Be it at charity events like Heal A Child or entrepreneurial ventures, Rachna Mehta has been a well-known name in Hyderabad’s social circle. The lockdown, however, gave her the opportunity to delve deep into one of her other passions - repurposing heirloom jewellery. She enrolled herself in a course at Gemological Institute Of America and soon after launched Rachna Mehta Jewellery. “Since childhood, I have always been fascinated with jewellery - gold, diamonds and precious stones. One of my favourite things to do on a holiday is to check out a local jewellery store wherever I am. I have done so in the lanes of France, Capri in Naples or even at Charminar,” says the city-based designer. She reminisces about how she loves peeping into every jewellery store to just have a look at the jewellery and on most days changes her accessories twice to match her outfit!
Polishing skills
The idea of repurposing started when she remodelled her family-owned antiques. “It all started with me reworking my existing pieces and making new ones. I inherited my grandma’s jewellery set and found it heavy to wear. I got that transformed into two different neckpieces, that were immensely more wearable.” She honed into her skills, used the months spent in quarantine to study, research and attend as many GIA webinars she could. “I established a strong channel of craftsmen to source gems and work on designs with,” informs Rachna.
Beyond upcycling
The process of bespoke transformation begins, once Rachna meets her patrons and spends some time understanding them better. “I need to know them better to understand how to approach the design. Once I do, I share my ideas with them to make the final piece,” says the designer. Rachna shares that she is glad, given the trend of upcycling is coming back to the fore, even stronger. “We should not melt the metal, but use the same design but restructure the elements to make it wearable,” she asserts.
Repurposing apart, she also sources antique pieces on a pre-order basis. The homegrown entrepreneur has also been busy ideating a line of wearable modern jewellery, which she wants to launch in a few months. “I believe that jewellery should be such, that it can be worn on an everyday basis. It also needs to be versatile enough to be worn on a shirt or sari,” says Rachna, sharing that her ready-to-wear collection will start around rupees 1 lakh.
Price on request.
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