Silver Lining

Eina Ahluwalia (Express photo by Oinam Anand)

Eina Ahluwalia is easily bored. In her 20s, she quit a high-paying marketing job for the fear of waking up to a monotonous life. She began making contemporary jewellery instead. In 2009, she got bored of that as well and wanted something more exciting. It was then that she began her journey as a contemporary conceptual jewellery artist and has now become a name to reckon with. Over the last few years, every piece from the Eina Ahluwalia label has come with a story, from questioning standards of beauty to commenting on warring nations. Eina’s latest collection, “Paradisiac”, along with some popular pieces from her other ranges are on display at multi-designer accessory store Nimai’s new and larger address in Shahpur Jat. Priced between Rs 3,500 and Rs 32,000, the jewellery is on display till Friday.

Voluptuous figurines in gold could be spotted across the floor, with display windows showcasing earrings, chokers, rings and bracelets. “This collection has been in the works for about a year now. As women, there’s constant pressure on how we should look on the outside. These installations are European Venuses, and centuries ago these formed the standards of beauty. It’s changed considerably now, and ‘Paradisiac’ is about celebrating every size, shape, colour, gender, and sexuality,” says the Kolkata-based designer.

As she takes one around the store, Eina points at other pieces with Grecian mythological creatures on them. “That’s Siren, head and voice of a woman and body of a bird. In mythology, only those with a true heart can find her. This is a comment on physical perfection,” she says, as she points at another piece with the six-winged angel, Seraph, on it. All the jewellery is in brass or silver, with gold plating. At Nimai, Eina also introduced a mini range made of gold, her first.

While designers swear by her name now, fashion magazines replete with displays of her pieces and celebrities often spotted in her creations, few know that her first-ever collection “How I felt” didn’t sell at all. “It was 2011; I had just come back after short courses from Rotterdam and Florence. It was too conceptual and didn’t look like jewellery. I realised that you have to slowly educate the market, and that the pieces must look like jewellery,” says Eina. She cracked the code with her next, and by far the most successful, collection called “Wedding Vows”. “Kirpan” neck pieces from this range are ordered even now. “This was my stand against domestic violence. It’s a topic people can relate to. According to me, each collection should tell a story, instead of being just empty designs,” says Eina.

somya.lakhani@expressindia.com