From gold to silver and brass
Fashion
By Sumona Roy

NEHA PANDIT'S heavily scarred hands have a story to tell. They speak of hours of beating, twisting, cutting and shaping copper sheets into beautiful pieces of neoteric art — jewellery that is wearable and entirely handmade.

Her focus is entirely on textures and shapes — designs that are abstract, yet pleasing to the eye. She enriches copper with brass, iron, steel as well as glass enamelling and fibre glass. The rich colours of molten glass and shells lend each ornament a style of its own.

Neha is one among a fast emerging breed of jewellery designers in India who specialise in carving ornaments, largely out of copper and brass, as alternatives to traditional gold and silver. From delicate earrings and nose studs to fancy chains and bracelets, they are making them all.

Significantly, these designers are careful that their "creations" are not mistaken for junk jewellery. They are exclusive, one-of-a-kind pieces, heavily priced and usually, made to order. At the same time, they make no attempt at imitating or appearing even close to gold or silver pieces.

The distinctive features lie in their design and utility. For instance, Shefali Patel makes pieces that can be used in a "multi-fold" way. For a pair of earrings, she would design adjustable ear tops of various colours -with pearls, rubies and emeralds.

Likewise, for a necklace, the pendant would be adjustable, the idea being that the base design of the ornament remains the same, but it can be worn differently. In this way, the wearer gets the best value for money. She is able to wear the pieces more often.

Providing these options in gold is not always possible. Unlike the West where gold jewellery can be considered a fashion accessory, in India, the yellow metal is very much an investment for the rainy day. Usually, nobody tampers with a piece of gold ornament.

Copper and brass afford the added liberties of alloying with other metals, especially German silver, without loss of value. A particularly popular range is making the rounds in Bombay’s celeb circuit, purely on the strength of such alloying.

Thus there are tiny, true-to-life apples, cherries and grapes, colourfully lacquered and covered with rhinestones, in the form of brooches and earrings, pins and clips as well as pendants, buckles, buttons and cufflinks.... all in brass and copper.

Designers like Rani Mishra and Vandana Sawhney point out that rather than floral patterns and motifs, non-gold jewellery pieces are based on organic themes. Even as plastic could be used for pearls, the ornament is no longer a poor man’s substitute for real jewellery. But then, there are also copper rings and bracelets being designed, which are set with the genuine stuff—diamonds, topaz, sapphire and rubies. At first sight, they look gold, but with a different texture and finish.

Apart from gemstones, these jewellery pieces are studded with contrasting metal chips and blobs, coloured glass, beads and ancient coins. But the most popular seems to be the rudraksha bead for its healing properties.

Among non-studded jewellery, there are bead formations, rope-like entwinements and etched pieces which are catching the fancy of the fashion conscious. Some are, of course, inspired by traditional and antique gold jewellery.

Many are shaped into charms — cross, anchor, heart, pyramid... zodiac signs and stylised dolphins. They are popular among youngsters and are best given away as mementos. They do not cost much, but mean a lot to people who are superstitious.

According to Mishra, one reason for pure gold getting out of fashion is that yellow is no longer the hottest colour of the season. White has taken its place while copper and brass jewellery, which provide a third option, could well be trend-setters in future.

Moreover, the career woman is getting increasingly conscious about the need to accessorise jewellery with clothes. She is always looking out for simple and trendy styles that lend versatility and yet, are not artificial.

Already many designers, producing hand-crafted pieces, have shifted to machine-made stuff. Traditional machinery is being suitably modified to take care of the changes. And it is only a matter of time before craftsmen adapt themselves to the trend. (MF)