Check out Ridhi Asrani’s new jewellery line that is sustainable and artisan-friendly

Hyderabad-based jewellery designer Ridhi Asrani unveiled her label that is designed to create designs that are heirloom, opulent but edgy. Her first collection Devasthan - which translates into the temple. And the collection is designed to remind you of one - be it the prayer beads, bells chiming, fresh flowers stunning architecture. Here’s the excerpt from our chat with her:

When did you start your jewellery label? Please tell us a little about you and the label?
A while ago, I was sampling a lot of designs and figuring out what could work as an extension of the kind of jewellery I would wear and also build a label that has an aesthetic that is unseen and can be recognised. That’s where the idea of the label was born. The idea behind the label was to create pieces that are heirloom, opulent and cutting-edge.


Tell us a bit about you and when you developed an interest in designing?
Jewellery is something that accidentally happened to me, I’d say. I had finished my graduation in business management and was keen to do study luxury brand management post that. However, it didn’t feel like a calling. I stumbled upon the jewellery design course at Gemological Institute of America and decided to give it a shot.

What’s your collection all about? What are the theme and inspiration?
My first collection is Devasthan - which literally translates to temple. It borrows from the physical and spiritual experience of visiting a temple and celebrates the idea of going to rituals, the architectural glory of its structure and is a homage to faith, tradition and culture. Think prayer beads, bells chiming, flowers offered, lamps, intricate stone carvings.

What would you say are the highlights of the current collection?
My favourite piece (which is also the first design I ideated in the collection) is the Shikhara ear dangler. It’s inspired by the tapering temple structure atop most temples. It’s an ear dangler which has sheets of dangling metal made to replicate temple bells and they actually chime and make a sound just like bells do. Another would be the Mallika Glove. It’s a spin on the age-old haathphool and looks like a jewelled glove when worn.

Tell us a bit about the brand aesthetics?
Since I was trained in fine jewellery design and gemology, I wanted to create luxury fashion jewellery that goes on to be a diffusion of what fine jewellery is and is a blur between both. Each piece is handcrafted from scratch and has a lot of intricate detailing or 3D elements. But we make it in base metal and use crystals to only accentuate the piece. Also, the metal always matches the crystal used to keep a monochrome vibe. All pieces are gold plated in 18-carat and we also have some in silver polish.


What is the inspiration behind your aesthetic?
I would say the ’80s era of jewellery was all about sculptural elements and played with different metal textures, metal tones and metal took the centre stage so the design really stood out.


Who is your ideal customer?
I think someone whose style is good conjunction of maximalist and minimalist. Definitely someone who has fun accessorising and knows how to elevate an outfit with a great bag, belt or a great piece of statement jewellery.


With sustainability looking like the future of fashion, how does your business seek to support it?
I have been ideating about the packaging labels wherein I credit the kaarigar who made the piece as a way of honouring their talent. I feel they’re co-creating each piece with me as each piece has different technical challenges and my design only has value because of their immense talent. We work with a small team of artisans in Jaipur and everything is made in a limited way, so as to encourage slow fashion and also make each design more valuable in terms of purchase as we wish to churn out new design drops frequently. So not many have the piece you’ve got.



Rs 6,000 onwards.