Vikas Chain & Jewellery launches JAZZ Diamond collection

The latest collection depicts zeal, fierceness in style and the oomph factor the JAZZ music.

Post By : IJ News Service On 02 July 2015 5:00 PM
Breaking down something and then creating it afresh to give it that different look, all the while retaining at least some part of its original flavour is tough to say the least. And when that something is as precious as heirloom jewellery, then to undertake this process of transformation is certainly not for the faint hearted. Only those who are well-versed with the nitty-gritty of jewellery design, know the trends, understand and appreciate the history and story behind the piece can attempt this ‘re-invention’. Then of course, there has to be a deep-rooted love and passion for the craft itself. Rhea Nasta, Head Designer at the eponymous Rhea’s Studio and daughter of the late Laxman Popley, should know – this re-invention is exactly what her workbench is currently choc-a-bloc with.%% Listen to Rhea talk about her latest venture and the designer’s fondness and fervour for jewellery is immediately apparent. “The Indian woman has a fabulous variety of old, vintage, antique, heirloom jewellery that is just lying unused in bank lockers. And there is one common complaint – where in heaven’s name do we wear all those enormously heavy pieces? Some are too old-fashioned, some are broken or have stones missing, and some are so laden with memories, that the very thought of melting them sends shudders down the spine. But think about it – in these days of skyrocketing precious metal and gemstones prices, isn’t it a pity to have once-beautiful and potentially trendy pieces like these getting wasted in this manner?” wonders the designer who is a keen observer of the things and people around her.%% Apparently, the idea of reviving old jewellery struck her when Rhea’s inherent foresight and power of observation made her realise that the design cycle has reached a stage where old and vintage is back in fashion, but with some adaptation, ingenuity and originality. Apart from her keen sense of observation, conversations with various people, sightseeing, shopping, the architecture of places like Austria and Prague (which she recently visited), understanding the culture of various places in its true depth from the history to the current lifestyle of the people – all get her creative juices flowing. “Any idea will have a gestation period,” says Rhea. “Something has to just click inside me for random montages and fragments of inspiration to transform into full-fledged visualisations. My sub-conscious mind is constantly working on ideas. So, inspiration and ideas strike at anytime – one such instance is the brainwave of modifying this old jewellery.” %% Getting more animated, she goes on to say,“What I am aiming for now is getting all this jewellery out and reworking it. I am tweaking jewellery from my own trousseau and those belonging to a few select clients. The result has been well worth the effort because what we have now is jewellery that is fresh and wearable, and yet retains the essence and sentiment of the original.”%%
Is this “revival” is as easy as it sounds? “Certainly not!” exclaims Rhea. “In fact, there are several factors that need to be considered, and not all of them are technical. Firstly, there is the emotional history behind the piece, with most of this jewellery having precious memories associated with it. Most women, and that includes me, would be hesitant about putting it up for a reworking – what if the resultant piece does not look as good? It is also important to evaluate the piece for how much of its original design can be retained, so that the remembrance associated with it remains intact.”%% Apart from the emotional factor, Rhea feels the technical aspect is crucial. “One needs to really study the piece for feasibility in terms of how much it can be dismantled and rejoined,” she explains. “In case of broken pieces or those with missing stones or pearls, one has to source the missing stones, and this may not always be possible. The internal construction of the piece needs to be assessed – the last thing you want is to dismantle some portion and not be able to use it in the final piece. And all this reconstruction has to be explained to the karigars, which is a different ball game altogether!” %% The designer whose very unconventional start in the industry (she even learnt to render the jewellery designs the ‘right’ way much later!) has contributed immensely to her able handling of this current endeavor. %% For an explanation, we must digress a little to the story of her early days in the industry. As a teenager, she never picked up any of her jewellery off-the-shelf, instead getting it created as per her requirements in her father’s workshop – and that triggered an abiding love for the craft of jewellery creation. “I was fortunate in many ways,” she reminisces. “Though I was married early, my in-laws were supportive of my work. From simply getting jewellery made for myself, I developed a deep interest in the manufacturing process. In those days however, the karigars were a pretty closed community and not so willing to create the unusual designs that I used to think up. It took a fair bit of convincing, and when I started working closely with them, I also learnt what will work and what wouldn’t work in the actual making. I started to understand jewellery from the manufacturing point of view first – the practical aspect for me came much before the theoretical aspect.” Which is probably why, “learn the right way!” is the pithy advice that she offers new entrants to the field.