When silver and gold fretwork, gemstones, textile blocks and weaves come together with fabric as the main canvas, the results can be sensational.
Eina Ahluwalia's creations can be delicate or chunky, trendy, new age, chic and even mystifying, but never boring.
Her inspiration for ‘experimental contemporary jewellery' as she calls it, comes from stitches, weaves and dyes, from sheers, felt, shibori and embroidery, and even from scraps and pieces of discarded fabric.
In her ‘Elevated: From Garment to Ornament' line, gemstones and silverware do not merely complement the wearer's garment, they integrate with fabric as accents to create statements.
Imagine flowing sheer stoles in shades of eau de nil and oranges, ingeniously knotted and twisted, their ethereal loveliness highlighted by a perfectly-formed shell, a mother-of-pearl pendant or a row of abalone shells in dreamy blue.
Or, tiny fretwork pieces that interrupt free flowing sheer fabric. Or, miniature kalamkari blocks of ‘amris', tulip, roses or curving vine set in silver and gold fretwork as pendants, rings and brooches.
Eina's ‘chest warmer' line uses squares and bibs of shibori cloth touched with silver work and felt to create enormous pendants that cover the chest! Her ‘Goth gamchas' towels have specially woven silk and lycra teamed with superbly-crafted miniature replicas of Gothic rose windows done in silver, gold plated or oxidised.
And, how do you use scraps of fabric as couture jewellery? If it's an old mirror work piece, Eina uses it as an enormous neck piece pendant and teams it with rose of smoky topaz!
Or, she melds tiny bits of discarded brocade and block prints and adds a touch of embroidery, a few gemstones, a tiny silver ‘amris ‘ or fretwork to create a casual shoulder piece or bracelet.
Take a look at Eina's line at Prakrit Arts, 9 Dhandayudhapani Nagar, II Street Kotturpuram. The show concludes today.
