Commissioned by a successful food writer/critic from Delhi (he left a spectacular finance management career in Singapore to follow his heart) for his married younger sister who resides for long in the States, the set took more than six months in manufacture during the course of which the flowers were incorrectly wrought, with the central collets soldered in place (when they should have been separately made and fitted), and had to be redone, all of them.

The brief was to realise the necklace in exactitude, including the aspect of age and patination of the original. The earrings, with their pearl drops, in absence of any to go with the actual piece, had to be designed to match.

The Form —— A Floral and Foliate Festoon :

Each leaf and petal is cut out by hand and then mounted on a frame. The tol-parh technique is used to undulate the surfaces of both, making the floral and foliate motifs alluringly palpable. Individual swags framing the large flowers are then linked together (each interspersed with a leafy spray of which there are four, the last two leading to the terminal boutonnières) and hung with dancing drops of leaves and pearls to form one continuous festoon. The collets on the sprays and flowers have been separately made and fitted in, making use of finely threaded posts that are turned into place. This you’ll never notice on your own, unless you turn the ornament to examine its structure closely. And why was this an integral part of the karigari ? —— because it lifts the centre up beyond the base of the petals and makes the jewel-flower that much more authentic. Also, the collets at the end of the swags are empowered to become a part of the form of the necklace, and this is imperative due to the fact that the eye sees the larger single diamonds as a continuous ‘line’ and that’s what gives the ornament continuity : the effect of an unbroken festoon.

The Setting Technique :

Pavé pervades, naturally, though the central diamonds, small and large, are all fitted into ‘glass’ collets with a sloping gypsy-setting to frame the gems and ensure the same idiom of craft prevails throughout the ornament. It’s a small detail, but a vital one in the experience of the final jewel.

The pearls on the dancing drops are like finials and are not set but rest on cups with a wire through their central bore holding them in place.

On the earrings, the larger pear-shaped pearls are capped and tied to the swag using twisted wires and a ring.

The Stones :

In the original necklace, all the diamonds were of the old brilliant cut and likely sourced from the famous Golconda mines. In this set, we have only modern brilliant-cut diamonds combined with farmed natural pearls, the latter all with bores. The diamonds are sifted for size and colour to ensure design integrity and a homogeneity of light dispersion.

Finish :

Quite in the manner the Edwardian jewels, in their time, would’ve been painstakingly put together, this set too has seen its share of disciplined manufacture. But there are reasonable differences. To start with, those — coming out of the Victorian era of mostly dark jewellery (remember, the Queen was in perennial mourning after her beloved husband’s passing and, as a result, made jet ornaments quite the staple of her time) — were deliberately set in platinum with an 18K/14K rose-gold backing to give them a brighter presence. In the case of our antique necklace, from which this one’s been drawn, the combination happens to be white and pink gold.

We did the new jewel entirely in 18K light-yellow gold which was then plated white with an oxidised finish on the surface. That imparted to it the necessary patina and as well the turn-of-the-century feel. Also, it provided for a yellow-gold option if in later years the preference of the wearer were to change towards the traditional Indian. The quality of stones would make the setting in natural gold no less mesmeric, but it wouldn’t have any more that inherent lightness of being.

It took three journeys to the workshop to get the polish-finish right. Still, it’s not perfect. If you magnify the picture, you’ll get to see glimpses of yellow amongst the dulled white, and even the white’s not even in places. Yet, perhaps it’s these very flaws that in some way determine the true character of authentic handmade jewellery and set its wondrously enduring beauty against the soulless consistency and clinquant orchidacity of machine-made or assembly-line ornaments.

Epilogue :

We aren’t greatly known for diamonds. But as an establishment specialising in bespoke we do have the resources to ensure the refinement required of jewellery set with all kinds of precious stones. While our metier leans more towards joroa, as far as setting-goyna is concerned, you’ll find our English- and European-influenced diamond ornaments are equally genteel of character and precise of craft. As for the designs, well, we and you create those together to achieve jewels of unique and universal beauty and timeless spirit.

The Mukto-Pushpa Hirer Mala is a case in point. If not for its delicate nature or the fineness of its manufacture, look to its flaws : if you find them, you’ll discover they raise the ornament from its material and decorative and mere stylistic value to a means of individual expression —— of art and life.

Detachment, in the most basic understanding of the word, can mean separation. And after a period of more than two months of forced silence we’ve felt that meaning more than ever in our heart and mind,...

Detachment, in the most basic understanding of the word, can mean separation. And after a period of more than two months of forced silence we’ve felt that meaning more than ever in our heart and mind, for what are we if not You reflected, distilled, enshrined and immortalised in the jewels that we make with You, for You.

Today, after seventy days of involuntary solitary confinement, we return with a simple oxymoronic jewel : a light Sita-har. Deliberately, it includes a crucial separation of the chains from the centrepiece so that the jewel can be worn in two ways : as a spectacular mother-and-child hand-fan pendant or as a long necklace.

In the latter guise, the simple kamal-ball side-chains — with their triple-sphere coupling (where two of the orbs are half-polished and half-wire, the pair bracketing a gold rudraksha) — that connect to the detachable centrepiece ensure the lightness and reserve of the ornament.

When worn as a pendant, the double hand-fan motif, its form and intricate detailing inspired by the hand painted bamboo hath-pakha made by the Mahali tribe of West Bengal, soars in its pierced-naksha lata-pata infill, sabu-dana surround, and triangular wire-ball scallop with a fringe of split-ball and plain-ball thokas. Ideally, it should be strung on interchangeable bead strands or bright thread tassels in colours such as carmine, turquoise, or black. You will, for certain, look nothing short of spectacular.

But this isn’t a spectacular comeback. If anything, it’s merely one that’s of a quiet beauty such that it’s both meaningful and pulchritudinous. Its virtues are in its simplicity, understated elegance, and a sophistication that speaks of art at once personal and universal. It’s the very spirit and soul of You, handcrafted with undiluted love and immeasurable regard, in pure guinea gold.

We are ever thankful to be among You — the greatness and beauty of You — again.

A Paroma pasha (not the actual one but the inadvertent design, with a prominent rose in it, which came to be known by that name thanks to the beautiful television personality, true-blue aesthete, a...

A Paroma pasha (not the actual one but the inadvertent design, with a prominent rose in it, which came to be known by that name thanks to the beautiful television personality, true-blue aesthete, and founder-designer of Kalakriti, Paroma Banerjee, who first ordered it) is commissioned. Later, a Sita-har is prospected but is asked to be made to go with the pashas — a Sita-har to match a pair of earrings, imagine — and besides the central motif of a rose, that needed to have some likeness to the ear ornament, the rest is left to us.

We devised a detachable side-chains model of necklace that would double up as a poshaki pendant, the three-line kamal-ball lengths available then as two slim and simple armlets. The central section is used with thickly strung coloured beads or pearl strands. Either way, it looks dramatic and powerful, and is a versatile way of putting an otherwise robust jewel to easier tasks of personal decoration, especially because the owner-wearer is the young mother of a gradeschooler and might find the adaptability of the pendant more suited to most occasions she'd be likely to attend.

The design sees pairs of happily tumbling paisleys situated at critical junctures in the necklace. The mangoes are granulated and ball-bordered affairs, each with a seed-pearl detail, that effectively contrast the pierced naksha of the centrepiece and thereby serve to draw attention to it. But notice (and, here, you zoom in) how tiny kalka pairs, on the faceted ‘maku’ surround of the naksha disc, placed at twelve, three, six, and nine o'clock, resonate with the larger Manipuri ones. This helps in integrating the floriated plaque with the rest of the necklace and brings a harmony to the contrast of chain-work, Manipuri detailing, and naksha design.

The single-rose plant is articulated in a swirling form around the solitary flower. There are smaller blooms around the rose in the middle, and all have a pearl tied to their centres. A double-rope border, also part of the single-sheet chased plaque, between which lies a march of barely discernible slim paisleys, helps direct attention to the florals. Below, a pair of kalkas with a ball-fringe each, hold fort. From it descends a three-tier fan-jhumka-jhumka, the first a void with pearls strung along its inner bottom edge, then a perforated naksha half-jhumka, and, finally, polish-pat half-jhumka with its own ball fringe.

This changes the game, and makes the jewel unique, gives it more volume, improves coverage, and, all-in-all, raises the ornament to that of a modern classic.

It’s named after Paromita, whose ornament this is. But we’ve taken the liberty of altering slightly that title so that ‘rosa’, in deference to the history of the goyna’s main motif, sits in the middle of it. And a wise young lady, who’s also a calm and considerate presence, becomes the very source of the ‘golap’, as if nurturing it to immortality and, in the process, becoming immortal herself.

Handcrafted in natural yellow guinea-gold (given a Bangla-polish hue), this svelte and versatile jewel is a contemporary classic that asks the love of its wearer and viewers alike. Give it — only if you feel it deserves your love.

Being the main ornament of a wedding set, this choker was designed first and then the fringe earrings (shown earlier this week) matched to it. The idea of substituting the sophisticated rose of our pr...

Being the main ornament of a wedding set, this choker was designed first and then the fringe earrings (shown earlier this week) matched to it. The idea of substituting the sophisticated rose of our previous ornaments and having two fragrant vines intertwine in a way at once distinct and inseparable came from a timber toolshed in the garden of a lodge in Darjeeling where a vibrant pink rambling rose seemed to grow together with a with slender vine bearing delicate white flowers. They were entangled in such a way that we’d think the blooms to be of the same plant, though how that could be possible was always beyond us. Also, they seemed in an eternal bond —— the showy clusters of double roses and the quiet and spare blooms of the white flower —— as they spread their fragrance (both were gently scented, the roses like roses but milder, and the white blooms with a whiff of vanilla) across the lawn and into the rooms that opened onto it.

Eye-minded as we are, we’ve chosen a triptych form for this choker to give you that loving couple, substituting the unknown white blossom (it looked much like the regular Juin) with the Arabian jasmine. The three panels refer to the three sides of the little shed that the climbing rose and the Mogori Sambac almost entirely wound themselves around. Joined with three straight rings that have been masked with roundels fitted on them, the parts seamlessly come together on the neck and, as a fringe benefit, make the choker — hitherto of fixed curvature — a distinctly flexible ornament.

The pierced chasing is the virtuoso work of a rather erratic naksha-wallah who, from time to time, forgets that there’s something called time we have to abide by. Often he lets the half-done work rest awhile so that he may return to it refreshed. Then, of course, it slips his mind . . . . You know how that story goes.