%% Rhea is clearly a very pragmatic designer with an eye for detail; she looks much beyond the pencil sketches of jewellery into the intricacies – the kind of clasps and locks to be used, the materials, the stone setting, the strength of the filigree work, whether the metal would catch in the fabric, whether soldering is possible, the flexibility of the piece, how it will behave when bent or actually worn, whether it will sit well on the collar bone or the ear and so on. She fully realises that technical mistakes can cost big especially in these days of high raw material prices. %%
Rhea also firmly believes that understanding the karigar’s psyche, and communicating with them effectively is an inevitable and vital part of designing – no designer can claim to be a holistic one, without being able to do so. The eclectic designer also accepts graciously the unavoidable, seemingly mundane aspects - budgets, marketing, availability of material, planning for the future, gelling with current trends, the investment point of view in the Indian context, the saleability of a piece and so on and so forth.%% Another important aspect for a designer to consider, specially in the context of the revival project, is the wearer. Rhea is able to handle this very easily because of her own artistic sensibilities and her design methodology. “The wearer’s personality and overall wardrobe sensibility has to be considered – it’s useless giving a revived piece that is totally modern looking to someone who is more traditional in her dressing,” she says. “In any case, all my jewellery – whether one-off pieces, the heirloom revival pieces or the collection jewellery – is designed keeping the clients in mind. I offer a varied design spectrum – Indian, Western, Indo-Western, casual, formal et al to my clients. As a designer, I need to be able to incorporate the client’s desires and sensibilities and still create a wearable piece. For instance, there is a client who wanted an offbeat jewellery piece with a monkey as a central motif. This is now worn around the midriff with short tops and jeans, or saris, or as a pendant or as a brooch. This is where I look at not just the design, but also the overall apparel styling” %% Another plus point for Rhea vis-à-vis her new undertaking, is the fact that she usually designs her pieces around the stones that she sources. Rhea’s jewellery is always one-of-a-kind and unrepeatable – simply because she gets her inspiration from the stones and then creates pieces around them, rather than the other way round. Each piece of jewellery thus has a story of its own and a history behind it, which is an important part of its appeal. Naturally, when she has an existing piece in hand, her inherent creativity lets her see the possibilities within it almost instantly. %% This then, is the point when a client’s broken choker necklace becomes a long necklace with pearl chains linking the pieces together and a statement bracelet fashioned out of one of the broken pieces. Or a studded gold pendant which was earlier worn with a gold chain is strung together with asymmetrical pearls, gem studded foil beads and varied gems – a very contemporary look that works well for both Indian and Western attire. Another piece that was reworked to be worn with fusion attire is of stamped gold pieces with enamel detailing strung with gem studded foil beads and green quartz – the gold pieces were earlier strung with gold, red and green silk threads for traditional dresses. Similarly, there is an embossed gold pendant with black onyx and lava beads worn as a long necklace with Indo-Western attire which earlier had a red and green silk cord to be worn at the base of the neck with traditional clothes.%%
This ability to visualise complete pieces from the stones, or for that matter from existing jewellery, has held Rhea in good stead all through her career. “See, I am constantly thinking about jewellery design and mentally designing jewellery, and that’s what I teach my students to do – to visualise the pieces at every stage of the design process,” she enthuses. Mention her students and the design school and her eyes literally light up. She has been teaching for more than 17 years now, and the USP of the school is the personal attention that she gives all her students. The teaching methodology is unconventional in the same way as her own learning has been – the requirements and skill levels of each student are considered, and customised modules are created, if needed. The school is cozy and comfortable, and it is interesting to observe Rhea as she teaches. She pays an extraordinary amount of attention to even the apparently trivial