There’s something to be said about thinking out of the box, and Aashita Relan, a Delhi-based architect aces that. She loves whipping up the creativity around ordinary items, turning them into playful, arty pieces.
Like all great ideas take seed, this self-professed maximalist, who’s drawn to history and fashion, just sat down and thought, "'Why not make headphones more fun?” She transformed audio headphones into embellished statement jewellery pieces, inspired by the Indian maang-tikka and maatha patti. It took one pair, a shared image online, and suddenly people across the world wrote in to say they wanted one. Today, her ‘Anarkali Disco Chali’ headphones, as she called them for their dramatic, badass flair, “sit somewhere between a jewellery box and a dance floor!”
Aashita takes Manifest into the inception of this audio accessory, why she loves the phrase 'couture technology' and the next viral design on her drafting board.
You’ve taken something associated with contemporary pop culture and dressed it in the language of Indian heirloom jewellery. What sparked off the idea?
Aashita Relan (AR): It actually started very instinctively. My design language has always leaned towards Indian traditional forms. I’ve been making things for as long as I can remember, from sketching and DIY projects as a child to constantly adding an extra layer of detail to my work today. That instinct is actually how the embellished headphones began. Even as a child, my drawings and DIY projects were full of ornament, colour and Indian motifs.
In 2024, I started a personal project series where I reimagined everyday objects with my own creative language. I’d always wondered why technology had to look so serious and functional when everything else we wear can reflect our personality.
The headphones came from that thought. I began treating them less like a gadget and more like a head ornament, bringing in elements of Indian heirloom jewellery. What started as a small experiment quickly became the piece people connected with most, and that made me realise there was something much bigger in the idea. There was no big business strategy behind them. I simply thought headphones could be more fun, made a pair, shared them, and suddenly people from different parts of the world wanted one too.
The name Anarkali Disco Chali is so cool. What does the name mean to you, and what does it denote for the headphones?
(AR): The name captures the personality of the piece quite perfectly. “Anarkali” immediately brings up this very traditional, dramatic, badass & unapologetic woman almost regal visual world, while “Disco” throws it into something playful and contemporary.
That contrast is essentially what the headphones are. They don’t take heritage too seriously or technology too seriously. They sit somewhere between a jewellery box and a dance floor. The name has a sense of humour to it, which was important to me because the pieces are meant to feel joyful rather than precious in an intimidating way.
The headphones feature temple-jewellery-inspired details, meenakari, gemstones and maang tikka elements. How did you translate traditional jewellery techniques onto such an unexpected canvas and was it a challenge?
(AR): A lot of it has been trial and error, but the translation felt quite natural because Indian jewellery already has such a strong relationship with the head and face. I drew from the structure of the maang tikka and maatha patti, the symmetry of temple jewellery, suspended jhumka forms, meenakari detailing and gemstone embellishment, and then reworked those elements around the shape of the headphones.
The real challenge was making all of that wearable. I didn’t want it to feel like jewellery had simply been stuck onto a gadget. The chains, hanging elements, stones and decorative sections all had to be placed so they worked with the curves and movement of the headphones, without catching in the hair or becoming uncomfortable.
So the process became much more about composition, balance and construction. The ornamentation had to feel integrated into the object, while still retaining the richness and familiarity of traditional Indian jewellery.
Was it important to you that the pieces retain the feeling of an heirloom, despite being built around contemporary technology?
(AR): Yes, although I wanted it to be an heirloom with a slightly different attitude. Indian jewellery is often deeply sentimental. Pieces get passed down, altered, restyled and worn differently by each generation. I love that idea of an object carrying a story always.
Technology usually exists at the opposite end of that spectrum. We upgrade it and replace it constantly. Putting those two worlds together creates an interesting contradiction. I like the possibility that a very contemporary object can still feel personal enough to keep, remember and perhaps even pass on in some form.
Do you see these headphones as jewellery that happens to play music, or technology that happens to look like jewellery?
(AR): I see them somewhere in between, and that’s what makes them interesting to me. They begin as technology, but once you wear them, they start behaving almost like jewellery.
