A glass bead can hold more history than meets the eye. For MOI Fine Jewellery, tracing the journey of these tiny objects led to a larger exploration of migration, memory and the communities that have made them part of everyday life. Rooted in India’s jewellery-making traditions, the brand’s latest work looks at Western India’s moti bharat beadwork and reimagines its visual language through contemporary jewellery, alongside a collaboration with Kartik Research.
At the heart of the collection is glass beadwork, particularly moti bharat, a tradition deeply associated with Western India. Founder Puja Shah explains that the starting point was the journey of the material itself. “During our research into jewellery traditions from Western India, we discovered how glass beads had travelled from Venetian workshops through maritime trade routes into India, and eventually became deeply embedded within the lives and cultural practices of pastoral communities in Kutch.”
Rather than reproducing traditional motifs literally, the collection draws from the rhythm and visual language of beadwork: repetition, layering, colour and movement. “The intention was always to allow them to become something new,” Puja says. The connection with Kutch’s rural communities was equally important, particularly in understanding how techniques and motifs travel, evolve and acquire new meanings.
That translation was not without its challenges. Beadwork has an inherent fluidity, while fine jewellery demands precision and structure. “We wanted to avoid treating the craft simply as an aesthetic reference,” Puja explains. Working at jewellery scale meant that even the smallest details became magnified, from the proportion and spacing of a bead to the way an entire surface catches light. The process involved experimentation and a constant negotiation between handwork and precision.
Several pieces embody this conversation. Puja points to the Zarna earring, inspired by Kutch tribal ear pendants, the Morgan collection of tortoises with moving appendages and the Freya winged earrings among her favourites. The Dragonfly and Jonah brooch, worn on the head by Isha Ambani at the Met Gala, were among the more skill and time-intensive pieces.
The collaboration with Kartik Research extends this dialogue beyond jewellery through a series of handcrafted buttons. Kutch became a natural point of connection, given Kartik Research’s longstanding engagement with the region’s textile and embroidery traditions. “The handcrafted buttons emerged from that shared language,” Puja says. “We wanted to take something traditionally functional within clothing and approach it with the same thought and detail as a piece of jewellery.”
For Puja, the larger conversation is about keeping craft alive without freezing it in time. “Preservation doesn’t necessarily mean keeping something frozen in its original form. It can also mean understanding its essence deeply enough to allow it to find relevance in a new context.” The collection therefore becomes less about replication and more about entering into dialogue with history, while allowing those traditions to find a contemporary vocabulary.
The deeper takeaway, she believes, lies in encouraging people to look closer at the objects they wear and the stories held within them. In a world increasingly flattened by fast fashion and algorithms, craft can offer a connection to culture, identity and legacy. “We want people to take a pause and reflect on what they collect and what they’ll pass on to the generations after them,” Puja concludes.
Prices start at Rs 70,000. Available online.
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