Still, his hands are blessed. And, with that, he has the eye to bring alive the imagined or, in this instance, the fondly remembered.

There are distinctions between the two plants but hardly of a nature significant enough to separate them. The frondescence is varied, as are the blooms, naturally. The heavy relief of the central rose stands out : a result of annealing and chasing the motif twice, or thrice even if required. The rope border is also chased and frames the frieze well, the entire work embellished further by the ball-karai beading. Unmissable here are the pearl-and-ball clusters that form a fringe along the bottom edge of the choker. It’s a charming way to complement the mukto-set flowers of the three panels.

Whether or not the actual vines remain, we don’t know. It’s been quite some time since we last visited the hills. They must still be there, just as lovingly interwoven into each other’s very being. We’ve immortalised them in this fascinating jewel which, even when it tends towards the spectacular, remains rooted in romance and beauty. There’s nothing sensational about it ; yet it commands attention in its own quietly stylish way. And timelessness is inherent to the very soul of the jewel —— a virtue it shall bestow upon its wearer as well.

Hand-wrought in pure guinea-gold with the fluent imprecision that’s the hallmark of every cherished work of art, the Mogori Rose Choker, with its aureate flowers and foliage, makes monumental the charming but trivial, and in doing so creates an ornament of great enchantment.

Distinctly Rajasthani in its form and detailing, this one-of-a-kind necklace is nonetheless as far away from those chunky 'aad' designs as, say, a hansuli is from a pati har.

To start with, it’...

Distinctly Rajasthani in its form and detailing, this one-of-a-kind necklace is nonetheless as far away from those chunky 'aad' designs as, say, a hansuli is from a pati har.

To start with, it’s not a stiff choker even though the central pipe is rather long, ostensibly to ensure the ‘bib’ in front has ample support. Six rows of eight identical sat-karaiphul-studded flat triangles are connected to each other using simple rings. This makes the ‘bib’ flexible and sets the single ball-drop within each void quivering when you wear the necklace so that the effect is of a certain kineticism you’ll have witnessed in the tribal iron wall-hangings of Bastar.

The ornament is strung with bright red thread and, close to the central pendant, uses a combination of pipe rondelles, teota beads and large firoza-encrusted bosses to embolden its ethnic character. The pipe hanger also has the same boss in the middle, with its ball surround and chhela wire flower, only here the set-gem’s changed to a coral.

The last row of triangles on the ‘bib’ is also gem encrusted — with pola, turquoise, and pearls — and then, as closure, sports a neat line of triple-ball clusters.

Note how the supporting rod of the first row of triangles is chiselled to shine : this and the subtle flowers on the bosses are the only places where you’ll see chhela on this necklace. The rest’s all polished in a hardly discernible vermilion tint.

Discal earrings, co-opting the pola-set bosses as pashas, match the necklace, and the drops each are made up of four triangles coming together to form a barfi below which is a single chhela-karai detail. Again, the chiselling is done sparely and the jewel’s glitter is minimized and restricted to the wire overlays and the interspersing four-leaf clover that covers the connecting ring between the boss and the barfi.

There’s this romantic notion of being ethnic in our habit but not in our habits. “Tribal chic” is what it’s called, probably. Anyway, whatever it is, this necklace set is not that at all : it hasn’t tried hard in any way to be chic and there is a certain tribal feel that comes from the arrangement of elements, the stringing, and the nature of detailing, that’s wholly unforced. In fact, it’s the spontaneity of the ornament that gives it a remarkable character and makes miscible the varying virtues of Rajputi jewel-craft and Bastar iron-work. This bestows upon the ornament a primal power and, in the lightness of its guinea-gold workmanship, assures magnificent coverage and a stunning visual effect. More than that, more than the fact that you’ll appear arresting wearing it, the jewel, in brilliant red and gold, also converses in its simple construct and sharp geometrics with your heart and takes it to a deeper sense of the self — a primeval plunge, so to say — by reducing itself from merely a decorative ornament to an elemental one.

We’re all innately simple of nature. Learning and society, and our practice of balancing both, facet us. Experience imparts polish. Even if life were not transient, we’d find it extraordinarily difficult to return to our core. Let this rustic yet rare necklace — at once a confluence of contrasting Indian peoples and cultures, and their divergent art forms — do that for you.

Drawn as much from Lalu Prasad Shaw's Bibi series of paintings as it is from the endearing Pratima Banerjee song 'O Tiya Toré' — where she pleads her escaped parrot to readily agree to be shackled ag...

Drawn as much from Lalu Prasad Shaw's Bibi series of paintings as it is from the endearing Pratima Banerjee song 'O Tiya Toré' — where she pleads her escaped parrot to readily agree to be shackled again, assuring the bird the care it considers its due and further promising it her mind and heart's love towards it — this lithe Sita-har doesn't need you to be lithe but certainly demands an elegance of carriage to go with its understated and unique style.

The central motif is of the truant bird sitting smugly on its decorative arc of a perch that has a moderate jhilimili ball-jhur fringe placed right beneath the prominent single row of topas/mina-flowers.The perch behaves like a swing and is attached to a Manipuri pasha-pakha coupling from which emerge two simple brushed-gote chains that go all the way up to the triangulated terminal ends, interrupted once in the middle by a pasha sidepiece. The bird is hand-chased and is enamelled red on the beak, neckband, and eye while the body is — what else? but parrot green! The vital detail from the song's narrative and that of the painting which depicts Bibi's life as a homemaker is the cage that here is reinterpreted as an open chain-mail half-jhumka ringed at the bottom by ball-jhur and the top of which is a polished ball-bordered cap that sees synonymity with the workmanship of the side-chain couplings.

The Sita-har is a part of our Convertibles range. It's a reversible model that is enamelled on one side and remains the classic earthy-polished gold on the other. Capturing the belle-époque of early twentieth century Bengal and the spirit of Bibi and her pet bird in a meticulously handcrafted guinea-gold necklace and synchronizing that to the melody and lyrics of a beloved song can be a daunting task, and we can't say we've been unequivocally successful in our efforts — that is for you to judge.

True and fine jewel-craft must prevail at the confluence of art and design : seeing the goyna must be as pleasurable as wearing it, and its narrative — whatever it may start out being — must ultimately become your own.

This elegant rara avis of a jewel, which upon wearing will surely help further reveal your inner beauty, must also answer to you, just as Bibi's parrot would have to her, and in the same way the legendary singer's psittacine friend seeks its freedom from its cage which prompts the song as an impassioned entreaty.

Now, Briar Rose was a brave princess and no amount of pleading by the old man at the barely discernible gate flanked on both sides by seemingly unending thorn hedges could dissuade her from wanting to...

Now, Briar Rose was a brave princess and no amount of pleading by the old man at the barely discernible gate flanked on both sides by seemingly unending thorn hedges could dissuade her from wanting to go in. She’d heard, as had many noble young ladies before her, of the castle that lay within and the handsome prince who, cursed by a witch, stayed in deep slumber somewhere inside the ramparts.

Reluctantly, the gatekeeper — aware of all the girls of regal lineage who had ended their lives braving the bramble, for dark magic caused the thorny bushes to wrap any entrant in deadly embrace — turned the key and let her through.

Briar Rose, intrepid as she was in adventure, was rather new to love. She hadn’t ever seen the prince but in her imagination yet felt a strong affinity towards him, as if she’d known him from childhood. She felt an urgent need to be with him, even though none of this would have happened if her brand new Grimmobile hadn’t blown a tyre nearabout the gate and which she’d gotten down to fix. It was then that a whiff of roses so overwhelmed her that she, like iron to magnet, gravitated towards the place. Once in, the thorny shrubs all advanced towards her as if to gherao her and then prick the very life out of her. One of the accursed barbed branches pierced and tore off a bit of her handsome black-velvet dress. Not too soon, not too late, the hour of completion of hundred years of the curse came to pass, and no sooner did the moment arrive than the rough bramble turned to bright and lush flora, and as Briar Rose proceeded towards the castle they made way for her just as the seas had once parted for Moses.

The wild flowers were irresistible to Briar Rose as her entire life she’d been a free spirit, roaming the outdoors as a common peasant would with no cares or airs of a princess. The King let her have her way, so beloved was she to him, especially after having lost his dear wife no more than a year and two moons from the child’s birth. She’d named her daughter Briar Rose for, unlike other children, the baby princess would tumble in nettles unscathed and pick roses by the stem, nary a thorn ever piercing her skin.

Now she picked lilies of the valley, her favourite climbing roses, a large daisy, bunches of wood anemones and a few musk mallows and fashioned from them a collar made of the strip of black velvet torn from her dress when it caught on the first thorns that greeted her. She laid the vines and leaves and flowers upon the cloth. Instantly, they turned pure gold and were presently encrusted with rubies and corals and turquoise and emeralds. Baroque pearls did the lilies of the valley become and some remained as buds of unknown plants.

Hand-engraved and formed in the tol-parh style, the foliage and flowers, together with the vines and collets, became a pleasant frieze that upon her sweet neck made the already beautiful princess even more lovely, a radiant happiness marking her face as she sought the long-lost prince who the world knew as Sleeping Beauty. She found him in the tower, lying on the floor in serene slumber, and she couldn’t help but kiss him, right there and then. As her lips, with a slight tremor, graced his . . .

I sell stolen moons but only of the falcate kind. To start with, it's difficult to pilfer the full moon from the sky without anyone noticing, and then it's even more difficult to offload them because ...

I sell stolen moons but only of the falcate kind. To start with, it's difficult to pilfer the full moon from the sky without anyone noticing, and then it's even more difficult to offload them because they're so uncontrollably luminous. Also, anything between them, except perhaps the exact half-moon, is not of a shape conducive to easy sale. With the sickle-head ones, it's a simple matter of making them into a decorative festoon and putting them up along the base of the hand-chiselled railing of my first-floor verandah. That way, even from a distance, they're clearly visible in all their reflective glory, with the ball clusters added to their beaded edges making them jollier and more fancy.

In the centre, a larger polished crescent rests beneath an even bigger pierced-naksha one, each with a thick frill of ball-jhur, a kadma-drop on the upper moon and a plain ball-karai on the lower calibrating the voids between their curved ends. There's a kadma-drop below the smaller 'chandra' as well to balance things out. Since both of these contrasting magnified crescents (I learned how to enlarge the moons from my late great-uncle who'd developed a ray gun to shrink things and one to restore them to size, the latter being the one I use most, though he left them both to me, I being his favourite first-cousin twice removed) grace the entrance, they're supremely arresting in both their detailing and their arrangement. Those who'd like to shop for falcate moons will not be able to resist the pull of this festive Chandra Toran — they'll want the moon and get it too, or even a whole bushel of them if they'd like.