I wanted the headphones to have presence even before the music starts. They should feel like part of how you dress and express yourself, not just something functional you put on your head.
For me, the exciting part is that neither side has to disappear. They can still work perfectly as headphones while also feeling ornamental, sculptural and personal. That balance between function and adornment is really the whole idea.
Could a cool object like this become a new kind of modern bridal accessory, something a bride wears not just for photographs but as part of the celebration itself?
(AR): Absolutely. Indian bridal dressing has always been about adornment, ritual and a little bit of drama, and I love the idea of extending that language into something unexpected.
A bride could wear them while getting ready, during the after-party, for a DJ set, or simply as one detail that feels completely her own. They still carry references to maang tikkas, jhumkas and heirloom jewellery, but in a way that feels playful rather than ceremonial.
To me, that is what modern bridal style is becoming: keeping the emotion and richness of tradition, but wearing it with much more personality, humour and freedom.
Who do you imagine wearing them? A bride, a fashion collector, a music lover—or someone who simply wants to make an entrance?
(AR): Honestly, all of the them. I don’t think they belong to one type of person. I imagine someone who enjoys dressing with intention, has a strong sense of self and doesn’t mind being noticed.
It could be a bride, a DJ, a collector, a performer, or someone who simply thinks their headphones deserve the same attention as their jewellery. The common thread is personality. They’re not really made for disappearing into the background.
Anarkali Disco Chali has generated considerable curiosity online. Did you expect the headphones to resonate so strongly on Instagram?
(AR): Not at all. I made the first prototype pair because the idea amused me and I wanted to see if it would actually work. posted them almost as an extension of a personal experiment. Then people started sharing them, saving them, asking where they could buy them, and imagining their own versions. That was the surprising part. People understood the object instantly.
I think Instagram responded to that little moment of confusion: wait, are those headphones or jewellery? Anything that makes you stop scrolling for a second has already done something right.
What does architecture teach you about designing an object that jewellery or fashion perhaps doesn’t?
(AR): Architecture teaches you that a beautiful idea still has to hold itself together. You become very aware of structure, proportion, balance, material, movement and how someone actually experiences an object. That thinking follows me even when I’m working at a much smaller scale.
With the headphones, I’m constantly asking where the visual weight sits, how something is attached, whether it moves comfortably, and whether decoration is helping or fighting the form.
I think architecture gave me a useful habit: I can be maximalist on the surface, but underneath, I still want the logic to be clean.
If Anarkali Disco Chali is part of a larger exploration of wearable art, where do you see the idea going next? Are we seeing the start of couture technology?
(AR): I love the phrase couture technology because that is very close to the territory I want to explore.
For me, the headphones are less a final product and more the beginning of a larger question: why should technology always look industrial, neutral and mass-produced?
I’m interested in turning functional objects into things that feel collectible, expressive and culturally specific. So yes, I’d love to push this into other forms of wearable and personal technology. The bigger idea is not to decorate gadgets for the sake of it. It’s to make technology feel as considered as the rest of what we choose to wear.
Do you think we’re entering an era where everyday technology becomes increasingly personalised, decorative and collectible?
(AR): Definitely. We already personalise almost everything around our technology, from cases and straps to charms and skins, so it feels inevitable that the objects themselves will start becoming more expressive too. Technology has become such a visible part of how we dress and live, but aesthetically, a lot of it still looks remarkably similar.
I think people increasingly want objects that say something about them. We don’t all want the same black rectangle forever. There’s also something nice about making technology feel less disposable. If an object feels personal, beautifully made or even slightly precious, you relate to it differently.
If you could reinvent another everyday tech object using an Indian craft tradition, what would you choose?
(AR): I have too many answers to this question. I’d love to work with watches, speakers, cameras, keyboards, wearable devices, even chargers. I’m especially interested in objects that are usually treated as visually boring because that gives you more room to surprise people.
I’d love to explore things like bidri, meenakari, metal inlay, hand engraving or textile techniques in a way that actually responds to the construction of the object rather than simply sitting on top of it.
For me, that’s where it gets exciting: not asking, “How do I decorate this piece of technology?” but “What would this object become if Indian craft was part of its DNA from the beginning?”