Tradition meets modernity

I believe jewellery is a lot more than just an adornment or style; it defines an individual. It tells a story about the person who is wearing it. To me, jewellery should complement one’s personality and not outshine them – says Nikitha, a young designer who is carrying forward family legacy but with a touch of her own design sensibilities.  Now it’s time for her dream store - Jewellery by Nikitha – the four-storied jewellery boutique that opened on Raj Bhavan Road, Hyderabad.  

She shares, “Each jewellery piece is personally curated by theme. This means intricately engraved statement engagement rings, to neckpieces for bridal wear, ‘everyday’ jewels to which the young are more accustomed: bangles, bracelets, rings, earrings all are laden with meaning, woven with diamonds, precious stones and corals. I also specialise in Basra pearls, diamond jewellery with stones and brooches for men.” “I would like to add a lot of meaning to my customers' jewel box. I want them to be eternal.” My focus is also to offer styling sessions for bridal clients.

Excerpts from an interview

What is the core identity of your designs? 
Our fundamental ethos is to intermingle period and traditional jewellery, weaving new trends to appeal to every section of buyers who shops for timely fads and styles. Each of the pieces we create is unseen and have signature appeal to it. From design to production every work is crafted by our in-house “karigars” (workers), it helps us retain regal appeal to every jewellery that is offered to our clients in the store. I am inspired by traditions, and modernism – I’m into splendour, and I translate it into contemporary jewellery. That’s what my clients love

What are the nine shades of woman you talk about?     
The nice shades reflect the personality and diversity of woman, her lifestyle aspiration. Be it fashion, jewellery or an accessory.  Our new collections reflect the glory and the nine flawless characteristics that a woman embodies. 

Compassion – A beautiful Zambian emerald beads and uncut diamond necklace that emphasises the empathy and ever-so compassionate woman. 

Warmth – A beautiful Burmese ruby necklace where the colour red symbolises warmth, illustrate the ceaseless love and affection of a woman.

Courage – A flat far sized diamond necklace, bold and just like the woman. 

Patience – Basara pearl necklace characterises and adds glitter to her patience. 

Strength – The beautifully carved, 100ct coral necklace to show as corals possess the qualities of strength and vitality.

Power – Yellow stands for energy, optimism and freshness. The yellow sapphire necklace with beautiful uncut diamonds and gave it a touch of Victorian jewellery with the finish and polish. 

Elegance – She personifies elegance and she is the best creation of God and hence this intricately designed and crafted tanzanite and emerald necklace that sings along with her elegance.

Love – A spinel necklace demonstrates ‘love’, Spinels are stones that are less appreciated but have this beautiful reddish-pink colour just as special and rare as love. 

Beauty- To glorify the inner beauty of a woman blue symbolises trust, loyalty truth, and heaven a blue sapphire necklace adds to the finale of nine shades of woman collection. 

Tell us about your family's 100 years of jewellery tradition.     
Our family has been into jewellery business over 100 years ago. My great grandfather Late Shri Laxmaiah inherited his father’s gemstone trading business in the early 1900s. My grandfather Amaranth Linga, still a very active and inspiring businessman helped his father in his business starting 1950’s. He mainly traded with other dealers and dealt with corals and pearls. 

My grandfather Amaranth Linga is a very big collector of antiques and rare gemstones. He continued to be in the same business as his father Late Shri Laxmaiah but took it a notch up by getting into making ornaments on order for people we knew. My father Anil Linga who joined the business in the 1980’s had completely different vision. 

My father Anil Linga took the business in a direction where it grew many folds. He started to manufacture jewellery in large scale and supplied them to other jewellers. He was the first to introduce Victorian jewellery in the Indian market. He designed, manufactured and sold his jewellery. He is also an avid collector of rare gemstones and Basara pearls. 

I was never a fan of jewellery and never planned to get into the business. I was back in Hyderabad for a gap year and decided to go to the UK to pursue my Masters from Indiana University, Bloomington. I planned to help my dad. During the time I actively designed and dealt with the small group of retail customers my dad had. The appreciation I received for my design sense and work from those for whom I created jewellery pieces bolstered my confidence and I realised this is the journey I would like to pursue. I decided to drop my plan for my masters and get into the business fulltime. 

What is the dominating trend of the upcoming wedding season? 
I am not a proponent of the current trend where people wear layers of jewellery. I think it takes away from the essence of the design. I have clients coming in all the time asking me to design layers of items in the same genre, but I am completely against the idea as it takes away the story from the piece. 

I love mixing up different genres and designs. I take inspiration from different eras and fuse them with my customer needs. The idea is to create a trend, or a fashion statement of your own, and desist from being like everyone around.

- With inputs from Shreya Veronica.