Whatever you do with the crescents, and there's no formal enchiridion for this — decorate your mantle with them ; keep them tucked under your pillow for your dreams to be pearly-hued ; make jewels, such as may be a choker, out of them to simply adorn yourself with (we've created a sample earring with graduated moons and a cascade of tiny spheres just to show you how lovely moon-jewellery can be) — remember to take care of them well so that their guinea-gold glow may never diminish and so that as natural heirlooms they may remain for generations infinite in your family and cast their gentle and comforting light upon each one of you who becomes their rightful custodian.

This comes straight from the M.B.S. catalogue where, on Page 39, bottom right, you'll see the original version of this which, because of its obround inset piece, was, and still is, known as the Tentul...

This comes straight from the M.B.S. catalogue where, on Page 39, bottom right, you'll see the original version of this which, because of its obround inset piece, was, and still is, known as the Tentulpata Har. Here, in a more avant-garde turn, the tamarind leaflet is replaced by a pronounced, wavy, leaf-like piece that bridges the biccha links and, as was always the case with such atpourey goyna, the chain is hung with a small half-guinea pendant. A regulation 'S' closes the necklace and the staccato orbs do well to broaden the jewel and reinforce it.

"Namaste beheno aur bhaiyo, mein aapka dost Ameen Sayani bol raha hoon . . . ." is how on Radio Ceylon the half-hour Hindi music programme Binaca Geetmala was introduced by its soon-to-be legendary host. That was in the mid-fifties. The show continued for thirty odd years and then transferred to AIR where it ran till sometime in the 1990s. Those with wooden radio sets made in Art Deco designs during pre-independence days would have heard Radio Ceylon on such devices through the decades right till when FM arrived and they became redundant. In sweaty gold-jewellery workshops, at least in Calcutta, the radio was a mandatory fixture. It was on as long as Vividh Bharati stayed live, no matter what was being aired :

“Shushkotar, rukkhotar oboshaan jodi chaan / Baaro maash angey mekhey niin / Surobhito antiseptic cream Boroline . . ."

— Srabanti Majumdar extolling the virtues of an enduring personal care icon before Boroline-er Sansar ; or cricket commentary by the inimitable Sushil Doshi whose ‘Stadium khacha khach bhara hua hai" set the tone for innumerable Test matches and inevitably transported the listener to the venue, so much so that later, with the advent of TV, the radio would often be mounted on the contraption with the TV's volume turned to minimum and the radio's to high so that the camera reportage could be accompanied by Doshi's electrifying live commentary, so dreary were the Doordarshan announcers felt to be ; or even the thrilling Shanibarer Baarbela radio plays that made of almost all Saturday afternoons an unforgettable trip to a dark and macabre world. There were countless more programmes and all of these through all days of the week would pervade the world of karkhanas where many a timeless jewel (Ah! Ratna Sen hosting Timeless Classics every morning immediately leaps to mind) was created to the sound of the radio. The "Awaaz Ki Duniya", as Ameen-saab so eloquently put it, helped inspire generations of artisans to jewel-craft no less memorable and beauteous than those radio shows, though in altogether different ways.

Often the radio would be a '40s Art Deco model, oval, and in polished wood. There must have been sturdiness written into their engineering because they never malfunctioned, despite the heat and fumes and fine metal dust of the workshops. When this har was first made, likely in the fifties, the swarnakars likened the elongated links and the thick wave of an 'S' resting upon them to the radio set and promptly, in artisan argot, named it 'Radio Har'. It stuck. And that's what it's called to this day.

Available in three finishes : rich gold, vermilion tinted, and in gero (earthy) polish , the Radio Har, a stylised bichha-ball chain that you can have with or without the pendant (any pendant, not just a guinea), is what once used to be 'atpourey' goyna and now stands its ground as a classic poshaki har of noble lineage but with a history of the "Awaaz Ki Duniya" inseparably intertwined with its distinct character.

The Radio Har's making today will be just as elegant and unique, though probably energized by digitally-sharpened podcasts. You won't mind that, now will you?

Seems familiar? That’s because you’ve seen this chasing on another set of jewels : The Shuk-Umlakh from March this year.

That’s the beauty of bespoke : when you love a jewel enough to commit to ...

Seems familiar? That’s because you’ve seen this chasing on another set of jewels : The Shuk-Umlakh from March this year.

That’s the beauty of bespoke : when you love a jewel enough to commit to it for its artistic merit but find that the form doesn’t suit you, leave it to us to suggest an adaptation that’ll sit pretty on your neck and provide you the sublime pleasure of wearable art in pure guinea gold.

Five separate ‘magic tree’ panels have been created and hung using flat rings from the rare round v-chain that’s fortified by the sturdy granulated rondelles placed between the naksha plaques. The plaques themselves — of the same naksha as the Shuk-Umlakh neckpiece — have lost the parrots that used to guard them and are instead given a ball-karai border and a thick cluster of ball-jhur across their bottom edge. The latter detail, in the central pendant, moves along its sides as well and so differentiates it from the rest.

The earrings chosen are of the same naksha and have a granulated topa crown with a ruby in the middle of each. Precious stones — coral, turquoise, pearls and rubies — decorate both as gem flowers of the magic tree and the ball clusters are in identical arrangement to the necklace centrepiece.

The sweet lady for whom we made this wanted a necklace but so fell in love with the Shuk-Umlakh choker that we simply had to adapt it to her choice of form. Allow us to say, the effect is spectacular. Gone are the parrot guards (a major departure, that), the ‘Shuk’ part of the earlier jewel, ably replaced by clusters of orbs. That frees up the enchanted garden in a way for other birds of pleasure and those of your imagination to make it their home. Also, the ornament is now more formidable: a five-panelled princess necklace with more than generous coverage.

All in all, it's a triumph for the wearer/owner, this recherché demi parure, even though it’s clearly an adaptation, but also just as clearly an altogether fresh goyna because of the confidence it has in its newness of form and the way in which all its elements cohere, especially through its exclusion and addition of important details.

Sometimes a sequel can match, or even outdo, the original. The Ratna Briksha (the name’s one that was mentioned while narrating the earlier earring and alludes to the magic tree, framed within each panel, that bears gem flowers) must surely belong in that segment, or at least hope to. Still, it's unfair to compare parent with progeny. It could be that while one's glorious the other's sublime. But that's for you to judge.

Another instance of the kind of matchless jewel that can result from reverse customisation where a smaller ornament or accessory is referenced for a necklace or Sita-har or mukut or some such monument...

Another instance of the kind of matchless jewel that can result from reverse customisation where a smaller ornament or accessory is referenced for a necklace or Sita-har or mukut or some such monumental goyna that ends up becoming an instant classic, this svelte neckband started out as the Ashoka pashas which you see here paired with it. Those earrings, as you well know, are identically matched to the Ashoka pendant of December 2020 vintage. More recently, you’ve seen a ‘variation’ of the Ashoka pendant in the Anganpriya half-set. Once again, a further variation (call it the second variation if you will) is ordered by a lady from the U.K. whose express desire it is to wear her new choker and earrings for her son’s Upanayan. But a neckband modelled on a pasha needs skills akin to making a full-length film out of a two-page short story ; and a consultation with Ang Lee could take too long a time ; so we merrily accepted the challenge and went ahead and created this -the Vishoka choker.

Conceived as a frieze of Ashoka flowers on a vine scrolling away on either side from a central eight-petalled blossom that replicates the floral disc atop the original pendant, the choker is at once svelte and highly distinct, its pierced naksha scrollwork a fine example of what Bengal’s authentic jewel-craft really is, especially when it comes to hand-chasing. The flowering vine is hemmed in on its upper and lower edges by a twined rope (that’s part of the single-sheet naksha) and then framed by a double row of carefully arranged half-spheres equally on top and below in a decidedly North-Indian fashion, giving the jewel a wonderfully macaronic character but one of clear sophistication as well. This choker knows what its doing and the effect its wearing will have on its owner, as well as on the sundry viewers all of whose heads it will nolens-volens make turn.

An occasion of great importance for an Indian Bengali mother who resides in England, and to mark it this jewel that bestows upon her the blessing of enduring joy. Our heartfelt gratitude to her for coming to us for her bespoke jewellery and affording us the opportunity to create for her a goyna that we’re certain shall stand the test of time, holding in every leaf and frond and flower within it the symbolic power to protect her from any harm. It’s not a talismanic goyna, this. But in its allusion to blossoms of the sorrow-less tree (again, Vishoka is another name of the Ashok gachh) it evokes, in pure guinea gold imparted our trademark cramoisy polish, the divine in our heart. The Vishoka isn’t any choker ; it’s a jewel that revels in its provenance in mythology but ensures through its meticulously handcrafted pulchritude that we live that mythology in gold.

In classical music the structure of a piece is built upon a theme that usually has a strong central melody which is later varied and repeated and is called a ‘variation’. After the first variation’...

In classical music the structure of a piece is built upon a theme that usually has a strong central melody which is later varied and repeated and is called a ‘variation’. After the first variation’s played, another takes its place but is different from the first variation and the theme as well in some other way. Such repetitions are at the behest of the composer and she/he may choose to have as many variations as may be required to complete the piece. This ‘theme and variation’ aspect of creation holds true for us as well, only that in our case the decision to have variations invariably comes from the customer. 

Consider the ‘Ashoka’ pendant we showcased here in December 2020, and you’ll immediately gather this to be a larger, more elaborate, and richer variation of that jewel.  

The “pierced naksha pasha-pendant of monumental simplicity and vivid imagination where a top-down view of the Ashoka tree results in scrolled leaves and dainty blossoms occupying every part of the curved dome” is perfectly relevant to this discal jewel as well.  

As for the craftsmanship :  in comparison to the original pendant, the beading’s as it is, but the floral disc that fronts the loop is gone, replaced by two no-show rings at the back of the curved dome. The vermilion polish remains, and the tassel as well, though the latter’s now in rare firoza as a tightly wound cotton-thread tube. This may not be to everyone’s liking (the original pendant had cochineal red for its tassel) but it makes for great drama ; and a very regal combination it is too, turquoise and gold. A spattering of rubies, emeralds, pearls and firoza have been added not just for decoration but to enliven the flowers and scrolling foliage that are left to spread themselves over the dome with complete abandonment. 

