Yashasvi Saraf is a third generation jeweller. She has grown up around jewellery, gems being sorted and designers sketching all day. With a background in finance and accounting, her early stint in making jewellery sketches and playing around with gemstones eventually led her towards jewellery designing. “Even though I had the entire world of finance to grow further in, my heart had already set its place in the world of gems and jewels,” says Yashasvi.

Yashasvi remembers being given packets of pearls and rubies to count, totally oblivious of the fact that this was totally going to be her calling! All those sights of my dad crafting jewels and my mom grading gems and client dealings have really shaped my love for jewels and made me a design aesthete.”

She has never been a commercial jewellery creator. “I have always been a couturier at heart. I don’t just keep churning designs and never believed that I can make luxury pieces if I just keep creating in bulk. So, when I give design direction to my artists or when I’m designing, I make concepts from the point of view of the discerning audience. So every piece right from ideation to completion is made one-of-a-kind.” She is deeply influenced by Flora and Fauna and Abstract Art, so in one piece you could find an elephant and in another you might find a three dimensional work with a rare Burma ruby suspended somewhere in it. “I believe in creating legacy jewels. So, if someone is wearing my jewel even 50 years down the line, it still remains a classic and one can make out that this is a piece of Yashasvi!”

She has strived to break the shackles of traditional jewellery making.“I’ve believed and strongly stuck to the rule of creating jewels that are not ordinary, that have their own identity and not something that already exists somewhere.” Unseen, new and independent of influences are what her jewels offer.

She has almost 30 new concepts in queue for the spring, the latest one that’s about to finish is a gorgeous garden of enchantments neckpiece. “It’s a stunning neckpiece with small handcrafted elephants, bundles of twigs, scatter of leaves, bunches of Basra pearls making small buds, small fruit hangings almost as if you’re in a dreamy spring setting, watching the play of nature.

Yashasvi draws inspiration from art, nature, structures and so many things could inspire her on a daily basis. She makes a note of an idea the moment it strikes and then briefs her design team about it. The concept is then traditionally handmade on paper with every angle and setting drawn in detail. She then sits with her craftsmen who follow the sketch to the T. The gems and stones are then sourced accordingly or are cut as per the design. “We ensure strict grading of our gems and diamonds to provide the finest we can offer for the price points set. At every stage of manufacturing, I look into the progress and I do the ultimate final layout of the jewellery piece when it is on wax for sample structure. Once I approve it goes into final making and we never hurry the process of finishing . I personally ensure I keep wearing them to check their fittings, their fall, whether it will complement the person wearing it, to ensure that if I were a buyer, I would definitely buy that piece.” 

Her bird ring won the award under Couture Jewellery under Rs 5 Lakhs category. On her holiday, she was at a park surrounded by a plethora of birds perched on branches and that just struck chord in her heart and it didn’t leave her mind. “The next thing I did was take out my iPad and immediately drew a rough sketch of the bird. Now, the question was in what form should we use this bird. So what I found to be the best option was to form a ring. So now the challenge was to craft it in a manner that it captures the bird in its most organic form and then we did a number of sketches to set the bird and finally after days of toiling we completed our sketch. Instead of setting a branch we decided to make it look very vintage and organic, and we perched the lark on a bed of gold coin.”

Yashasvi loves working with emeralds, it is something about the colour and intensity that just instantly makes her so happy! She also loves pearls. “Most of my gold jewels will have thousands of seed sized natural pearls scattered everywhere.” Her design studio is busy crafting some magnificent gold legacy pieces like perfume bottles and vermillion cases. Also in the pipeline are some resplendent jewels coming up with rare carved gemstones collected over years. A beautiful rare Columbian parrot is being meticulously crafted to go into a sautoir neckpiece. “We are also currently working on creating a range of our signature artistic jewels in lighter range which is playful, easy to carry and at the same time works like a statement piece.”

When she is not in her studio, sketching or toying around with gemstones, she will be probably be on the Gram! “I am an avid reader and an Instagram junkie. You will find me either with a new book or surfing art, updating myself with new creations, designers and trends, I love to keep myself updated with the happenings in the world of luxury. I also love to travel. I believe travelling broadens our horizon. Whether it is visiting Historic places or Nature trails, there is inspiration everywhere.”