FLORA BHATTACHARY

The British designer sheds some light on her influences and thoughts on the jewellery industry

Tell us about your latest collection, Shakti.

I had been thinking about how to create a collection around the concept of shakti, which is energy that’s responsible for creation [in the Hindu tradition]. This idea came together when I observed how the women around me were dealing with our “new normal” after lockdown was imposed early last year. At this point, I knew that the collection should be dedicated to the strength of independent and intelligent women.

It seems you were also inspired by art deco.

I’ve always loved art deco, particularly the Darbargadh Palace in Gujarat, India, which was influenced by the final phase of the European art deco movement. It was built by the last Maharaja of Morvi in the 1940s and I just love the palace’s faded glamour and decadence.

What’s your first memory of jewellery?

The first piece I was given was when I was a child living in India. My parents took me to Taxila, which is an archaeological site in Punjab, Pakistan. One of the workers took a shine to me and handed me a carved carnelian bird that he had dug from the site. I still have it, and it’s inspired one of my brand’s most popular talismans that clients can attach to and wear on their pendants.

When did you first design jewellery?

I had a very creative upbringing. My father was an artist and my mother had a fashion company. My sister and I had our own enamelling kiln from a very young age and we would make little enamelled brooches and earrings, which we would give to our friends and family.

What trends do you predict for 2021?

I think that colour will become popular again because people will want to celebrate when the pandemic subsides.

If you could design jewellery for anyone, past or present, who would it be?

I’m obsessed with Merle Oberon, who was an Indianborn British actress in the 1930s. She was impossibly beautiful and incredibly glamorous. It would have been an honour to have designed for her.

If you weren’t a jeweller, what would you be?

I used to study history and wanted to be an archaeologist at one point.