This time, kanpashas have been made with the pendant, and how elegant and powerful and aristocratic they look, that also at first glance. They can only get more attractive with age. A smaller version of the neckpiece, these recherché pashas are fabulous when worn as a demi-parure with the matched pendant, but when you wear them alone, they’re just as spectacular but more powerful.  

Just as in the Ashoka, the absence of any strong single motif in the pendant is evident. But there’s room now to accommodate more of the anfractuous wild plants and flowers and so the naksha is more elaborate, and exquisite, and tantalizingly palpable. It’s this pierced chasing, intricate and sapid, that raises the jewel to an unequivocal classic and as well an instant heirloom.  

Handcrafted in pure guinea-gold with respect and pleasure and pride and all that one feels when one is birthing a work of art, this first variation – Anganpriya – of the Ashoka pendant, made bespoke for a resident of Dubai, claims its independent stature as a jewel on the basis of its renewed personality. But because its heart remains true to the original, the name chosen for it is simply another name for the Ashoka tree. This pendant-earring set, though, be certain, will make splendiferous any 'angan' of the heart at all times.

Sometime in June, the venerated Cottage Industries held a textile exhibition at the Thyagaraja Hall where only handloom silks and cottons and linen were on display mostly as clothing and related ar...

Sometime in June, the venerated Cottage Industries held a textile exhibition at the Thyagaraja Hall where only handloom silks and cottons and linen were on display mostly as clothing and related articles but also, in a scattered way, as table and bed linen. Individual weavers and state-owned stalls commingled in no particular order and the place of origin of many of the purveyors was not indicated. Still, there were treasures to be found amidst the sleepy chaos of the place; sleepy because there was hardly an audience for such wealth of craft as may need more involvement than jostling through swarms of buyers with a grab-and-go mentality to pick some discounted readymade garment; sleepy because the stall owners were mostly dozing on the synthetic (not coir! — and this was a handloom show) carpet of their cubicles when we went, late afternoon; sleepy because what colour there was came from the fabric — the vendors demonstrating a listlessness so keen that it made them appear wholly etiolated.

Yet, this is precisely where, at a spare stall selling Assam goods, we found an intriguing ‘gamucha’ with the regal ‘Kingkhap’ motif on it, one end with it in the centre flanked by a butterfly-and-paisley pattern, and the other end with the order reversed.

The lady managing the stall, suddenly enlivened by a prospective customer, bade us reject the piece since it had water-stains on it. But the ‘Kingkhap’ had arrested us. Not uncommon or unseen on a ‘gamucha’ (they’re irreplaceable for binding wet hair with) in the basic form, here it was certainly quite unusual because below the paan-shaped badge was suspended a marvellously foliate joonburi pendant that further had four little upturned crescents hanging from it. This jewelled falcate-moon appurtenance clearly connected the ‘gamucha’ to us, related it to our calling, and asked for it to find with us its home. And so it did, and was washed — making the traditional red-on-white pattern bright and winsome — and used, and deliberated upon at length, and finally immortalised in gold. 

We picked a couple of gamuchas in the regular gos buta (tree motif) and ever-popular japi-pepa weave and included the Kingkhap gamucha with them. The stall lady even reduced its price because we were buying a shop-soiled article.

There’s no getting away from the fact that this necklace has come about from an Assamese gamchha (as it’s pronounced in Bengal), respected and revered in that State. In fact, it’s also called Bihuwaan when, during the Bihu festival, it's gifted to elders of the family. 

The Kingkhap motif, popularised by the Ahom dynasty (that ruled Assam for just about six-hundred years) as a symbol of their courage and splendour, is of course to be found on the richest of the State’s textiles such as its pure silks or Muga. The crux of the pattern is in the facing lions that allude to power and bravery, but the surrounding paisleys and foliage and a central tree speak equally of peace and plenty. In the necklace, this has been replicated in what’s called ‘figure’ naksha. The sparring lions have pride of place, naturally, but the flora that encompasses them is rendered with stunning symmetry on either side of the palmate plant in the middle. It’s all in pierced chasing, the heart of the Kingkhap centrepiece, and the surrounding naksha of leaves and fronds celebrates the regal beasts but also grants them a magical world to inhabit. A solid, scrolling flower border frames the scene and is in turn contained by a thick twisted wire that runs the outer perimeter of the emblem. 

Note also how at the top the border turns into a pair of Turkish acanthus leaves with a palm-like flourish between them. This part is crucial because that’s where the loop is placed. 

It’s also a splendiferous pendant, the Kingkhap centrepiece, for it detaches without fuss from the simple kamal-ball sasa-dana pati to function as an independent jewel that can be worn with a flat velvet band as a choker, or with a bound- or loose-thread tassel in high contrast as an ethnic ornament. All three versions look ravishing, the autochthonous ‘Kingkhap’ adapting with noble ease to each and retaining its royal bearing throughout.

The Joonjhulana earrings are matched to this ornament, and complete the humble gamucha’s  truly magnificent pairing of the Joonbiri and Kingkhap.

It’s all a very manly thing, this business of lions confronting each other, and the badge of honour, so to say, that the motif invariably becomes. It is, by provenance, a regal emblem after all. But women (and men) have worn it with pleasure on apparel for years and years, this pattern, often without the customary animals and only as a shape with varying infills. That’s changed forever now. With the guinea-gold Kingkhap necklace, the original lion insignia becomes a singular symbol of the strength of our muliebrity, worn with pride and indubitable fearlessness.

This is rare. And by that we don’t just mean the ornament — which is certainly unique in that it’s a near replica of a museum piece — but also the circumstances of its manufacture.

When a cli...

This is rare. And by that we don’t just mean the ornament — which is certainly unique in that it’s a near replica of a museum piece — but also the circumstances of its manufacture.

When a client asks for a jewel displayed in a museum to be adapted for her, it is indeed an extraordinary request ;  more so because to perfectly recreate an ornament from more than a hundred years ago with complete veracity of workmanship would seem, at least on the face of it, nigh impossible a task, the tools and techniques through time having been lost to reckless industrialization and the artisans who had the skills, tenacity and patience to craft by hand such recherché jewels all but fallen extinct. But we’re in Bengal. And boast the world’s best goldsmiths who also happen to be artists in their own right. Not only that, we have arguably the finest setters and pictorial enamellers as well. Nothing’s beyond us. And we’re up for a challenge any time.

In our ongoing series “Treasures in Museums”, we’d covered in January 2020 the  Museo del Gioiello in Vicenza that touts itself deservingly as "The First Jewellery Museum in Italy" where was held between 2018 and end-2020 a splendid exhibition in which this necklace was displayed in the the themed Symbol Room curated by Pascale Lepeu – Director of the Cartier collection for over 30 years. He selected the items for the Symbol Room where extraordinary jewellery illustrated the vital function of ornaments as enduring symbols of power, wealth, religion, and royalty.

We don’t know about the religion bit but the rest of the three are well in evidence with regard to the esteemed patron who commissioned the necklace. But since it’s not our design and because we weren’t asked to make radical or even innovational changes to the form and detailing of the piece, and because it’s a historic jewel, we can’t name it after her. Our emulous endeavour to recreate the jewel we hope will justify its title. But first, the caption to the actual ornament that’ll help you recognize it :

THE HISTORIC JEWEL

PARURE - GIOIELLERIA MARANGONI

Gioielleria Marangoni di Vicenza
Parure, Vicenza, late 19th century
yellow gold, enamel and turquoises
Private collection

An important and elaborate parure in yellow gold and enamel of the late nineteenth century consisting of a necklace, a brooch, a belt buckle, a pair of pendant earrings and a tiara. All the jewellery is made of yellow gold foil, worked from double hollow sheet, with turquoises and floral-inspired decorations executed in enamel. The degree of conservation is perfect and makes it possible to admire the excellent level of workmanship.

OUR JEWEL 

Recreated in fine cut-work in layers and with stellar engravings, the necklace has  been entirely handcrafted over six months during which time the initial shape-cutouts were discarded and the whole thing re-done. Regarding the enamel, too, we had a choice between the champlevé of the original or to use pictorial mina in the manner of the Battersea or Bilston enamels. We chose the latter as the surface on the plaques to be coloured was limited and we needed the floriated part to show clearly. 

Mildly off-white layers of thick white enamel, like ‘gesso’, form the base on which the painting is done. A transfer of the floral motif is then imprinted on individual surfaces and completed by hand. You’ll notice the variation between each corsage (no two are the same) and this sublime imperfection, much like actual flowers that are never alike,  is only because they’re entirely hand-painted. 

The spattering of turquoise around the plaques and within the interspersing pieces adds colour and richness to the jewel and makes what’s noble regal. Not to be missed is the decorative clasp on the plain bichha back chain. If not that then what could ever give away our manic attention to detail while designing and crafting your fine jewellery.

What else is there to say? If you, as our great patrons, choose us to make what you choose by way of fine gold jewellery, we'd invoke the divine to grant us the skills and the fortitude to accomplish your commission to your satisfaction and, hopefully, delight. 

The genteel lady for whom this was crafted has made known to us her joy and contentment at receiving the necklace. May this painstakingly wrought jewel not only match up to history but, on her, create new and happy history as well. And as the jewel steadies into its foreverness, may she who willed this necklace into being be conscious also of her own immortality in gold — in the purest, most beautiful gold there could ever be. 

Sometimes we do too much.   

From the form of this hansuli, you’ll recall easily our Grinling Gendaphul from December, 2018 that’s gone on to become something of a legend. The order...

Sometimes we do too much.   

From the form of this hansuli, you’ll recall easily our Grinling Gendaphul from December, 2018 that’s gone on to become something of a legend. The order was to reproduce one in exactitude, but to size. We didn’t, and we did, respectively.

Let’s see how much of that much-loved jewel remains in this one : 
a)The flowers-and-vine pattern takes the form of a scrolling creeper that occasionally breaks into a thick globular cluster of blossoms.
b)A buli-frosted makar marks each end. 
c) The triangulated wire-work with a ball at each tip goes across the lower arc of the ornament, beneath the ball border.
d) The tiny ball-thokas (with a large polished ball in the centre) travel the entire bottom edge.
e) A row of hollow ball beads edges the jewel.
f) The pierced naksha remains just as exquisite and intricate.

