Visiting jewellery that lives in museums always makes me sad. I feel for those stunning pieces — travelling through time, but stuck up on pins as exhibits for eyes to watch. No one to wear them, no one to make them a part of their memories, their warmth, their stories; denied life and a place among the living, settling for awe and stares instead of real touch. Much like captive animals, tamed and enslaved at parks, trained to put on a show.
I know it’s weird to think of them as living things, or things that feel us as they become part of us. But weirdly, I also know that the tikka I wore at a party in Bhutan remembers all the fun we had — the night, the people, the conversations, the dancing and the almost full moon on the lawns of Gangtey Palace in Paro, come rushing back like an open faucet when I touch it fondly. I’m sure my rozana polki earrings (so christened because I wore them everyday) loved Jaipur winters as much as I did. I know my old polki rings come to life every time I take them out for dinner, just like I know my baaj pendant loves Makar Sankranti as much as me and wants to go back for it. They were, and are a part of my experiences — a part of the fun, the joy, the intimacy, or the warmth I felt.
Who says they don’t come alive on the right person?
I’ve been gifted the most beautiful old mine diamond ring by my husband that has been in his family for hundreds of years, but — wait for it — I haven’t started wearing it yet because I have a gnawing feeling I want to change something about it… and if I’m being completely honest, as ludicrous as it might sound, I think the problem is that the diamond hasn’t spoken to me yet! Every time Ben asks me what I want to change about it, I say hold on, it will tell me...And I really do believe it will when the time is right.
I think stones speak to us in their forms, shapes and colours, reminding us of things, evoking us to imagine and dream, guiding our next steps. When I, as a designer, play with them, they know exactly what they want me to do to them. They let me model them but they also steer me in the right way. We’re a team!
So when I laid my eyes on these Mycenaean gold necklaces from Greece, my first thought was, we’ll make a great team! I needed them. I want to adorn my neck with stacks of these filigree designs that date all the way back to the Minoan civilization that began around 2000 BC and soon after spread to Mycenae other Greek islands.
And suddenly it hit me — this is the same feeling I’m overcome with in the jewellery section of the National Museum of Delhi with those gorgeous polkis, spinels, emeralds and rubies. I want to free them from captivity — take them out to a roaring dinner party, or dancing till 4am (at the risk of sounding like I’m planning a heist (I’m not, but who knows)).
Which is why I thought it was only fair that I recreate Mycenaean gold for all of you to wear and breathe life into. There’s tons of foreign designers inspired by Indian designs that they then lovingly make their own. I think it’s time I took something from Greece too, and made it lovingly our own — handmade in India.
