|*He is a multifaceted man, much like the diamonds he works with and one moreover who straddles different worlds. Yet, he has managed to keep all facets glittering, showing themselves off to best advantage. Nilan Singh sketches a portrait of Yogendra Sethi, painter and jewellery designer.*|%% Yogendra Sethi was born into a family which traced its roots seven generations back and had a venerable 80-year home, Anand Bhawan, in Indore, in Madhya Pradesh. Both the state and the city in central India have a rich tradition of Art and Culture, Embeddded in Sethi’s DNA was an artistic streak that boiled over into a passion. As a young boy, he got himself a degree of MFA from the Indore School of Fine Arts, which had seen the likes of M.F. Hussain and Bendre – two legendary painters of India – go through its portals. The rustic landscapes around him provided him with inspiration and he filled his canvas with many a rural scene. %% But getting an MFA was not enough for the talented young man. He went to Berkeley, California to study Business Administration, and where he procured his MBA. That was where he found his second muse – the beautiful hills and valleys of California. “The Valleys of California gave me a fascinating vision to paint my thoughts on canvas since the early seventies,” says Sethi thinking back on those years. He captured their vast and haunting beauty on canvas in watercolour and had his first show in Berkeley, California in 1974. %% After completing his MBA in 1975, he returned to India and began the export of gemstones and diamonds. Gradually their beauty and colour took a hold of him and from there began a journey into another artistic form of expression. “Dealing in diamonds and gemstones was my early business,” explains Sethi. “And since I dealt in the natural fancy colour diamonds, I began visualising several concepts in designing new jewellery. Colours and their combination is my passion.” And natural colour diamonds became the perfect medium to express this new passion in an ever changing kaleidoscope of colour. “I can find millions of colours in natural fancy colour diamonds for me to create a work of art and at the same time wearable modern jewellery,” he says.

Yogendra Sethi has been designing jewellery since the mid 1980s, but is was in the 1990s, that he began building the YS18 brand under which his unique jewellery has today become famous worldwide. And colour, and its use to create the most sumptuous looking pieces has become his hallmark. It is in the subtle combination of complementing or contrasting colour, the delicate blending of multiple shades and hues that create the very special effect that at once entrances and lures the viewer. Under his expert hands, flowers take on magical forms and the natural diamonds give them colour and allure that rivals nature. %% Ask him what his inspiration for his jewellery collection is and he states unequivocally, “Nature and antiquity.” %% For Sethi, the “combination of a variety of shapes and colours in diamonds” are the highlights of his jewellery designs and what distinguishes them. And it is hardly surprising that he thinks that the Rainbow collection, with shades of fancy colours is his best. %% For him, jewellery is not just an artistic expression. “The market consists of human beings,” Sethi says. “If I can express the emotions of people in my jewellery this would attract many people and so the market.”

Though he works with natural colour diamonds, a rare calling, he finds that he has had an excellent response from a loyal and growing clientele. “It is very difficult for a designer to design jewellery with natural colour diamonds,” Sethi explains. “To get exactly the stones you want, may not always be possible. Sometimes, from say 100 cts of stones, you may get only 5 cts, with which you can work.” What has made it easier for him is that he trades in natural colour diamonds and hence has access to the material necessary for his designs. That is another reason that makes his jewellery unique – the sheer dearth of designers committed to creating jewellery in fancy colour diamonds, which can also be more expensive. %% How do the two – painting and jewellery design - impact each other. “The two expressions are counterpart and complimentary to each other,” he says. “My painting helps me in creating most adorable Jewellery pieces and the spectrum cuts of gemstones convey a prismatic effect in my paintings.” %% With most people, one artistic expression might have taken precedence over the other in the course of time. But Yogendra Sethi is devoted to both. While the YS18 brand has grown from strength to strength, Sethi has continued to hold painting exhibitions in India and the US, steadily over the years. Apart from exhibiting in several cities in California, he has had exhibitions in New York and Las Vegas. In India, his shows have taken place in Mumbai and Delhi apart from his home city Indore. %% If one looks at a piece of jewellery designed by Yogendra Sethi, the sheer beauty, the use of colours and the shape might give the impression that it is an difficult to design piece. But Sethi himself lives by the credo of simplicity –“Designs should be simple, not complicated”, is his final word on designing, and his message to the young upcoming crop of designers.

