Manifesting in Metal

Manreet Deol creates striking contemporary sculptural jewelry using traditional Indian metalsmithing techniques.

How were you introduced to design?

MD: I have always been interested in crafting things and drawing. My journey in design truly started when I started creating jewelry from recycled materials for the iconic Delhi store called People Tree. As a ninth grader, it was incredible that my pieces were selling and I was earning money! This inspired me to apply to design school. I studied Accessory Design at NIFT in Delhi and went on to do Fashion Marketing at Parsons NYC.

When did you decide to set up your own venture?

MD: Most designers hope to start their own companies where they have ultimate creative control. I had been working in product design for almost 16 years and had this profound realization one day that there was a limit to how far one could rise as a designer in a company! I wanted a more limitless scope to my work and for that the only possibility was to open my own design house.

It was really my brother Samraat who decided for us that we were going to have a jewelry business. I was living in Pondicherry after moving back from New York and he was working with Sales Force in Delhi and ready for the next adventure. Over a simple phone conversation we realized we had to go back to my jewelry roots and his e-commerce start up experience with Amazon. We wanted to offer a new viewpoint on Indian jewelry and how it was bought. We set up Manifest Design in 2013 to make authentic meaningful jewelry that was committed to revitalizing the traditional metalsmithing traditions of India. We wanted to offer a fresh new esthetic for our contemporary accessories.

How do you design a collection?

MD: It’s a very instinctual personal process. Each piece begins as a clay sculpture in my hands that is an outcome of thoughts and ideas that I have been processing for a few days or months.