details – filling in colour in the gemstone drawings, how much paint to use, how to correctly hold the paintbrush, using the right methods for creating basic sketches and more. %% “If you make this the main motif of the bracelet, show me how the clasp would look”, she tells one student. And another is gently reminded that “When the piece is finally constructed, these tassels that you have added are very likely to catch in the clothing”. A gentle admonishment comes in too, “The curve on the sketch that you showed me is completely different from the one in the final drawing – please don’t change the basics of your design, or else there are very high chances that the final piece that you manufacture may be rejected, even though the drawing was approved!” And then, training them to observe keenly, and translate the unlikeliest objects into design inspirations – an umbrella into a pair of chandelier earrings, for instance. All steps to ensuring that students learn how to maintain precision and quality at every step of the way from inspiration to final creation of the piece. %% Crediting a large part of her versatility to the teaching experience, Rhea explains, “I am inventive and I think that is a lot because of the teaching that I do. I don’t teach only one kind of design or method of making jewellery. As a jewellery design teacher, I have to ensure that my students get a whole wide range of knowledge, which means that I need to know everything there is to know about jewellery design.”%% For the heirloom jewellery, as for her other designs, India is a clear inspiration. A case in point would be the anklets she designed for the Swarovski Gem Visions India 2012 trend book. Rhea describes the piece from inspiration to final execution in vivid detail, “I chose Passionate India as my theme, and festivals and weddings and lots of colour are very quintessentially Indian,” she elaborates. “Then, I wanted to have something that is very uniquely Indian – so I thought of creating anklets, and to conceptualise anklets that would encompass India meant going back to the history and tradition of anklets. Anklets are an integral part of ancient Indian temple jewellery worn by the dancers who paid obeisance to the Almighty through their dance. Anklets had ghungroos, which connect to Indian melodies and music. The piece was handcrafted – again a predominantly Indian tradition. To give it a contemporary feel, I used the colours of the season – dark pink and green and hanging multilayer, studded and asymmetrical Swarovski chains. The anklets are also worn in the traditional style with screws with a dome shaped Swarovski gemstone and have a yellow golden sheen. The backing material is brocade and silk in maroon and green – again very festive, very bridal colours.” %%
Rhea is a strong believer in the preeminence and uniqueness of Indian motifs. “Some concepts and design motifs are very much Indian, but will always be chic – the kairi or the peacock design. How these are incorporated in design is what takes a piece from traditional to contemporary to fusion to modern. For instance, kundan is a centuries-old art of jewellery-making. However, if one can be versatile enough to use the basic ideology behind this art and create something new, fresh and wearable for the client as per her needs and personality – that’s what I consider true designing!” declares the India lover. Rhea’s ultimate compliment is when, “I see my jewellery on someone else. And I feel especially satisfied when someone else compliments them on what they are wearing!”%%
Breaking down something and then creating it afresh to give it that different look, all the while retaining at least some part of its original flavour is tough to say the least. And when that something is as precious as heirloom jewellery, then to undertake this process of transformation is certainly not for the faint hearted. Only those who are well-versed with the nitty-gritty of jewellery design, know the trends, understand and appreciate the history and story behind the piece can attempt this ‘re-invention’. Then of course, there has to be a deep-rooted love and passion for the craft itself. Rhea Nasta, Head Designer at the eponymous Rhea’s Studio and daughter of the late Laxman Popley, should know – this re-invention is exactly what her workbench is currently choc-a-bloc with.%% Listen to Rhea talk about her latest venture and the designer’s fondness and fervour for jewellery is immediately apparent. “The Indian woman has a fabulous variety of old, vintage, antique, heirloom jewellery that is just lying unused in bank lockers. And there is one common complaint – where in heaven’s name do we wear all those enormously heavy pieces? Some are too old-fashioned, some are broken or have stones missing, and some are so laden with memories, that the very thought of melting them sends shudders down the spine. But think about it – in these days of skyrocketing precious metal and gemstones prices, isn’t it a pity to have once-beautiful and potentially trendy pieces like these getting wasted in this manner?” wonders the designer who is a keen observer of the things and people around her.