SHINING THROUGH THE SEASON
IKROOP DHILLON 33 Founder, Ikroop Glass Art Jewellery, Gurgaon
Ialways had a creative streak. But I never thought that it would take the form of jewellery design,” says Ikroop Dhillon, Founder of Ikroop Glass Art Jewellery, who got into designing jewellery about three years ago. Taken by the beauty of the fused glass during her vacation in Murano, Venice, in 2013, she spent several nights watching YouTube videos to learn glass art. Realising that there were no institutes in India for glass art training, she found a mentor in Atul Bakshi, a glass artist, who introduced her to the fundamentals of Murano jewellery. Pairing Murano glass art technique with Indian craftsmanship, Dhillon is currently the only glass artist in India creating fused glass jewellery. Her collection, inspired by nature, is available at major lifestyle stores in Delhi, Gurgaon and Kolkata and retailed online through her website, ikroop.in. The jewellery starts at `2,000 and goes up to `10,000. “The struggle, initially, was to find the ideal quality of glass along with craftsmen who would be willing to work with the technique,” she says. Her company has witnessed a 100 per cent growth annually in the past two years.