RAJI ANAND 41, Founder, Raji Anand Jewellery, Chennai www.facebook.com/rajidesign
Nuts, bolts, ice cream sticks, and more recently, Scottish plaid fabric. Nothing is considered too outrageous to make a piece of beautiful jewellery in Raji Anand’s studio. Chennai-based Anand takes pride in the fact that she is not a trained jewellery designer and hence can turn the rules that come with being one on their head. “I don’t start with a draft, but with a picture in my head, which is followed by laying out the material I want to use in the piece,” she says.
Statement pieces that lend themselves easily to both traditional and contemporary wear may be her forte, but it is her temple jewellery with a twist that keeps people coming back. With a global clientele and no seasonal collections, Anand lets inspiration from everyday objects decide what enters her range. “Sometimes a small element can trigger off an entire series of statement pieces,” she says.
Having launched her brand in 2012 with an earlier foray into garments, she now creates necklaces, earrings, cuffs, hair bands and finger rings. Her new collections include Steam Punk, where she uses spare parts such as nuts and bolts for bold, contemporary pieces, and her recent experiments with fabric jewellery as well.
Over the years, Anand has managed to establish a niche for herself where she treads the line between contemporary and ethnic with ease, catering to both at once. “When you are wearing a traditional saree but not draping it in conventional style, the traditional gold and silver jewellery often doesn’t make the cut. That’s where I come in,” she says.
Price `5,000 onwards