A look at Kavya Potluri’s Instagram page (@kavyapotluriofficial) will tell you that the wearer needs to meet the label halfway. With the sole purpose of making jewellery fun and less intimidating, the brand screams statement with motifs of elegance.
Bored with all the done-to-death designs flooding the market, 27-year-old Kavya Potluri has carved a niche for herself with her bold yet detailed styles in a short span of about two years. Designing has always been a passion for Kavya, who, even as a student, would spend most of her time sketching. “I would never study. I had my own bead station and would make jewellery out of different types of beads. My mother would go out of her way to help me source rare and colourful material for my designs. All of this has made me what I am today,” she recalls.
It was her mother’s backing and push that led Kavya to turn her passion into a fruitful business. “My mom thought that I was good at it and wanted me to pursue jewellery design. At first, I was not so keen about it as I thought I would be better at clothing,” says the Bachelors in Jewellery Design and Masters in Gemology, Jewellery, Manufacturing and Design from Gemological Institute of America (GIA), Carlsbad in California.
That’s when Kavya found her true style and she views art. “When I returned to India, I realised the craziness going on in our country when it comes to weddings. The bride is decked up in gold from top to bottom and everyone is wearing the same thing in different colours. Most of them do not even enjoy wearing such stuff. So, I wanted to start something that is fun to wear, something in fusion and something casual.”
This is how her label was born, in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, when when the world was locked down. After a long year of research which included travelling and finding craftsmen, followed by six moths of training them, she finally was set to hit the market in April 2020. “Finding people who could execute designs using mixed metal took time and a lot of convincing. When I was finally ready to launch, the pandemic hit. I had to move the launch to November 2020,” she says.
Kavya works with a mix of metals, a bit of silver and gold plating. Most of her time goes in sampling — sometimes it takes six months to make one product sample to see if it works or not. As a growing brand, she has a 10-member production unit which focuses on executing her designs to the T.
Today, Kavya is set to move out of her tiny studio into bigger place, which she will unveil soon. But the journey this far came with its share of challenges. “I have friends who are jewellers and my concepts were very different for them. That’s something I struggled with. I had to do all the ground work and travelling by myself,” she says.
But, through all these years and the ups and downs, she drew inspiration from her father all the way. “Growing up, I have seen him making some tough decisions; he never gave up. He is the strongest person I have ever known and that is how I want to be too. He always made things look possible. He always wanted me to dream big.”
Speaking of dreaming big, Kavya wants to become the craziest creator at some point. “I don’t want to stop creating. I don’t want to be known as just a jewellery designer. Eventually, I would want to diversify. Fashion is the language that I want to use to convey myself,” she concludes.
Kavya Potluri is changing the concept of jewellery one motif at a time. At 27, she runs a successful label which is all about handcrafted demi-fine pieces and out-of-the-box designs. She opens up to CE about how she has carved a niche for herself in this competitive market, her inspiration and making jewellery less intimidating.