And what did we do extra, thinking we had the creative license to reshape a legend : 
a) Gone are the pot marigolds, replaced here by a superbly rendered society of smooth hydrangeas, their round clusters palpable in relief and each bloom, within the flowerheads, distinct. 
b) In the centre, the large double-blossom is replaced by an arrangement of smaller flowers that seems to rise from a shallow vase or bowl. These are not specifically defined, but if you, without blinking your eyes, look at just the mid-section fixedly for about ten seconds, you’ll notice how they’re carefully arrayed to form an ishkabon- or paan-shape.
c) The foliage is now more defined, the pinnate and parallel venation of the leaves having been made clear to the eye and to the touch, while the way in which those leaves are ordered is more classical than natural as, say, in the border of a heritage saree.
d) Finally, the perforations are certainly more minute and elaborate, the cut-out parts resulting in a delicate jaali.

Created with all good intentions of reflecting the luminous character of its owner, her splendid taste, and as well address her profession of being a designer-purveyor of fine sarees, we made the vital mistake of deriving an iconic jewel from a legendary one, which is fine in general — if the ornament were to be made for the showroom and not against a specific commission — but isn’t justifiable on the grounds of the gap it leaves between the buyer’s wish and our interpretation. As a result what we though would delight, disappointed.

The name of the jewel comes from the central arrangement of little flowers that draws directly from the rare Latifa buti (named after the master weaver who designed it, Latif Mian) of the traditional Benarasi weave. The golden hydrangeas are fantastical, of course, because they’re never ever creepers, scrolling or otherwise. Here, in this magic garden, they’ve become sturdy vines of the kind you’d find on the baroque Beldaar borders on Benarasi sarees. While those are Persian-influenced Mughal patterns of continuously scrolling vines, ours gives it a heady east-west twist with the hydrangeas.

From Grinling Gibbons’s  wondrous wood carvings to the traditional brocade weave of Benaras is a journey between two wholly different worlds, a transition that we felt could be aesthetically achieved with carefully considered changes that incorporated characteristics of the latter while aspiring to “the loose and airy lightness of flowers” so intrinsic to Gibbons’s woodwork. 

But you know, such ingenuity, if it can be called that, may not always bear the desired result because while it does try to rise beyond customer expectations, in attempting to do so it also subverts them to a certain extent.

We should have known our measure.

Anyway, in honour of Latif Mian, whose glorious buti design graces the central panel of the jewel, and the rest of the virtuoso naksha infill provided by the Beldaar hydrangea patterning, we present to you the Latifa-Hydrangea Hansuli.  Made with bare hands working with iron tools a century old, the ornament, here, is finished in vermilion that, if you want, you can change to a natural rich-yellow-, blackish antique-, or gero-polish. 

Compare it if you will to the earlier goyna and let us know if you think this stands, or doesn’t, up to that by your aesthetic standards and whether or not our unwavering quest for truth and beauty is sustained by this design.

Awaiting your judgement, we remain.

A revival of what used to be a popular style thirty years ago, this tubular amulet necklace owes its second birth to Mrs. Gopa Das Gupta who not only ordered it in the given combination of black an...

A revival of what used to be a popular style thirty years ago, this tubular amulet necklace owes its second birth to Mrs. Gopa Das Gupta who not only ordered it in the given combination of black and old ivory but also did that entirely based on a photographic catalogue.

It’s getting rarer by the day, such comebacks, not least because of the paucity of master artisans who’d, at one time, handcraft such a jewel from start to finish and entrust the enamelling to an equally adept mina-artist.

In this recherché necklace, there are three different kinds of workmanship on display : repoussé or thokai — the die-struck cylinders ; katai — the fluted caps that come together as beads ; and ball-work — the edges of the cylinders and the jhur. The enamelling, done in the cloisonné style, is of course an entirely different discipline. Strung together using the now-uncommon v-chain, the three cylinders and four fluted ball rondelles that flank them form the entire central section after which the chain emerges bare and is punctuated by petalled cut-work orbs, again in the same mina combination. The trio of ball clusters on each pipe is rich and fine and, bunched together, adds a certain feel of folksy merriment to the necklace.
That folksy bit can as well be seen in the earrings that happen to be moderately long jhumkas where a lot’s going on in the dangling part. A ridged bi-cone bead starts the drama, after which comes the mina half-pipe that recalls the necklace, and lastly the fluted cap (also repeated in the pasha) with a single-ball fringe that brings to the jewel a coda of jollity in a very willingly ethnic sort of way.

It’s not for everyone, this set, or these kinds of sets. You need to be brave to choose this over a host of naksha icons that are unforgettably beautiful and in the same weight range. This one’s pulchritudinous as well but in a diametrically varied way, relying heavily on the mystical (tubular amulets) and traditional (the classic maduli-rondelle stringing arrangement) to impart a kind of strangely familiar magic to the jewel. That the whole ornament is strung together and not soldered also helps give it a rustic aura.

As for the cloisonné enamelling, if you look carefully you’ll find flecks of vermilion, somewhere a yellowish blotch, and dark pinpoints on the off-white parts. It resembles old ivory. Without the introduction of such imperfections, art can’t come alive, though in an age when ‘aging gracefully’ has given way to injected youth and a whole bevy of anti-ageing treatments, one wonders whether there is any space for such considerations as our elegant mortality and likewise the immortality of our symbolic selves.

This remarkable little jewel — not a new design, but new to this millennium, to this world where artificial intelligence has all but replaced real thought — comes as a lovingly handmade guinea-gold deus ex machina meant to resolve the conundrum of living in the 21st century through hi-tech machines that make life ‘easier’ and give us heavy doses of digital beauty when all the while robbing us of our depth of consideration.
Life was never meant to be easy: it always just needed to be meaningful. Fine jewellery can’t “change the world“ in the way a certain tech titan once claimed those like him could, but it can, with its revelations of truth and beauty, make life on Earth more valuable, meaningful, and aesthetically astute.

We’ve named the jewel Gopa even though it hasn’t been created as a unique goyna for Mrs. Das Gupta because we feel, in choosing this set with its striking vernacular, she has, after three decades of its lying around as just a picture, brought the ornament back to life. We’re well and truly grateful to her for her trust, her taste and her timely custom.

The Juna Mahal choker of early 2018 vintage has seen great patronage. From it was drawn a pair of pashas in August last year. Much has been said about those, and the legend of a crumbling 13th cent...

The Juna Mahal choker of early 2018 vintage has seen great patronage. From it was drawn a pair of pashas in August last year. Much has been said about those, and the legend of a crumbling 13th century desert palace is told yet again by the parakeet partners who, in love for life, have flown from jewel to jewel in the hope of reviving and restoring the magnificence of their home which is none but the Aam-Khass of a hill-fort on the opulent ceiling of which they dwelt.

The pierced floriation of the choker is retained around the love-birds and the medallion almost becomes a shield, a coat of arms of the Royals of Dungarpur. Detailed differently in the flowers and vines, here you'll see the addition of single blossoms, a belpata, and no trace of the marigolds. Between the birds and just above their heads you'll note a solitary bloom that resembles Sheshnag, its five heads prominently displayed in relief. 

Is mythology then being interwoven with the storied history of Southern Rajasthan? Let the pendant answer, for the articulation of the past and present in visual terms, and drawn from a single regal residence, is best left to the residents of that place. The talking parakeets, in romance bound, will tell all from their rich perch framed within a double-beaded halo. As they must have by now to the brave lady who sought to enshrine them as a vermilion-polished guinea-gold jewel drawn from a jewel drawn from a jewel drawn from the ceiling of a jewelled palace in a distant desert town of Rajasthan. Handcrafted with skills quite beyond the superlative, and fitted with a burgundy rope-tassel, this stunning pendant — more accessible than the Juna Mahal choker — forms a perfect set with the pashas. 

All the more reason for you to possess it.

On the night of our marriage I asked of him his umlakh. It wasn’t the silver kind commonly borrowed from bankers and money lenders. This had five beautiful panels in guinea gold, each depicting the...

On the night of our marriage I asked of him his umlakh. It wasn’t the silver kind commonly borrowed from bankers and money lenders. This had five beautiful panels in guinea gold, each depicting the palace garden's magic tree which bore male and female flowers of distinct fragrance through all seasons, every one of them encrusted with a single invaluable gem. Rubies, turquoise, pearls, corals, emeralds decorated the tree perpetually but no one plucked them. Only when the flowers drooped and fell to the ground were the gems collected by the gardener and brought to him to whom I was now sworn for life. The hills of Himachal echoed his name and he was loved by all, but most of all by me whom he had chosen to be his consort.

He’d given me the umlakh without any hesitation; the kindness in his eyes made of the priceless heirloom a precious gift of unquestioning love.

"Keep it. Make of it what you will. From now, the groom's crown becomes the bride’s ornament and a symbol of their unconditional love," he'd said with a conviction borne less out of regal magnanimity than a virtuous besottedness.

The royal parrots with their ruby eyes stand guard over the panels – three for the guluband and two I’ve made earrings out of — that remain resplendent in their pierced naksha floriation. I’ve added tinkling bells as a gather at the bottom of each tablet so that the tintinnabulation as we make love he might hear in the dark and be reassured that his umlakh is my favourite guluband just as my soul is avowedly intertwined with his.

As he caresses my neck, I feel his sweet wine-tinged breath upon mine. It stills for just a moment as his fingers trace the chased magic trees and their gems ever so gently. When a regent’s wedding crown willingly becomes his Queen’s most treasured ornament, court and kingdom both recognise the power of love to be the greatest and without equal.

I hold him in my jewel as he holds me in his heart.

That the classic can’t be sultry is a sad misconception. Bengali wives in aristocratic homes, at the turn of the century, painting their buttocks with alta as enticement is a case in point. That pe...

That the classic can’t be sultry is a sad misconception. Bengali wives in aristocratic homes, at the turn of the century, painting their buttocks with alta as enticement is a case in point. That petticoats weren’t worn and the cotton of the sarees that was was fine and white helped matters along, though whether those husbands were worth such creative seduction is an altogether different debate.

There’s nothing canonical about the art of jewellery-making. The rules are made by you and us working together as a team. It’s for us to imbue the ornament with virtues you feel it must have to reflect your unique character.

Womanhood doesn’t mean drudgery. It may not also be immersed in merely the decorative. To have agency over our bodies is essential to our muliebrity and erotic expression a right that can elegantly be connoted through personal ornamentation.