%% Apparently, the idea of reviving old jewellery struck her when Rhea’s inherent foresight and power of observation made her realise that the design cycle has reached a stage where old and vintage is back in fashion, but with some adaptation, ingenuity and originality. Apart from her keen sense of observation, conversations with various people, sightseeing, shopping, the architecture of places like Austria and Prague (which she recently visited), understanding the culture of various places in its true depth from the history to the current lifestyle of the people – all get her creative juices flowing. “Any idea will have a gestation period,” says Rhea. “Something has to just click inside me for random montages and fragments of inspiration to transform into full-fledged visualisations. My sub-conscious mind is constantly working on ideas. So, inspiration and ideas strike at anytime – one such instance is the brainwave of modifying this old jewellery.” %% Getting more animated, she goes on to say,“What I am aiming for now is getting all this jewellery out and reworking it. I am tweaking jewellery from my own trousseau and those belonging to a few select clients. The result has been well worth the effort because what we have now is jewellery that is fresh and wearable, and yet retains the essence and sentiment of the original.”%%
Is this “revival” is as easy as it sounds? “Certainly not!” exclaims Rhea. “In fact, there are several factors that need to be considered, and not all of them are technical. Firstly, there is the emotional history behind the piece, with most of this jewellery having precious memories associated with it. Most women, and that includes me, would be hesitant about putting it up for a reworking – what if the resultant piece does not look as good? It is also important to evaluate the piece for how much of its original design can be retained, so that the remembrance associated with it remains intact.”%% Apart from the emotional factor, Rhea feels the technical aspect is crucial. “One needs to really study the piece for feasibility in terms of how much it can be dismantled and rejoined,” she explains. “In case of broken pieces or those with missing stones or pearls, one has to source the missing stones, and this may not always be possible. The internal construction of the piece needs to be assessed – the last thing you want is to dismantle some portion and not be able to use it in the final piece. And all this reconstruction has to be explained to the karigars, which is a different ball game altogether!” %% The designer whose very unconventional start in the industry (she even learnt to render the jewellery designs the ‘right’ way much later!) has contributed immensely to her able handling of this current endeavor. %% For an explanation, we must digress a little to the story of her early days in the industry. As a teenager, she never picked up any of her jewellery off-the-shelf, instead getting it created as per her requirements in her father’s workshop – and that triggered an abiding love for the craft of jewellery creation. “I was fortunate in many ways,” she reminisces. “Though I was married early, my in-laws were supportive of my work. From simply getting jewellery made for myself, I developed a deep interest in the manufacturing process. In those days however, the karigars were a pretty closed community and not so willing to create the unusual designs that I used to think up. It took a fair bit of convincing, and when I started working closely with them, I also learnt what will work and what wouldn’t work in the actual making. I started to understand jewellery from the manufacturing point of view first – the practical aspect for me came much before the theoretical aspect.” Which is probably why, “learn the right way!” is the pithy advice that she offers new entrants to the field.%% Rhea is clearly a very pragmatic designer with an eye for detail; she looks much beyond the pencil sketches of jewellery into the intricacies – the kind of clasps and locks to be used, the materials, the stone setting, the strength of the filigree work, whether the metal would catch in the fabric, whether soldering is possible, the flexibility of the piece, how it will behave when bent or actually worn, whether it will sit well on the collar bone or the ear and so on. She fully realises that technical mistakes can cost big especially in these days of high raw material prices. %%
