What's goes around, comes around. Wedding jewellery — dominated by sleek, slender designs and minimalist contours the past few years — is getting a traditional makeover this shaadi season. And it's giving grandma's umpteen reasons to smile, for back in vogue are the kanpasha, mantasha, hansuli, mathar bagan and scores of other old-world designs and trinkets.
And the rising price of gold has not put a lid or dampener on jewellery shopping. Says Anargha Chowdhury, director, Anjali Jewellers, "Actually, traditional jewellery never went out of fashion. Even when the modern designs came into vogue, there were always takers for the classic designs. It could be that people couldn't afford it because of the price tag as traditional jewellery tends to be heavier Now we're making lightweight jewellery, while keeping the classic designs intact. So, women, who always wanted to own a motorbala, golappata bala or a mathar bagan, can easily afford it."
There's also been a huge impact of megaserials and movies on jewellery trends. "Our golappata bala, which Aishwarya Rai Bachchan wore to her wedding, is selling like hot cakes."
Mainak Chatterjee, manager, administration and marketing of Senco Gold, goes one step ahead and insists that necklaces and earrings studded with precious or semi-precious stones are much in demand.
"Our grandmums used to wear jewellery studded with diamonds, emeralds and rubies. Their granddaughters want the same. So, our antique jewellery collection is full of jorowa sets. We're also concentrating on minakari and kundan. Though these have Rajasthani roots, they represent the glamorous era of kings and queens. That really attracts our customers." Another hot item is antique coins, or guineas. "We give them a burnt and oxidised look, so when you wear them, it feels like you're wearing a family heirloom," he shares.
But many jewellers believe in blending modernity with traditional designs. The logic? The old should make space for the new to make the fusion more attractive and marketable. According to Suvro Chandra, joint managing director of PC Chandra, the future of jewellery designing lies in mixing elements of modernity and tradition. "The demand of traditional jewellery is sky high, but modern women like the touches of contemporary design blended with them. They feel that these pieces reflect their new-age personality. So, if they want a hansuli, they get a hansuli, but with a modern edge," he says.
Sriranjini Roy from Gaja echoes this, saying that jewellery is not there to be kept locked up. "Traditional or antique jewellery is what everybody is talking about right now. But, while buying a choker, haat-taan or a glass-bangle, one should remember that they should be light enough to be wearable after 30 years," she feels. So go ahead and try out grandma's heavy necklace. And if you don't have one, rush to your nearest jewellery store.
Traditional is uber cool this wedding season.
You've heard of designer weddings — where everything from clothes to jewellery and food gets the expert treatment to turn the nuptial gala into one memorable experience. But designer wedding cards? With the shaadi season just about to kick off, the latest buzz is that brides and grooms are spending a lot of their creative energy — and a significant portion of their biye bari budget - on their wedding cards.
So, gone are the generic butterfly motif or phrases like Shobinoy nibedan or Nimontron dwara potrer truti marjona koriben. Designers conceptualize exclusive wedding cards, where a lot of thought goes into the text and visual. The idea is to create something unique which links with the couple in question. "Rather than selecting a card from among thousands with similar designs and write-ups, couples want to leave their signature on the cards. So that even after 20 years, the cards will be creatively unique and special. So the more quirky I get, the greater is the appreciation," says designer Sourish Mitra, who's been receiving requests to design cards for friends, acquaintances and even strangers over the last few wedding seasons.
To feed the creative demand, Sourish uses everything from painting and motifs to even clay art! "I try to reinvent myself with every card. And trust me, now people are eager to look beyond what's normal and boring," he says. Every couple wants to tell its unique story through the wedding card. According to Debashish Shau, the head of Smaranika, which specializes in unique wedding cards, "Over the years, the text has become extremely smart and simple. Couples these days want to tell their story and share their happiness without the burden of flowery language or sadhubhasha. Sometimes even a visual can tell their story."
Smarajit Samanta, a businessman who got his daughter's wedding card from Debasish, shares why the card was so special. "Our card was intricate with many folds and told the story in Baishnav Padabali language. The text was supported by pictures of mythical weddings starting from Shiva-Parvati. My daughter and our relatives were extremely delighted and they still talk about it," he says.
However, not all families are too keen to experiment. Sourish has a creative solution for this as well. "Recently I designed a card which had elements of both tradition and modernity — the design was done following Kalighater patachitro and the text was extremely radical and modern. That way, both parties can be satisfied," he says.
The yen for out-of-the-box wedding cards owes some of the craze to Facebook and other social networking sites. The updates that designers share and the number of likes on a friends' wedding card picture fuel interest and me-too sentiments. Add to that peer pressure word-of-mouth buzz, and you have the recipe for a creative card!
But then, Bengali homes have always had a thing for creative wedding cards. Age-old invitations to a marriage would come inscribed with poetry, usually written by a family elder. Stalwarts like OC Ganguly, Satyajit Ray and Soumitra Chatterjee had given free rein to their creativity while designing wedding cards.
Collector Parimal Ray, who probably has the biggest collection of Bengali wedding cards going back to the late 18th century, says, "In 1944, OC Ganguly engraved the invitation for his son's wedding on a tamropotro (copper plate)! The card that Manikda (Satyajit Ray) made for Babu's (Sandip Ray's) wedding, was unique for it's sheer simplicity. His family and mine were friends, so when the card came to my house, I was amazed. He himself designed and wrote it. Soumitra Chatterjee used Madhubani painting motifs to embellish his daughter Poulomi's wedding card. The idea was much ahead of its times."
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1 komentar:
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