The TellaJumiki is a passion-flower vine with sticky bracts that attract and capture insects drawn to its sweet blooms. Even as the flower becomes fruit the bracts remain and make certain lascivious pests are caught and digested with delightful slowness. It’s all there in this stunning pierced-naksha choker where you see the tentacular plant spread its foliage and flowers right through the ball-bordered frieze. The pockmarked split-ball ghungroo fringe makes musicality inseparable from this splendid neckpiece and recalls the mild tinkling of hand-me-down anklets.

The panel is backed by black velvet : another warning that our beauty is not ever meant to be devoured (as against appreciated) by the male eye but is in fact a stealth weapon that’s integral to our very being –– one that we can unleash whenever we like. There's more in this artistic arsenal but not all may be revealed at once.

Hand-wrought with purpose in rich guinea-gold, the TellaJumiki choker is a beautiful tocsin that sends out clear signals of how charming our femininity is, and how deadly in its confrontation with the male gaze that’s turned toxic.

The key to great bespoke anything is candid conversation. More so in the case of fine gold jewellery, not only for their enduring value but also because of the character you imbue them with over th...

The key to great bespoke anything is candid conversation. More so in the case of fine gold jewellery, not only for their enduring value but also because of the character you imbue them with over the years as you wear them to occasions that become markers of the life you’ve lived with joy and courage and a whole lot of love, the last given and received not always in equal measure but balanced nevertheless. And such an engagement can’t can’t be too difficult between two ladies who hit it off from the get-go.

Mrs. Anuradha Gupta Pradhan lives in Bombay where she’s a busy professional. Not only is she buxom, warm and friendly, with a disarming smile, she’s also frank and forthright and knows precisely what she wants from where. As such, she came to us, on a friend’s recommendation, during Dhanteras and bought a joroa dul. She also wanted a half-set that would match her natural voluptuousness and verve. It had to be a combination of pearls and gold, and instead of a central pendant she said she preferred two brooches on the sides.

Structure and volume was hers ; the rest she left to us.

But, this time, we’re not going to explain the set. It’s not important that we drew from Scandinavian folk art for the floral forms, nor that a Kashmiri carpet at home informed the floriated frieze of the brooches. No, not even the fact that the lotiform brackets of the earrings and that which bookend the naksha panels and also act as the endpieces all allude to ornate victory arches and hold within them a lotus each (that’s evident when the brackets are brought together) to match the symbols of the godly nakshatra, ‘Anuradha’, need be mentioned. Even the deliberate randomness of the pearl and ball strands — you’ll only realise this because we told you — must go unnoticed. What’s important, imperative even, is to know the bright star of a lady whose ornaments these are and after whom they are named. The jewels become her. And then, the jewels become her. You must know her to know the jewels.

Here’s Mrs.Anuradha Gupta Pradhan, introducing herself to you :

“I am a marketing and communications professional with a consulting firm in Mumbai. Although ‘probashi’ by definition, I love Kolkata and feel deeply connected to the City of Joy, making sure I come down every year to be a part of my Barir Pujo and eat all the delicacies that only Kolkata can offer. I am passionate about handlooms and textiles and am always on the look-out to add to my saree collection for every occasion (or even when there isn’t one!). I love celebrating festivals and trying to learn more about traditions and keeping them relevant in today’s times. I also enjoy trying out and cooking different types of dishes.

Dogs play an important part in my life — I have three dogs : two beagles and an Indie — and they get maximum time and attention from me. Concerts and cultural festivals are another of my passions, though thanks to COVID, a live performance has not been possible in many months!

I have always loved traditional Bengali jewelry but wasn’t able to find someone who could design, innovatively and with welcome freshness, such heritage ornament using classic workmanship till I met Brinda . . . and the order was placed! It’s been worth the long wait, given COVID-19 and the lock downs!

My daughter is slowly starting to like jewelry, but I’m not too sure I’ll be willing to part with any — at least not yet!”

We are indeed honoured to have served Anuradha and thank her sincerely for giving us the opportunity to do so, and for her trust and her patience. We wish upon her immortality, and pray she makes beautiful the world around her with her indelible qualities of kindness and empathy. May her celestial loveliness light up the lives of all her loved ones and of those who care about her and who she cares about with all her heart. 

This isn't a tie-up. It isn't some kind of cross promotion either. But we must, at the outset, credit the Oviya Design Studio in Fremont, California, and its founder Meenakshi Satyavolu Rangachary ...

This isn't a tie-up. It isn't some kind of cross promotion either. But we must, at the outset, credit the Oviya Design Studio in Fremont, California, and its founder Meenakshi Satyavolu Rangachary for the genesis of this design. We don't know her, and didn't know of her either till, on Pinterest, a wedding invitation in mottled crimson with nothing on it but a pair of Kalamkari parrots perched on a lotus fell upon our eyes which then remained transfixed on the card for the next minute, so intense were the colours and so mesmerising the motif.

This pendant, realised in a very light ek-pora naksha, takes its form from Ms.Satyavolu Rangachary's card design and the primary elements as well — birds and a flower. All beyond that has been interpreted to our own aesthetic.

Gone are the repetitive pen-lines of Kalamkari and the solid sections differentiated by colour, both ably replaced by intricately chased detailing on the neck, saddle, breast and feathers as well as the natural relief that naksha brings to soft gold, raising the patterns to make them more palpable and thus realistic.

Also, the birds have transformed from parrots to regal peacocks, their wings positioned high, the plumes more sweeping, and with an unmistakable crest on each head. Notice how a solitary pola, cover-set, and with a trefoil crown, fills the gap between the turned napes.

The lotus too has changed into a badge-like sun, its core a coral surrounded by strung seed pearls, and firoza, pala and mukto decorating the six crescentic ray-petals that emanate from it. A single polished globe hangs from the sun and immediately converts the badge into a victory medal.The earrings are but a smaller version of this sun-and-globe decoration. And, not to forget, the crimson of the card is clearly indicated in the rich hue of the thickly twined cotton cord to which the pendant is fastened.

From Calcutta to California is about 12000 kilometres. Will our gratitude reach that far? Social media has, seemingly, reduced physical distances so that we may, whoever and wherever we are in the world, connect to each other. That might have benefits, but metamorphosing from couch potatoes to mouse potatoes shouldn't be counted as one among them. Then, steeped in digitalia, we tend to lose ourselves to our virtual existence : the image replaces the real. Still, we hope our heartfelt 'Thank You', through this all-but-obligatory method of internet communication, will reach her whose wedding card design with the Kalamkari motif on it has so influenced this little pendant set. Thus, as a symbolic gesture of gratitude, we've decided to name it "Oviya" (after her studio) which, we understand, in most of Southern India, connotes a lady of great pulchritude and noble character whose picture every talented artist wants to draw. We've painted ours. 

The Kakoli Necklace of 2014 and Renaissance Sita-Har of 2017 both have variations of the Naksha Kanbala from 2013 as their centrepiece, and the lotiform pashas are included in the ornament too, not me...

The Kakoli Necklace of 2014 and Renaissance Sita-Har of 2017 both have variations of the Naksha Kanbala from 2013 as their centrepiece, and the lotiform pashas are included in the ornament too, not merely as a feature but as an essential characteristic –– motifs intrinsic to the design.

What’s been attempted here, however, is beyond brave –– there isn’t just the solitary full-scale Naksha Kanbala in the centre but two smaller ones as well to the sides.

Note how the floriated chasing and makar-mukh are rendered in minute detail in the smaller side pieces –– a calibration of the naksha technique that needs not just a draughtsman’s vision but also the deft working of the chasing instruments that only a seasoned hand, in practice over decades, can achieve.

Once the triumvirate of kanbalas with their wire-ball starburst edging and pearl drops (the central one sporting mixed jhur and a polished half-jhumka) are in place, the rest of the structure takes on a festoon or shelly form with the openwork ogee-arch endpieces connecting to the sidepieces as in a Sita-Har.

What connects them are plain-ball and pearl-ball chains strung mangal-sutra-style, and alternated intriguingly –– making the necklace airy and light without compromising one bit on its aesthetic virtues.

This is the last ornament we’ll be showcasing till we resume regular posts after Lakshmi Puja and, fittingly, it seems one of divine provenance. Knowing how from the ocean Ma Durga received a pearl necklace, lotus garland and also a blossoming padma, amongst various other goyna, this Shelly-Sita-Har appears to be the very jewel that adorned her as she came into this world, the three kanbalas constituting the Trinayani with splendid grace.

In truth, we women are each a hardened battle queen. We all modulate the universe around us: juggling our work, family, friends, hobbies, thoughts and prayers to the best of our capabilities so that the purpose of our lives is fulfilled in a manner no less palmary than the Devi’s brave achievements.

We deserve to celebrate our muliebrity in terms both precious and permanent, and kantha bhushan as meaningful as this, which denotes our very being with all its intricacy, beauty and energy, tells our story — the story of womanhood — in meticulously handcrafted pure guinea-gold with a power and pulchritude all its own.

It’s not only the Pujas when we must acknowledge the Goddess within us. She is us as we are Her, every day.

A doctor is a caring person, the nature of the profession deems that to be unequivocal in the practice of it. But when you have a doctor who's a RabindraSangeet singer (trained by none other than P...

A doctor is a caring person, the nature of the profession deems that to be unequivocal in the practice of it. But when you have a doctor who's a RabindraSangeet singer (trained by none other than Pandit Ajoy Chakraborty), who has her own much appreciated YouTube channel, is a popular lifestyle blogger, dabbles in interior decoration with great success, and is working on the frontlines fighting the pandemic, nurturing innumerable patients back to health at the Shambhu Nath Pandit Hospital in Calcutta, you don't have just a caring person, you have an extraordinary medical practitioner and a rara avis amongst human beings. And when she happens to be a young girl in her early twenties, you know that the future is in secure hands, and that no pestilence will ever defeat the human spirit when the spirit shines as strong and bright as Kinkinee's.

Kinkinee's getting married. This is the wedding Sita-har we've been honoured to design and hand-craft for her in rich yellow guinea-gold. Knowing her love for travelling, and that she's all set to go abroad to further her studies in general medicine, and how brave she is, and how completely selfless, and that she has within her a happy-go-lucky soul, we drew up a full moon cradled within a falcate moon, the latter left a simple polished surface fringed with ridged split-ball clusters that echo the musicality of her name. The graduated decorative tassels that hang from it have medallions in different shapes –– square, round, oval, semi-circle –– each containing an auspicious motif such as a palmette, butterfly, chandrapuli, and the night jasmine.These too have their own split-ball fringes, with the chandrapuli sporting a large polished ball amidst the jhumjhumis that alludes to the Frog Prince fairy tale ; but you don't have to know that, it's a sort of designer's secret.