Rhea also firmly believes that understanding the karigar’s psyche, and communicating with them effectively is an inevitable and vital part of designing – no designer can claim to be a holistic one, without being able to do so. The eclectic designer also accepts graciously the unavoidable, seemingly mundane aspects - budgets, marketing, availability of material, planning for the future, gelling with current trends, the investment point of view in the Indian context, the saleability of a piece and so on and so forth.%% Another important aspect for a designer to consider, specially in the context of the revival project, is the wearer. Rhea is able to handle this very easily because of her own artistic sensibilities and her design methodology. “The wearer’s personality and overall wardrobe sensibility has to be considered – it’s useless giving a revived piece that is totally modern looking to someone who is more traditional in her dressing,” she says. “In any case, all my jewellery – whether one-off pieces, the heirloom revival pieces or the collection jewellery – is designed keeping the clients in mind. I offer a varied design spectrum – Indian, Western, Indo-Western, casual, formal et al to my clients. As a designer, I need to be able to incorporate the client’s desires and sensibilities and still create a wearable piece. For instance, there is a client who wanted an offbeat jewellery piece with a monkey as a central motif. This is now worn around the midriff with short tops and jeans, or saris, or as a pendant or as a brooch. This is where I look at not just the design, but also the overall apparel styling” %% Another plus point for Rhea vis-à-vis her new undertaking, is the fact that she usually designs her pieces around the stones that she sources. Rhea’s jewellery is always one-of-a-kind and unrepeatable – simply because she gets her inspiration from the stones and then creates pieces around them, rather than the other way round. Each piece of jewellery thus has a story of its own and a history behind it, which is an important part of its appeal. Naturally, when she has an existing piece in hand, her inherent creativity lets her see the possibilities within it almost instantly. %% This then, is the point when a client’s broken choker necklace becomes a long necklace with pearl chains linking the pieces together and a statement bracelet fashioned out of one of the broken pieces. Or a studded gold pendant which was earlier worn with a gold chain is strung together with asymmetrical pearls, gem studded foil beads and varied gems – a very contemporary look that works well for both Indian and Western attire. Another piece that was reworked to be worn with fusion attire is of stamped gold pieces with enamel detailing strung with gem studded foil beads and green quartz – the gold pieces were earlier strung with gold, red and green silk threads for traditional dresses. Similarly, there is an embossed gold pendant with black onyx and lava beads worn as a long necklace with Indo-Western attire which earlier had a red and green silk cord to be worn at the base of the neck with traditional clothes.%%
This ability to visualise complete pieces from the stones, or for that matter from existing jewellery, has held Rhea in good stead all through her career. “See, I am constantly thinking about jewellery design and mentally designing jewellery, and that’s what I teach my students to do – to visualise the pieces at every stage of the design process,” she enthuses. Mention her students and the design school and her eyes literally light up. She has been teaching for more than 17 years now, and the USP of the school is the personal attention that she gives all her students. The teaching methodology is unconventional in the same way as her own learning has been – the requirements and skill levels of each student are considered, and customised modules are created, if needed. The school is cozy and comfortable, and it is interesting to observe Rhea as she teaches. She pays an extraordinary amount of attention to even the apparently trivial details – filling in colour in the gemstone drawings, how much paint to use, how to correctly hold the paintbrush, using the right methods for creating basic sketches and more. %% “If you make this the main motif of the bracelet, show me how the clasp would look”, she tells one student. And another is gently reminded that “When the piece is finally constructed, these tassels that you have added are very likely to catch in the clothing”. A gentle admonishment comes in too, “The curve on the sketch that you showed me is completely different from the one in the final drawing – please don’t change the basics of your design, or else there are very high chances that the final piece that you manufacture may be rejected, even though the drawing was approved!” And then, training them to observe keenly, and translate the unlikeliest objects into design inspirations – an umbrella into a pair of chandelier earrings, for instance. All steps to ensuring that students learn how to maintain precision and quality at every step of the way from inspiration to final creation of the piece. %% Crediting a large part of her versatility to the teaching experience, Rhea explains, “I am inventive and I think that is a lot because of the teaching that I do. I don’t teach only one kind of design or method of making jewellery. As a jewellery design teacher, I have to ensure that my students get a whole wide range of knowledge, which means that I need to know everything there is to know about jewellery design.”