Bejewelled Art

By Neehar Mishra

Photography: Courtesy Eina Ahluwalia

'Celebration' Necklace 

Revamping jewellery as conceptual art, designer Eina Ahluwalia’s intricately designed silver pieces have taken the international market by storm…

For most of us, finding our true calling is a life-long struggle between our needs and desires. However, if we are lucky, we just happen to stumble upon that one moment of clarity and our whole life falls into perspective. Eina Ahluwalia is a case in point, who, in her quest for self-fulfilment and self-expression, made a switch from the corporate world to jewellery designing.

containment 'amphora' neckpiece  

Byzantine Collection  

Scintillating, intricate and slightly edgy, Eina’s jewellery is set apart not only in its design but also in its craftsmanship. “Conceptual jewellery is where the concept or the idea is the most important, and the jewellery is just a way to tell the story. Such jewellery is evaluated, like fine art, for its ideas, inventions, intuitions and content rather than for its precious materials or conformity to tradition. It is not directed or bound by fashion and is more timeless,” Eina explains. For her, it is also a meeting point between her search for meaning and her passion for jewellery.

Eina Ahluwalia

As an ideology, each piece she designs is handcrafted by master craftsmen in Kolkata to keep alive traditional skills that are now being lost to mass production. Her signature style epitomises complex and exquisitely detailed handmade fretwork (a fast disappearing skill).  Chiselling silver in her latest collection, ‘Forgotten Jewel’, launched at the Lakme Fashion Week earlier this year, has each piece gracefully fashioned in contemporary designs while the metal’s innate qualities remain intact.

Heart of Gold Pendant

Gold Through my Veins Cuff

With a career built on hands-on experience of working closely with craftsmen, Eina has recently trained in experimental techniques and materials with Alchimia School of Contemporary Jewellery, Florence.  This has helped hone her bench skills without the loss in translation with the involvement of craftsmen.

'Light Burst' Resin Earrings

Golden Light Drip Cuff

Redefining the purpose of jewellery from ornamentation to self expression, Eina’s brand of conceptual jewellery is synonymous with luxury jewellery poised at the intersection of art, fashion and design.

Kirpan Closed & Open

Cuff - Basilica of St Chiara, Romanesque Gothic,13th century