The purna chandra is a layered shield with a pierced naksha shiuli ensconced within a lotus right in the centre. Ringed by two rows of katai hearts (one with a chhela wire heart on each heart and the other with triangular granulation on them), one each of Jaipuri thokai four-leaf clover and mihi-dana, and a final surround of pockmarked topas, the full moon is at once intricate, splendiferous and monumental, seizing the eye into examining the details and dazzling it into submission as well. Also, it stands in stunning contrast to the glowing crescent moon that so lovingly cradles it.

The side-chains too are calibrated to perfection, the kamal-ball-karai central biccha guarded by two plain sikal chains, all three stretched between facing chandrapulis with an oval medallion in the middle that has a perfo-naksha lotus with a butterfly in its heart and repeated motifs from the purna chandra as the layers surrounding this quintessential biye'r symbol. The voids between the chains are of paramount importance here.They not only allow the Sita-har to breathe (instead of becoming 'jabarjong' with overdone infill) but also allocate visual space to the justifiably arresting centrepiece and sidepieces.

It all comes together spectacularly, doesn't it, and makes the phases of the moon intrinsic to human life itself, specially for Kinkinee for whom the ebb and tide of life, the waxing and waning of the corporeal self, is a daily battle to fight and win, and whose sworn purpose is to save as many human lives as possible by renewing the weary, revitalizing the feeble, curing the infirm, and nurturing back to health all those who've given up on themselves.

And then there's the music of the split-ball jhumurs that adds a happy tone to the jewel whenever it's worn and replicates with a pleasing tinkle the name of the lady it belongs to : Kinkinee. May her walk of life lead to glory for her, and all the happiness there is in this world for those of such remarkable calibre and heroic spirit.

A bicycle chain is hardly an inspirational object, unless used as a weapon –– a lash or whip –– by those who deem it be so because they find a certain delight in the machine...

A bicycle chain is hardly an inspirational object, unless used as a weapon –– a lash or whip –– by those who deem it be so because they find a certain delight in the machine-shop kind of violence, never mind who it’s unleashed upon. It’s also “a segmented chain composed of tightly joined links arranged such that they can only flex along a single axis of rotation.”

If you turn to page 26 and page 38 of the original M.B.Sirkar catalogue you’ll find, respectively, a cheek and a Projapati necklace that both have chains very similar to the quoted definition of a cycle chain. It seems then –– since it’s a book almost eighty years old –– that jewellers, or at least one jeweller, also found it inspiring and actually created an ornament that replicates the form and design of the cycle chain but chooses to be different in its details and its function, of course.

Our chain differs from the original by being a four-sided affair –– giving it a rounded form and making it supremely flexible –– that uses star-punched ‘S’ pieces instead of the regular chaktis or discs. This makes the har look better (it doesn’t flip over like some flat chains do), feel better, fall better, and behave better (no pulled threads!).

But ours is not an original either. We’ve revived it from a family heirloom : a short necklace with an exquisitely engraved hexagonal clasp that's retained its shape and polish in a way that makes it look as if it were made yesterday.

The process of revival is painful but rewarding. The die for the star-punched ‘S’ pieces was made and rejected four times : either the curvature wasn’t right, or it was too thick in the middle, or too sharp at the two tapered points. We rejoiced with the artisan over tea and galpo when the fifth turned out just right. A bigger celebration is in the offing once things begin to correct themselves. The flat, ribbed die for the inner rings that actually string the chain was more straightforward, though even in that one the barrel effect took time to perfect –– it had to be moulded with a very light touch to get the curved sides right.

Once the two dies were approved, the chain was as good as done, the artisan being an old hand who’s a specialist in tricky hars, having done almost all the challenging chains over the last four decades.

The ornament, as you see it, is an exclusive commission for an esteemed patron who lives in Dubai. She has the eye for classic fine jewellery and each that she has acquired is nothing less than legendary and, for sure, will go onto become treasured heirlooms.

The cycle chain, whatever its antecedents, is a splendid jewel now. And it’s made in a different dimension, literally. The delicacy with which it has to be strung is a combination of dexterity and practice on the part of the artisan and we have just the right hands who’d do justice to an ornament such as this : one that's of simple origin, noble heritage and eminent character. It’s the perfect jewel to end this awful year with : a cycle chain of gold lashing it or whipping it to a close.

Also, in an age of loud and flashy name-upfront branding posing as premium merchandise, this har is a quietly regal, handmade guinea-gold jewel, the only kind we know how to do.

Only those who believe in and feel the need for inconspicuous luxury and unspoken class will realise the nobility of the cycle chain.

In the wake of India's 74th Independence Day celebrations comes this jewel which, in the spirit of that momentous day, carries upon its robust frame the onus of expressing a freedom that has more t...

In the wake of India's 74th Independence Day celebrations comes this jewel which, in the spirit of that momentous day, carries upon its robust frame the onus of expressing a freedom that has more to with the self and society than with the entirety of the nation and its geopolitical engagement and realpolitik relationship with the world.

In Bengal, there's a popular saying : "Baro Mashe Tero Parbon", meaning there are more festivals than months in any given year or, simply, that in Bengal it's festivities all the time. Not this year. We started off with Poila Baisakh behind closed doors, the country under curfew.Then onwards, it's been continual stoppages and restrictions, and no one's visiting anyone, not even home to home. What possible occasion can be marked socially and which celebrations held with the irreplaceable joy of togetherness? For now, nothing's clear, no real direction has emerged, and we remain as we are, separated and secluded for the sake of the better good of the greater world, and rightly so. Still, we need hope of a return to normalcy and ask upstairs to remedy the state of things as they are now and make a wish to that effect and pledge it in gold to our one and only deity –– You. This necklace of the Thirteen Feasts is that pledge.

A cascade choker with thirteen graduated gote chain strings, each with a lucky clover on them, sees this spectacular guinea gold waterfall culminate in alternating pearl and gold globes, the latter a medley of disco and mesh spheres to reflect, respectively, the aspect of raves and acts of stunning daredevilry.

Tied to each other (so that requisite distance is maintained and they don't get entangled –– sound familiar?) with a certain abandon using gold wires and emerald, ruby and pearl beads, the strings are fastened at the top to a continuous series of bosses imprinted with thirteen six-petalled flowers. All of this is fixed to a thick band with a frieze of square plates mounted with ziggurats, turned corner to corner, in the centre, framed by chhela double-kamal chains. The triangulated endpieces feature chhela wire outlines and sat-karai phuls in each.

This ravishing handcrafted cheekh in antique polished guinea gold is an uncomplicated allegory of hope for deliverance from the pestilence that's causing such untold suffering the world over and one that's clear in its statement of freedom, indicating through its thirteen floral tributes and thirteen strands of cascading chains and thirteen culminating globes that the Tero Parbon is very much on –– in the secure, safe and salubrious sanctuary of our hearts.

Wherever we may be in this country or in the world, nothing can keep us apart. The spirit soars, the soul takes flight, and the heart becomes a planet of our own creation where dwell all those who we hold close and near and dear.

The loved one can never be kept at a distance.

On 5 August 2019, the President of India scrapped Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. This means the state’s separate Constitution stands abrogated, i...

On 5 August 2019, the President of India scrapped Article 370 of the Indian Constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir. This means the state’s separate Constitution stands abrogated, including the privileges allowed under Article 35A. Also, the state’s now going to be divided into two Union Territories : Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh. That’s as much about politics as we’ll speak of.

What’s interesting, though, is the history of Ladakh which, in the 10th century, was a part of western Tibet’s Guge empire and became an independent region only after that empire fragmented and one of the Guge king’s sons, Pal-gyi-gon, became Ladakh’s first monarch. Kashmir then used to be predominantly Hindu and, astonishingly, it was a Ladakhi Buddhist prince who paved the way for the Valley’s conversion to Islam.

This prince, called Rinchen, wanted out to Kashmir in 1320 after a spat with his father but found the state to be in tatters after the plunder of a savage Mongol invasion, the king having fled and the beleaguered chief minister looking to him for help in restoring peace and order. Rinchen took the sweeter path to stardom by having the chief minister murdered and then promptly marrying his daughter to become king, after which he expressed his wish to convert to Hinduism (the then court religion of Kashmir) only to be flatly refused by the orthodox Brahmins. Needless to say, he embraced Islam, which had no such hang-ups, and Rinchen Shah was born.

In the meantime, in Ladakh, Rinchen’s father and his descendants ruled without any great trouble until 1834 when Jammu’s Dogra general, Zorawar Singh, occupied Ladakh with ten thousand men and negotiated a Rs.15000/= ‘tribute’ to be paid to him by the Ladakhi king. The queen, however, stood her ground and negated the terms. Affronted, Zorawar marched into Leh, setting afire the nine-story palace that overlooks the town. It was this conquest because of which Ladakh became a part of the kingdom of Jammu & Kashmir, and, of course, later on, India.

Ladakhis have traditionally not been fond of being a part of Jammu & Kashmir. Everything, from their geography to culture, leans more towards Tibet and the people, primarily Buddhists, are peace-loving, having nothing to do with the secessionist movement in Kashmir though they’ve always wanted to turn their land into a Union territory, independently administrated by the Government of India. This long-standing demand of the Ladakhi people and their local representatives has now become reality, or is set to on the 31st of October, 2019.

To celebrate this momentous event, we give you, from our side, a humble token in gold : a Gahu pendant with turquoise and pearls and rubies embedded in it. The naksha-work closely resembles the repoussé designs you see on traditional Ladakhi jewellery and the patterns are those from their remarkable filigree infills. The shape of the pendant and kanbalas is a softly rounded half-moon and reflects the popular form of earrings worn by Balti (an Indo-Aryan tribe of Western Ladakh that was converted to Shiite Islam from Buddhism in the 16th century) women, though the pendulous bells of the original are replaced by a mukto-firoza jhur in our version. Also, we’ve used rubies but, to be honest, corals would be a closer and better match (with the pearls and turquoise) to the region’s culture of personal decoration. The Gahu lockets are charmboxes, actually. Here, they haven’t been given a chamber behind the frontispiece in order to keep the gold weight manageable. While they’re strung with gem beads in the region, we’ve chosen a twisted thread in imperial red as a tassel for our pendant-set. The result is as striking, and the ornaments at once become a salutation to history and a celebration of social and cultural freedom as they assume the role of icons of independence and identity of the ethnic peoples of and within India.

