SHINE TO THE NINES

Three contemporary jewellery designers who are steering fine and demi-fine jewellery in new directions open up about their metamorphic impulse

- NIDA NAEEM AND PRATIKSHA ACHARYA

Not-So-Precious, Please

For Anu Merton, it's the design that matters more than the material

Pearls, polki, and everything pretty find their way to Anu Merton’s studio, where she creates the jewellery she wants to wear. The designer’s vision is to bring the wear and shine of real India to the world, and redefine ‘everyday jewellery’ while she’s at it. “I’ve noticed that the term ‘everyday jewellery’ often refers to jewellery with minimal or no character. It’s become a sort of catch-all for diluted, over-the-counter, Westernised designs. What I’m here to do is make authentic Indian jewellery everyday – not necessarily in terms of material but in design – to bring back motifs, workmanship, and character to pieces you can wear every day,” she elaborates.

As Merton often says, she’s not a metal snob. Working with silver, gold, brass, precious and non-precious stones alike, she recreates curious trinkets and baubles she’s discovered during her travels and work with her own design interventions to make them more wearable. This comes from a personal place as well. Merton was never comfortable with saving up to buy expensive things, only to be scared to wear them out of fear of losing them. This prompted her to create intricately designed yet affordable pieces for her eponymous label, which she now runs with her husband, who takes care of the tech side of things.