|*He is a multifaceted man, much like the diamonds he works with and one moreover who straddles different worlds. Yet, he has managed to keep all facets glittering, showing themselves off to best advantage. Nilan Singh sketches a portrait of Yogendra Sethi, painter and jewellery designer.*|%% Yogendra Sethi was born into a family which traced its roots seven generations back and had a venerable 80-year home, Anand Bhawan, in Indore, in Madhya Pradesh. Both the state and the city in central India have a rich tradition of Art and Culture, Embeddded in Sethi’s DNA was an artistic streak that boiled over into a passion. As a young boy, he got himself a degree of MFA from the Indore School of Fine Arts, which had seen the likes of M.F. Hussain and Bendre – two legendary painters of India – go through its portals. The rustic landscapes around him provided him with inspiration and he filled his canvas with many a rural scene. %% But getting an MFA was not enough for the talented young man. He went to Berkeley, California to study Business Administration, and where he procured his MBA. That was where he found his second muse – the beautiful hills and valleys of California. “The Valleys of California gave me a fascinating vision to paint my thoughts on canvas since the early seventies,” says Sethi thinking back on those years. He captured their vast and haunting beauty on canvas in watercolour and had his first show in Berkeley, California in 1974. %% After completing his MBA in 1975, he returned to India and began the export of gemstones and diamonds. Gradually their beauty and colour took a hold of him and from there began a journey into another artistic form of expression. “Dealing in diamonds and gemstones was my early business,” explains Sethi. “And since I dealt in the natural fancy colour diamonds, I began visualising several concepts in designing new jewellery. Colours and their combination is my passion.” And natural colour diamonds became the perfect medium to express this new passion in an ever changing kaleidoscope of colour. “I can find millions of colours in natural fancy colour diamonds for me to create a work of art and at the same time wearable modern jewellery,” he says.

Yogendra Sethi has been designing jewellery since the mid 1980s, but is was in the 1990s, that he began building the YS18 brand under which his unique jewellery has today become famous worldwide. And colour, and its use to create the most sumptuous looking pieces has become his hallmark. It is in the subtle combination of complementing or contrasting colour, the delicate blending of multiple shades and hues that create the very special effect that at once entrances and lures the viewer. Under his expert hands, flowers take on magical forms and the natural diamonds give them colour and allure that rivals nature. %% Ask him what his inspiration for his jewellery collection is and he states unequivocally, “Nature and antiquity.” %% For Sethi, the “combination of a variety of shapes and colours in diamonds” are the highlights of his jewellery designs and what distinguishes them. And it is hardly surprising that he thinks that the Rainbow collection, with shades of fancy colours is his best. %% For him, jewellery is not just an artistic expression. “The market consists of human beings,” Sethi says. “If I can express the emotions of people in my jewellery this would attract many people and so the market.”

Though he works with natural colour diamonds, a rare calling, he finds that he has had an excellent response from a loyal and growing clientele. “It is very difficult for a designer to design jewellery with natural colour diamonds,” Sethi explains. “To get exactly the stones you want, may not always be possible. Sometimes, from say 100 cts of stones, you may get only 5 cts, with which you can work.” What has made it easier for him is that he trades in natural colour diamonds and hence has access to the material necessary for his designs. That is another reason that makes his jewellery unique – the sheer dearth of designers committed to creating jewellery in fancy colour diamonds, which can also be more expensive. %% How do the two – painting and jewellery design - impact each other. “The two expressions are counterpart and complimentary to each other,” he says. “My painting helps me in creating most adorable Jewellery pieces and the spectrum cuts of gemstones convey a prismatic effect in my paintings.” %% With most people, one artistic expression might have taken precedence over the other in the course of time. But Yogendra Sethi is devoted to both. While the YS18 brand has grown from strength to strength, Sethi has continued to hold painting exhibitions in India and the US, steadily over the years. Apart from exhibiting in several cities in California, he has had exhibitions in New York and Las Vegas. In India, his shows have taken place in Mumbai and Delhi apart from his home city Indore. %% If one looks at a piece of jewellery designed by Yogendra Sethi, the sheer beauty, the use of colours and the shape might give the impression that it is an difficult to design piece. But Sethi himself lives by the credo of simplicity –“Designs should be simple, not complicated”, is his final word on designing, and his message to the young upcoming crop of designers.

