CRAFTING AGELESS JEWELRY
Jewelry has a special place in our hearts, be it our family heirlooms, our intimate custom-made pieces, or favorite trendy essentials. Each intricate piece we own has a story to tell and is made to last for a long time. To ensure its longevity, our sustainable brands at IKKIVI are crafting jewelry with superior craftsmanship and high-quality ethically sourced materials and assisting our customers with customizations and repairs so we can treasure it forever. At IKKIVI Zine, we had a conversation with our self-taught jewelry designer Meher Jetley, founder of the label NOYRA, about her journey of starting the brand, its process of creating and maintaining its unique collectible jewelry, and the latest collection stemming from her love for space and psychology.
We love the unique and timeless creations of Noyra. How did this lovely brand come to be?
Thank you so much for appreciating our work. I love the great work Nivi and the team is doing at IKKIVI. It's so inspiring.
I have always been passionate about jewelry, so much so that I have been custom-making jewelry even before I founded NOYRA. Because many people took notice of the custom pieces I would create for myself using old artifacts and coins, I knew that if I ever wanted to start a business, it would be a jewelry business. And one fine day, I took that giant leap of faith while juggling a full-time job and two freelance gigs and launched NOYRA in the middle of a pandemic on the auspicious day of Diwali in 2020.
Can you tell us about your design process for making the jewelry and how each beautiful piece takes shape?
I have the gift of creative visualization, where I can create the entire design from scratch in my head, without lifting a pen, and of course, explain that to my artisan. So when it comes to designing jewelry at NOYRA, I take inspiration from artistic themes, history, moods, science, anything and everything that inspires me at that particular moment, visualize the design and translate that into collectible jewelry pieces using metal and semi-precious stones.
Can you share the process behind customizing and repairing the jewelry and how this aspect of the brand makes the jewelry ageless?
I love customizing jewelry, and that's one of the main reasons for founding NOYRA. As someone who struggled to find people who could create interesting designs at affordable price points, I wanted to create a brand where people who love wearing everyday jewelry or statement pieces in non-precious metal, could create a custom piece of their choice here, without obscene margins and insane designer mark-ups.
All sorts of custom and repair work are welcome here because I honestly believe that jewelry is an emotional investment as well as an heirloom that needs to be taken care of and treasured for years to come. Many customers bring their old stones or broken pieces, and we create or upcycle them into new pieces. Even something as minor as re-plating is done free of cost for the first time if the customer requests.
The latest collection from the label Supernova is truly exceptional. We’d love to know the story and inspiration behind this.
SUPERNOVA is a collection where I have combined my love for space and psychology.
This is the quote from the collection: "We can be born again after a cataclysmic event and give birth to a new self; just like the death of massive stars can trigger the birth of new stars."
Humans, much like stars, undergo large-scale, life-altering events and give birth to a new self. SUPERNOVA is a collection that pays tribute to the birth of a new YOU. The pandemic was something of a renaissance for us all, where we bid adieu to a part of ourselves and systems that needed to be put down and gave birth to a new self and system. SUPERNOVA pays tribute to this welcome change from the death of the old.
What are your two most favorite pieces from Noyra that you’ve worked on and why?
As someone who loves reading about interesting events in History, I was fascinated by the Naulakha Haar, a coveted Darbhanga jewel. But instead of creating a fancy, maximalist design, I decided to capture the royal and classic essence of the regal neckpiece in a minimalistic design using four semi-precious stones, such as amethyst, garnet, citrine, and smokey quartz in various cuts and shapes. Even though it's a minimalistic design, it makes the wearer feel regal.
The Astraea Necklace is by far a personal favorite. It combines small glass Polki chips (without the filling), wax-cast beaten metal stars in 92.5 silver, and high-quality moonstone beads. The entire piece is beaded by hand on a 92.5 silver string with 18k gold plating (micron). It is a celestial design in the truest sense of the word.
Noyra has recently turned two. Can you tell us about the most cherished moments you’ve had with the label?
One moment has to be in launching SUPERNOVA. Being a bootstrapped business without a legacy (I'm a first-generation jewelry entrepreneur) or big pockets to back the business up, launching a third collection within two years of founding the brand was a risk but something one the business could afford. Because for me, the bottom line matters, and there is a sense of pride that I started with one design with my team of current artisans and vendors in Jaipur, who took a big leap of faith in me because I wasn't promising a quantity business right away. So when they see that this person has paid all her dues on time and has launched close to 100 samples (minus the orders fulfilled), and tried to build a stable business in an unstable market, they feel that pride that we've reached here.
It's all about going slowly and strategically like a mushroom.
As a creative mind behind this passionate venture, what advice would you like to give to other designers wanting to enter this space and create conscious jewelry?
Know what you're capable of offering and delivering in terms of product and service while being true to your values. At the end of the day, people value and respect authenticity and transparency in today's world. Instead of hard selling and over-marketing, go slow, build a fantastic, high-quality product, develop great relationships across all the people attached to your business, and be disciplined.
CREDITS
Interviewer and Writer PRERNA MALHOTRA
Layout and Graphic Design VEDHIKA HV
Images by NOYRA
IKKIVI Zine is a property of IKKIVI by Founder NIVI MURTHY