Here’s the new Ladakh for you as a treasurable guinea-gold demi-parure with her every splendour of old encapsulated in its quintessentially Bengali craftsmanship. Wear it to know the power of intrinsic freedom — one that’s desired and demanded and gotten with non-violence and patience : as a child who learns to walk and relishes the independence, all the while knowing her Mother’s there to guide her, watch over her, and always keep her safe.

To Ladakh, our prayers for peace and prosperity, till kingdom come.

Five different kinds of virtuoso workmanship. A necklace in three sections held together with hundreds of bichha chains. A form taken beyond the usual by its deconstruction and final reassemblage i...

Five different kinds of virtuoso workmanship. A necklace in three sections held together with hundreds of bichha chains. A form taken beyond the usual by its deconstruction and final reassemblage into one cogent narrative. The volume, made light, despite its staggering mass, by the judicious use of pierced naksha and filigree for infill and chain sections as structure. A finely graded vermilion polish with parts left natural. Eight months of manufacture, bringing the best of Bengal's artisans, with their varied skills, together in one endeavour. Reasonable overshooting of the budget. Five fittings, given to perfect the contours and coverage of the goyna so that it performs consummately in actual use. A very noble and patient client.

So much can be said about this ornament, and there's a lot we'd like to. Simpler jewels have commanded greater words. But this isn't a novel ; it's cinema. There's a black screen there and a story's unfolding against it. You are in your favourite place of rest and about to free your mind to be held captive by what you see. The experience, as the narrative unfolds and the minutiae of the place, the landscape, the time, the characters all coalesce and immerse you into their world, is of feelings stirred up by what you view and note and hear all together in a way that you've interpreted for yourself without knowing. It's then that your mind shall give in to your heart and your heart to your soul. That's when it'll cease to be cinema and become your story. Your own love story. And you'll live happily ever after.

Handcrafted with unerring love in pure guinea gold, and created by shameless fantasts, we present :

Subhasree. A star. A wedding necklace from Bengal. A story of love told in many languages across the country, but none as classically, as intricately, and as beautifully as ours.

Just as the Kakoli Necklace (shown here on 22nd November, 2014) is a fine and suitably complex example of reverse customization, so is this, though the resulting ornament is far, far different. Her...

Just as the Kakoli Necklace (shown here on 22nd November, 2014) is a fine and suitably complex example of reverse customization, so is this, though the resulting ornament is far, far different. Here, too, the Naksha Kanbala (posted on 9th July, 2013) becomes the basis for the flowers-and-vine pattern of the Hansuli though what in the earring was a simple panel of single phul-lata-pata, in this jewel has morphed into a lush, scrolling creeper that occasionally breaks into graduated double blossoms. Note, right at the end, towards the pair of makars, a solitary six-petalled flower proudly holds its place on each side. The mise en scene is evident: those tiny blossoms are drawn directly from the Kanbala to acknowledge the influence of that jewel on this one. Even the triangulated wire-work with a ball at each tip that goes across the lower arc of the ornament beneath the ball border is lifted in toto from the earring and is supremely effective as a counterpoint to the powerful, pierced naksha. The tiny ball-thokas, with a polished ball in the centre, go up the entire bottom edge and a row of hollow ball beads frame the top. The red of the rope tassel dazzles in contrast to the gold and is the preferred auspicious colour, signifying fertility and prosperity.

 

The pot marigold gets its due. Re-imagining these everyday flowers on a vine, the double blooms, in carefully sculpted bas-relief, stand out among the rich foliage. The pierced naksha is exquisite; seasoned hands have been at work here or else the shaping of the leaves, curly stems and two-tiered genda-phul, all carved out from one solid sheet of gold, would never have been achieved to such a degree of intricacy.

 

This is, in a way, masterpiece work, and may or may not be comparable to that of the famous carver Grinling Gibbons whose wondrous wood cascades and wreaths you'll find in St. Paul's Cathedral, Hampton Court, and Blenheim Palace, though those who haven't seen the Carved Room at Petworth House in Sussex haven't really seen him at all. We aren't nearly anywhere close to giving to gold "the loose and airy lightness of flowers" that Gibbons bestowed upon his woodwork, but can aspire to pay homage to him by chasing the yellow metal in a manner so painstaking and with such attention to detail and volume that it would take months to complete a piece such as this, worked upon with perseverance and very steady and caring hands (not to mention the magic skills they've honed from years of tough apprenticeship) that if slip at any point in the making of the ornament would cause it to be melted down and wrought right from the beginning, again. Such is a purist's commitment to excellence; a humble jeweller's quest for truth and beauty.

 

For you, a Hansuli not monumental in scale but by style and temperament, design and detail, in its intent and making. The motif, the form, as the craftsmanship, is essentially steeped in the vernacular of Bengal, and India, while it pays its respects to a legendary English 'Master Carver'. Handmade in bright yellow 22K gold with love, love and the kind of love that makes love immortal.

We've known Mrs.Debarati Dutta-Cherukuri for three years now. Facebook brought us together. Or rather, our ornaments on Facebook did. Since then, we've had the occasion to make bespoke jewels for h...

We've known Mrs.Debarati Dutta-Cherukuri for three years now. Facebook brought us together. Or rather, our ornaments on Facebook did. Since then, we've had the occasion to make bespoke jewels for her several times, but this recherché joroa necklace and earring set is the one that we felt deserved pride of place among those she'd ordered. But first, before we go into the details of the jewellery, here's the very accomplished, very beautiful, very humble, and very artistically inclined Debarati telling you about herself.

 

"An educator, a life-long learner, a traveller, and a diehard dreamer, much of my professional and personal life is built across homes, hotels, and workplaces in several cities, countries, and continents.

 

The consequence of my own mobility as an immigrant (who lives and works in communities distant from her "first home") and a scholar (whose education and work happens in many places) is a subtle and unexpected resistance to it. In fact, much of my present intellectual work focuses on a place-based model of teaching and learning that honors local history, community, culture and privileges indigenous and postcolonial modes of knowledge-making.

 

At the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, I teach courses on critical thinking and communication, academic writing and inquiry, food studies, film studies, and teacher/tutor education.

 

Working with students, reading, writing, cooking, walking, traveling, and gardening bring me lasting joy and peace.

 

A self-proclaimed hoarder, I have, managed to gain notoriety for my blind love for all things local, handmade, and slowcrafted: seasonal cuisine, embroidered linens, handloom textiles, pottery, ethnographic objects, and (drum roll!!!) jewelry. And, in my much anticipated second life, the hoarder in me dreams of curating my eclectic collections in a vintage home with limewashed walls, red oxide floors, green louvered windows, and wrought-iron balconies swathed with fuschia bougainvilleas, fragrant rangoon creepers, honeysuckle, and night jasmine.

 

" It's who we all want to be; a life we all want to live; a dream we all want, for Debarati, to come true. Her well-wishers are many. Her students love her and cherish the time she gives them beyond the scope of any curriculum and counts their blessings they have a teacher who imparts to them not just the education required for living a life where work leads to professional and personal fulfilment but a life in which the boundaries of their thoughts are given no horizon so that they may imagine and reflect upon the vast possibilities of their changing the world for the better. In her own way, Debarati charges the solemn air around college academics with a dash of poignant energy that comes as much from the depth of her knowledge of and love for her subject as it does because of her overarching empathy and generosity towards the world around her and the people in it.

 

She comes to care for her parents, resident for long in Phuleswar, Howrah, every year. And when her father'd taken ill some time ago, she was with him every moment till he regained health. From written communication and face-to-face meetings we know how concerned Debarati is about the world going rogue on arts and craft. She's the kind who'd feel it deep within when vernacular talent submits to mechanized industry and the soul is sucked out of all things beautiful that are infused with a kind of divinity which comes only from creating with your own two hands even objects as simple as a madur or an earthen pot, or, for that matter, quotidian eats like Bengali mishti.

 

All this we tell you about Debarati because she won't, in as many words. She's too self-effacing to ever name her virtues beyond those that are evident in her personal and professional sphere. Her accomplishments are for all to see; her true beauty we hold up for you to know. As we look for icons to inspire us in our quest to make a difference and create our own history in this world, we need to find those such as Debarati to whom we must owe the debt of humanity and knowledge and selfless guidance that makes her not just a teacher of the greatest merit but also a supremely virtuous champion and one of incomparable nobility.

 

The necklace set, handcrafted with multi-generational expertise and traditional tools, in 22K gold, is a pearl set joroa design where five flowers bloom on a leafy vine. The gems are pavé set and the ornament is done in the traditional tol-paarh style. The collets in the middle of the flowers and at the ends of the tendrils hold the larger pearls that are cover-set. Likewise in the earrings, though here you'll see only the leaves making up the pattern. The design was sent to us by Debarati on mail and she wanted it replicated in full detail. That's what we did, but added the triple-leaf drop in the centre, below the large flower. It wasn't a huge change but a significant one that completed the jewel and gave it the essential playfulness of movement ---- an unexpected lightness of heart in an otherwise eminent ornament, so much like Debarati's personality that harbours her achievements with grace and tempers them with a cheerfulness that is at once engaging and vibrant. In that, this suite of jewels is who she is in all her reserve and all her splendour and so must be named after her. For you then, we present Debarati, in the nitid glory of pearls and gold.

The nocturnal garden of love that comes alive with the rains, this necklace celebrates the erotic in chaste guinea gold, the ecstasy of passionate prem-bandhan immortalized in delicate delightful n...

The nocturnal garden of love that comes alive with the rains, this necklace celebrates the erotic in chaste guinea gold, the ecstasy of passionate prem-bandhan immortalized in delicate delightful naksha strung together with verses of luminous seed pearls.

A thick cluster of kurchi blossoms in the middle, a pair of peacocks make love, the makar on either side hold up the ends of the ardhachandra centrepiece like Kamadeva's own banner, and rows of gold balls recall kadamphul strewn across the earth.

We are all someone's lover. We have to be. And if there are cathering clouds, if there's a thunderstorm, if it is raining, let us be Vasantsena and venture into the night to love.

Mayurpur --- it's what our heart desires.

Charming

lariat necklaces

held together

by delicate

tulle butterflies

encrusted with

precious gems or

kaleidoscope

enameling.

All in 22k gold.

Only for t...

Charming

lariat necklaces

held together

by delicate

tulle butterflies

encrusted with

precious gems or

kaleidoscope

enameling.

All in 22k gold.

Only for those

who believe

in magic.