|*He is a multifaceted man, much like the diamonds he works with and one moreover who straddles different worlds. Yet, he has managed to keep all facets glittering, showing themselves off to best advantage. Nilan Singh sketches a portrait of Yogendra Sethi, painter and jewellery designer.*|%% Yogendra Sethi was born into a family which traced its roots seven generations back and had a venerable 80-year home, Anand Bhawan, in Indore, in Madhya Pradesh. Both the state and the city in central India have a rich tradition of Art and Culture, Embeddded in Sethi’s DNA was an artistic streak that boiled over into a passion. As a young boy, he got himself a degree of MFA from the Indore School of Fine Arts, which had seen the likes of M.F. Hussain and Bendre – two legendary painters of India – go through its portals. The rustic landscapes around him provided him with inspiration and he filled his canvas with many a rural scene. %% But getting an MFA was not enough for the talented young man. He went to Berkeley, California to study Business Administration, and where he procured his MBA. That was where he found his second muse – the beautiful hills and valleys of California. “The Valleys of California gave me a fascinating vision to paint my thoughts on canvas since the early seventies,” says Sethi thinking back on those years. He captured their vast and haunting beauty on canvas in watercolour and had his first show in Berkeley, California in 1974. %% After completing his MBA in 1975, he returned to India and began the export of gemstones and diamonds. Gradually their beauty and colour took a hold of him and from there began a journey into another artistic form of expression. “Dealing in diamonds and gemstones was my early business,” explains Sethi. “And since I dealt in the natural fancy colour diamonds, I began visualising several concepts in designing new jewellery. Colours and their combination is my passion.” And natural colour diamonds became the perfect medium to express this new passion in an ever changing kaleidoscope of colour. “I can find millions of colours in natural fancy colour diamonds for me to create a work of art and at the same time wearable modern jewellery,” he says.

Yogendra Sethi has been designing jewellery since the mid 1980s, but is was in the 1990s, that he began building the YS18 brand under which his unique jewellery has today become famous worldwide. And colour, and its use to create the most sumptuous looking pieces has become his hallmark. It is in the subtle combination of complementing or contrasting colour, the delicate blending of multiple shades and hues that create the very special effect that at once entrances and lures the viewer. Under his expert hands, flowers take on magical forms and the natural diamonds give them colour and allure that rivals nature. %% Ask him what his inspiration for his jewellery collection is and he states unequivocally, “Nature and antiquity.” %% For Sethi, the “combination of a variety of shapes and colours in diamonds” are the highlights of his jewellery designs and what distinguishes them. And it is hardly surprising that he thinks that the Rainbow collection, with shades of fancy colours is his best. %% For him, jewellery is not just an artistic expression. “The market consists of human beings,” Sethi says. “If I can express the emotions of people in my jewellery this would attract many people and so the market.”

Though he works with natural colour diamonds, a rare calling, he finds that he has had an excellent response from a loyal and growing clientele. “It is very difficult for a designer to design jewellery with natural colour diamonds,” Sethi explains. “To get exactly the stones you want, may not always be possible. Sometimes, from say 100 cts of stones, you may get only 5 cts, with which you can work.” What has made it easier for him is that he trades in natural colour diamonds and hence has access to the material necessary for his designs. That is another reason that makes his jewellery unique – the sheer dearth of designers committed to creating jewellery in fancy colour diamonds, which can also be more expensive. %% How do the two – painting and jewellery design - impact each other. “The two expressions are counterpart and complimentary to each other,” he says. “My painting helps me in creating most adorable Jewellery pieces and the spectrum cuts of gemstones convey a prismatic effect in my paintings.” %% With most people, one artistic expression might have taken precedence over the other in the course of time. But Yogendra Sethi is devoted to both. While the YS18 brand has grown from strength to strength, Sethi has continued to hold painting exhibitions in India and the US, steadily over the years. Apart from exhibiting in several cities in California, he has had exhibitions in New York and Las Vegas. In India, his shows have taken place in Mumbai and Delhi apart from his home city Indore. %% If one looks at a piece of jewellery designed by Yogendra Sethi, the sheer beauty, the use of colours and the shape might give the impression that it is an difficult to design piece. But Sethi himself lives by the credo of simplicity –“Designs should be simple, not complicated”, is his final word on designing, and his message to the young upcoming crop of designers.