“I’d rather wear art than own it,” laughs Gina Joseph of Zola , a brand that specialises in jewellery inspired by Indian and Western art.
Gina, who has worked in advertising, journalism and corporate communication, says that though she always loved art, she hadn’t really thought about delving into it full time. Till she decided to take up an Art Management Course at DakshinaChitra, that is. “That changed everything,” she says. “I was familiar with Western art forms but this course also introduced me to the art, architecture and culture of India.”
In fact, her introduction to jewellery designing first began as a project for the course. “As part of our final project for the Indian Art course, we were asked to create a product that drew its inspiration from what we had learnt about Indian art and architecture. I had designed three necklaces inspired by the Salabhanjikas, Madanikas and Darpanasundaris of Indian temple architecture,” she says, adding that she had worked with the wood carvers of Raghurajpur in Odisha for this project.
The project made her realise that she wanted do something relevant for society with her passion.
She opted to conduct a design intervention workshop at an NGO in Bhubaneshwar to review and create more contemporary designs using the Dhokra technique. According to her, “Dhokra is one of the oldest known methods of metal casting, dating back to the pre-historic era. The Dhokra/Bell metal is an alloy of nickel, brass and zinc that lends an antique appeal to the casting.”
Working with the women of the Dhokra Damar tribes of Odisha, the focus was, “to bring about new design ideas in Dhokra and metal beads (kanthi, sorisia and khuda sorisia) jewellery. There were seven women artisans from Karimul village in Odisha, who helped me design over 70 new pieces of jewellery. We worked with brass, copper, white metal, Dokhra motifs, Langia Saura tribal art, and Kutia and Koya combs of the Kutia Kondh and Koya tribes respectively. This design-intervention workshop was seen as an interface that matches traditional Dhokra jewellery to the needs of modern living,” she says.
And there was no looking back. Emboldened by her success, she continued creating art-inspired jewellery, returning to conduct her second workshop in Odisha.
“I have always loved jewellery but wasn’t allowed to buy too much as a teenager. So when I got bored of the pieces I owned, I would break them and make new ones with a different spin on it. Now I am doing what I love and trying to create a sustainable model with it,” she says.
Her designs are retailed at all three Shilpi stores in the city and can also be viewed on her facebook page >https://www.facebook.com/zolaindia?ref=hl .