%% For the heirloom jewellery, as for her other designs, India is a clear inspiration. A case in point would be the anklets she designed for the Swarovski Gem Visions India 2012 trend book. Rhea describes the piece from inspiration to final execution in vivid detail, “I chose Passionate India as my theme, and festivals and weddings and lots of colour are very quintessentially Indian,” she elaborates. “Then, I wanted to have something that is very uniquely Indian – so I thought of creating anklets, and to conceptualise anklets that would encompass India meant going back to the history and tradition of anklets. Anklets are an integral part of ancient Indian temple jewellery worn by the dancers who paid obeisance to the Almighty through their dance. Anklets had ghungroos, which connect to Indian melodies and music. The piece was handcrafted – again a predominantly Indian tradition. To give it a contemporary feel, I used the colours of the season – dark pink and green and hanging multilayer, studded and asymmetrical Swarovski chains. The anklets are also worn in the traditional style with screws with a dome shaped Swarovski gemstone and have a yellow golden sheen. The backing material is brocade and silk in maroon and green – again very festive, very bridal colours.” %%
Rhea is a strong believer in the preeminence and uniqueness of Indian motifs. “Some concepts and design motifs are very much Indian, but will always be chic – the kairi or the peacock design. How these are incorporated in design is what takes a piece from traditional to contemporary to fusion to modern. For instance, kundan is a centuries-old art of jewellery-making. However, if one can be versatile enough to use the basic ideology behind this art and create something new, fresh and wearable for the client as per her needs and personality – that’s what I consider true designing!” declares the India lover. Rhea’s ultimate compliment is when, “I see my jewellery on someone else. And I feel especially satisfied when someone else compliments them on what they are wearing!”%%
Breaking down something and then creating it afresh to give it that different look, all the while retaining at least some part of its original flavour is tough to say the least. And when that something is as precious as heirloom jewellery, then to undertake this process of transformation is certainly not for the faint hearted. Only those who are well-versed with the nitty-gritty of jewellery design, know the trends, understand and appreciate the history and story behind the piece can attempt this ‘re-invention’. Then of course, there has to be a deep-rooted love and passion for the craft itself. Rhea Nasta, Head Designer at the eponymous Rhea’s Studio and daughter of the late Laxman Popley, should know – this re-invention is exactly what her workbench is currently choc-a-bloc with.%% Listen to Rhea talk about her latest venture and the designer’s fondness and fervour for jewellery is immediately apparent. “The Indian woman has a fabulous variety of old, vintage, antique, heirloom jewellery that is just lying unused in bank lockers. And there is one common complaint – where in heaven’s name do we wear all those enormously heavy pieces? Some are too old-fashioned, some are broken or have stones missing, and some are so laden with memories, that the very thought of melting them sends shudders down the spine. But think about it – in these days of skyrocketing precious metal and gemstones prices, isn’t it a pity to have once-beautiful and potentially trendy pieces like these getting wasted in this manner?” wonders the designer who is a keen observer of the things and people around her.%% Apparently, the idea of reviving old jewellery struck her when Rhea’s inherent foresight and power of observation made her realise that the design cycle has reached a stage where old and vintage is back in fashion, but with some adaptation, ingenuity and originality. Apart from her keen sense of observation, conversations with various people, sightseeing, shopping, the architecture of places like Austria and Prague (which she recently visited), understanding the culture of various places in its true depth from the history to the current lifestyle of the people – all get her creative juices flowing. “Any idea will have a gestation period,” says Rhea. “Something has to just click inside me for random montages and fragments of inspiration to transform into full-fledged visualisations. My sub-conscious mind is constantly working on ideas. So, inspiration and ideas strike at anytime – one such instance is the brainwave of modifying this old jewellery.” %% Getting more animated, she goes on to say,“What I am aiming for now is getting all this jewellery out and reworking it. I am tweaking jewellery from my own trousseau and those belonging to a few select clients. The result has been well worth the effort because what we have now is jewellery that is fresh and wearable, and yet retains the essence and sentiment of the original.”%%
