Customers look for creativity, novelty in jewellery: Sangeeta Dewan

Customers are increasingly looking for the novelty factor in jewellery purchases, says Sangeeta Dewan, who has over 20 years of designing experience and is currently the principal designer at Indian brand Zoya.

The latest launch of the brand, from the House of Tata, is a collection titled Krsna, which captures the popular legends that surround the deity. The statement pieces feature the picturesque images of the crown of Krishna - the peacock feather, the matki, flute, iconic chariots, Govardhan Parvat; his adolescent years with Radha, Sudarshan Chakra and the Geeta Updesh.

The faces and silhouettes of mythological characters have forever adorned jewellery pieces. But what has changed about their designing over the years? "Designing for jewellery is challenging owing to the ever-changing trends as well as needs of the customers. Over the years, design has also evolved from traditional to new, innovative and modern forms.

"Today, customers are looking for unique and new design ideas. In this collection, Zoya focuses on the story of Krishna and showcases it in unique, abstract and contemporary forms. Customers are open to purchasing such jewellery pieces since it is unique and emanates a select style statement," said the National Institute of Fashion Technology alumnus.

Krsna features a gamut of vibrant colours such as turquoise, varied hues of blue and emerald greens. The craft palette features the technique of painting enamel along with Champlev enamel in its rich Indian avatar and partaj engraving along with glittering polki in 24 carat kundan setting. Such capsule collections are catching the fancy of customers who go for high-end jewellery, Dewan said.

"Capsule collections are derived from original and innovative thoughts and emotions that strike a chord and inspire one to design limited edition pieces. It is a certain theme or idea that strongly motivates designers like me to create a niche collection that caters to exclusivity and selectiveness desired by customers, as more and more customers look for creativity and novelty in jewellery.

"Capsule collections are becoming bolder and more prominent, with cutting edge design and high innovation," said the designer, who was associated with Tanishq for a long time. Priced from Rs 1.5 lakh to Rs 15 lakh, the line, Dewan says, is "targeted at the discerning, design-seeking woman who is well-travelled with a global outlook, yet at the same time she is grounded to her culture and traditional roots".