Pay Attention To These Jewellery Brands For Modern Heirlooms

A modern Indian wedding is a culmination of creative and familial forces. From exhaustive dress code mood boards (we’ve all had to beg, borrow, steal, or buy an outfit to make sure that ultimately the bride is happy with our wardrobe), celebrity saree drapers, sustainable mandaps, and customised everything, the big fat Indian Wedding is bigger, better, and more curated than ever. A tell-tale of the new look of the Indian wedding is the bride’s lehenga — it’s been tweaked and tailored to perfection to match a bride’s needs. 

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Pockets, check. Comfortable? As much as it can be. So, too, is the jewellery that brides are now reaching for. On the lookout for pieces that are versatile enough for an outing post-wedding season, yet with future heirloom quality, these chosen pieces are the kind that would go down as well with a humble white tee as they would with a couture lehenga. A flock of homegrown brands are breaking away from the monotony of bling to mindfully create pieces that are no longer destined to collect dust in the locker. Handpicked for their versatility, craftsmanship, and impeccable design, these are the brands to bookmark.

Homegrown Jewellery Brands That Can Work Beyond The Aisle

The Perfect Edge By Studio Renn 

The brainchild of husband-wife duo Rahul and Roshni Jhaveri, both alumni of Carnegie Mellon University, Studio Renn is for those who view fine jewellery as a thought-provoking medium. Picture a signature cuff replete with diamonds, the twist? The casting skin on gold is left unpolished, juxtaposed against the polished rims of the voids – the end result is a glimmering accessory that’s industrial but curiously striking on the sleeve of your favourite cocktail dress. 

These precious works of art are ideal for brides who like things pared down – switching Jhumkas for ear cuffs and ornate chokers for striking pendants – ideal for pre-wedding dinners and dance parties, and later with your favourite pantsuits in the boardroom. 

“Our work is conceptual, contemporary, and innovative. The creative process supercedes everything. And the work needs to be forward-thinking while building on our collective past. Every piece has a reason to exist.” 

Playing with intangibles such as gemstone reflections, negative spaces, and volume is a strong part of the studio’s design DNA. Here, conventional materials like diamonds and gold find curious canvasses in concrete, discarded wood, and found pieces of stone. The designers subvert the innate concept of delicacy associated with jewellery, their learning years spent in galleries and museums supply a layered perspective. The pieces possess an unusual tactility where a bracelet encrusted with Burmese sapphires undulates in a scale-like texture or a ‘Fish’ diamond pendant echoes the shape of ribs and spine.

“Our collectors react to design and strong narratives. It doesn’t matter whether they are from Chennai or New York, they wear our jewellery effortlessly – often all the time. It becomes a part of them and that is the kind of work we like to create the most, where people connect with them beyond just being jewellery.”

Feminine Armour by Swapna Mehta 

It’s hard to miss a Swapna Mehta piece. An alluring three-dimensional quality encapsulates her aesthetic – multipronged necklaces encrusted with minute Kundan, Polki, and Meenakari work come together in fierce silhouettes. “As I was searching for jewellery, I realised that most of what I saw was either mass produced or trend-based or felt inauthentic due to their lack of character.” Her fondness and fascination for vintage finds led her to collect from nooks and crannies of local markets as she began to build mosaics of these bits and pieces. These unconventional formations have transformed into fine jewellery that’s avant-garde yet wearable. Much of Mehta’s work is focused on amalgamating traditional elements of varied origins – South Indian temple jewellery, Art Deco, Victorian accents, and Jadau Tukdis collide into conversation-starters that elevate any ensemble.

Her tutelage under famed Sri Lankan architect C Anjelandran has played a pivotal role in shaping her sensibilities, urging her to embrace the asymmetry of materials and fusing antiquity with modernism. A no-brainer for wedding festivities, she encourages her pieces to be layered with heirlooms, and they continue to serve well with kaftans and button-down shirts alike, often even worn to art shows. “The consumer who chooses to wear us is someone who is not afraid to break barriers, yet rooted in their own beliefs and sense of self. We have had the fortune of dressing up brides who have given our designs a completely different narrative with their own sense of style.”

Maximalist Jewels by Pavit Gujral

“My goal is to be the ‘pop star’ of fine jewellery, crafting wearable art that celebrates the beauty of the natural world.” Born in Calcutta and raised in Chandigarh – two cities with distinct cultural identities — Dubai-based designer Pavit Gujral’s exposure to contemporary design led her to pursue a graduate degree at the Gemological Institute of America in New York.

Her pieces are for brides who believe in ‘go big or go home’ and like expressing their playful side through jewellery – flora and fauna motifs come together in saturated precious stones and dramatic silhouettes. Her award-winning Dancing Fish necklace is crafted over six months and is inspired by the magnificent betta fish. Curving majestically around the neck, it is set with rubies grading into pink sapphires and merging into diamonds, creating a dazzling ombré effect. With techniques such as filigree and classic gemstone settings, the designer blends her Indian heritage with Dubai’s cosmopolitan flair.

This celebrity-favourite brand resonates with those who aren’t afraid to let the jewellery be the focal point of their ensembles. The Squirrel Ring encrusted with pink tourmalines, tsavorite drops, and diamonds makes for the ideal statement piece at an afterparty – crafted for the bride who wants to kick off her heels instead of sneakers post-ceremony. “Our ideology centres on storytelling and the wonders of nature. Each piece is bold, bespoke, and designed to make a statement.  My consumers are luxury enthusiasts and entrepreneurs, united by their love for trendsetting jewellery.”

Jet-Setter Jewels by Tallin

The buzzing craft centre of Jaipur is home to Tallin and the brand’s founder Akshat Ghiya. Belonging to a family that has specialised in the precious stones trade for over five decades, the designer spent much of his childhood shuttling between Italy and India. Tallinn came about as a natural extension of his expertise gathered over the years, “I follow a stone-first approach where the gems themselves inspire a design. When I began, a lot of my ideas sprouted from an engineering point of view, which was not always realistic but offered perspective and intervention from what people were used to — the brand has been an outcome of constant experimentation. I work with a talented team of 25 Bengali artisans who mould and shape everything by hand, their inherent passion for creating is infectious.” Soon, Ghiya found himself gravitating towards an interesting aesthetic, one devoid of references or mood boards; the palpable energy and the atelier’s location in Johri Bazaar proved to be his biggest inspiration.

Masterful colour blocking through hand-carved gemstones takes the form as talismanic pendants and bold lariat necklaces, where turquoise petals sit alongside enamel spikes. The designs also offer a refreshing alternative not only for the ceremony but events leading up to it.

Case in point: Isha Ambani wearing their coral dangler earrings and ‘Candy’ pendants for her brother’s pre-wedding festivities earlier in 2024. “Our focus is to create balance with light and comfortable designs that are opulent with a sense of ease. We employ the same stone in portrait, rose, and brilliant cuts; this variety creates reflections and depth to the given piece. Long earrings that move with the body, the architectural quality of the flowers should feel like they are emerging out of your skin, I like the jewellery to come alive,” shares Ghiya. Delicate yet dynamic, Tallinn is crafted for the bride who’ll rock her jewellery at a destination wedding and re-wear it on a loop for her beach getaway after. 

This has been adapted for the web from an article published in Manifest’s December 2024-January 2025 issue that is now on stands. For more stories like this, subscribe here!