Is this “revival” is as easy as it sounds? “Certainly not!” exclaims Rhea. “In fact, there are several factors that need to be considered, and not all of them are technical. Firstly, there is the emotional history behind the piece, with most of this jewellery having precious memories associated with it. Most women, and that includes me, would be hesitant about putting it up for a reworking – what if the resultant piece does not look as good? It is also important to evaluate the piece for how much of its original design can be retained, so that the remembrance associated with it remains intact.”%% Apart from the emotional factor, Rhea feels the technical aspect is crucial. “One needs to really study the piece for feasibility in terms of how much it can be dismantled and rejoined,” she explains. “In case of broken pieces or those with missing stones or pearls, one has to source the missing stones, and this may not always be possible. The internal construction of the piece needs to be assessed – the last thing you want is to dismantle some portion and not be able to use it in the final piece. And all this reconstruction has to be explained to the karigars, which is a different ball game altogether!” %% The designer whose very unconventional start in the industry (she even learnt to render the jewellery designs the ‘right’ way much later!) has contributed immensely to her able handling of this current endeavor. %% For an explanation, we must digress a little to the story of her early days in the industry. As a teenager, she never picked up any of her jewellery off-the-shelf, instead getting it created as per her requirements in her father’s workshop – and that triggered an abiding love for the craft of jewellery creation. “I was fortunate in many ways,” she reminisces. “Though I was married early, my in-laws were supportive of my work. From simply getting jewellery made for myself, I developed a deep interest in the manufacturing process. In those days however, the karigars were a pretty closed community and not so willing to create the unusual designs that I used to think up. It took a fair bit of convincing, and when I started working closely with them, I also learnt what will work and what wouldn’t work in the actual making. I started to understand jewellery from the manufacturing point of view first – the practical aspect for me came much before the theoretical aspect.” Which is probably why, “learn the right way!” is the pithy advice that she offers new entrants to the field.%% Rhea is clearly a very pragmatic designer with an eye for detail; she looks much beyond the pencil sketches of jewellery into the intricacies – the kind of clasps and locks to be used, the materials, the stone setting, the strength of the filigree work, whether the metal would catch in the fabric, whether soldering is possible, the flexibility of the piece, how it will behave when bent or actually worn, whether it will sit well on the collar bone or the ear and so on. She fully realises that technical mistakes can cost big especially in these days of high raw material prices. %%
Rhea also firmly believes that understanding the karigar’s psyche, and communicating with them effectively is an inevitable and vital part of designing – no designer can claim to be a holistic one, without being able to do so. The eclectic designer also accepts graciously the unavoidable, seemingly mundane aspects - budgets, marketing, availability of material, planning for the future, gelling with current trends, the investment point of view in the Indian context, the saleability of a piece and so on and so forth.%% Another important aspect for a designer to consider, specially in the context of the revival project, is the wearer. Rhea is able to handle this very easily because of her own artistic sensibilities and her design methodology. “The wearer’s personality and overall wardrobe sensibility has to be considered – it’s useless giving a revived piece that is totally modern looking to someone who is more traditional in her dressing,” she says. “In any case, all my jewellery – whether one-off pieces, the heirloom revival pieces or the collection jewellery – is designed keeping the clients in mind. I offer a varied design spectrum – Indian, Western, Indo-Western, casual, formal et al to my clients. As a designer, I need to be able to incorporate the client’s desires and sensibilities and still create a wearable piece. For instance, there is a client who wanted an offbeat jewellery piece with a monkey as a central motif. This is now worn around the midriff with short tops and jeans, or saris, or as a pendant or as a brooch. This is where I look at not just the design, but also the overall apparel styling” %% Another plus point for Rhea vis-à-vis her new undertaking, is the fact that she usually designs her pieces around the stones that she sources. Rhea’s jewellery is always one-of-a-kind and unrepeatable – simply because she gets her inspiration from the stones and then creates pieces around them, rather than the other way round. Each piece of jewellery thus has a story of its own and a history behind it, which is an important part of its appeal. Naturally, when she has an existing piece in hand, her inherent creativity lets her see the possibilities within it almost instantly. %% This then, is the point when a client’s broken choker necklace becomes a long necklace with pearl chains linking the pieces together and a statement bracelet fashioned out of one of the broken pieces. Or a studded gold pendant which was earlier worn with a gold chain is strung together with asymmetrical pearls, gem studded foil beads and varied gems – a very contemporary look that works well for both Indian and Western attire. Another piece that was reworked to be worn with fusion attire is of stamped gold pieces with enamel detailing strung with gem studded foil beads and green quartz – the gold pieces were earlier strung with gold, red and green silk threads for traditional dresses. Similarly, there is an embossed gold pendant with black onyx and lava beads worn as a long necklace with Indo-Western attire which earlier had a red and green silk cord to be worn at the base of the neck with traditional clothes.%%
This ability to visualise complete pieces from the stones, or for that matter from existing jewellery, has held Rhea in good stead all through her career. “See, I am constantly thinking about jewellery design and mentally designing jewellery, and that’s what I teach my students to do – to visualise the pieces at every stage of the design process,” she enthuses. Mention her students and the design school and her eyes literally light up. She has been teaching for more than 17 years now, and the USP of the school is the personal attention that she gives all her students. The teaching methodology is unconventional in the same way as her own learning has been – the requirements and skill levels of each student are considered, and customised modules are created, if needed. The school is cozy and comfortable, and it is interesting to observe Rhea as she teaches. She pays an extraordinary amount of attention to even the apparently trivial details – filling in colour in the gemstone drawings, how much paint to use, how to correctly hold the paintbrush, using the right methods for creating basic sketches and more. %% “If you make this the main motif of the bracelet, show me how the clasp would look”, she tells one student. And another is gently reminded that “When the piece is finally constructed, these tassels that you have added are very likely to catch in the clothing”. A gentle admonishment comes in too, “The curve on the sketch that you showed me is completely different from the one in the final drawing – please don’t change the basics of your design, or else there are very high chances that the final piece that you manufacture may be rejected, even though the drawing was approved!” And then, training them to observe keenly, and translate the unlikeliest objects into design inspirations – an umbrella into a pair of chandelier earrings, for instance. All steps to ensuring that students learn how to maintain precision and quality at every step of the way from inspiration to final creation of the piece. %% Crediting a large part of her versatility to the teaching experience, Rhea explains, “I am inventive and I think that is a lot because of the teaching that I do. I don’t teach only one kind of design or method of making jewellery. As a jewellery design teacher, I have to ensure that my students get a whole wide range of knowledge, which means that I need to know everything there is to know about jewellery design.”%% For the heirloom jewellery, as for her other designs, India is a clear inspiration. A case in point would be the anklets she designed for the Swarovski Gem Visions India 2012 trend book. Rhea describes the piece from inspiration to final execution in vivid detail, “I chose Passionate India as my theme, and festivals and weddings and lots of colour are very quintessentially Indian,” she elaborates. “Then, I wanted to have something that is very uniquely Indian – so I thought of creating anklets, and to conceptualise anklets that would encompass India meant going back to the history and tradition of anklets. Anklets are an integral part of ancient Indian temple jewellery worn by the dancers who paid obeisance to the Almighty through their dance. Anklets had ghungroos, which connect to Indian melodies and music. The piece was handcrafted – again a predominantly Indian tradition. To give it a contemporary feel, I used the colours of the season – dark pink and green and hanging multilayer, studded and asymmetrical Swarovski chains. The anklets are also worn in the traditional style with screws with a dome shaped Swarovski gemstone and have a yellow golden sheen. The backing material is brocade and silk in maroon and green – again very festive, very bridal colours.” %%
Rhea is a strong believer in the preeminence and uniqueness of Indian motifs. “Some concepts and design motifs are very much Indian, but will always be chic – the kairi or the peacock design. How these are incorporated in design is what takes a piece from traditional to contemporary to fusion to modern. For instance, kundan is a centuries-old art of jewellery-making. However, if one can be versatile enough to use the basic ideology behind this art and create something new, fresh and wearable for the client as per her needs and personality – that’s what I consider true designing!” declares the India lover. Rhea’s ultimate compliment is when, “I see my jewellery on someone else. And I feel especially satisfied when someone else compliments them on what they are wearing!”%%

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