Eina Ahluwalia

Eina Ahluwalia is India’s first conceptual jewellery artist custom handcrafting meaningful jewellery since 2003. The extraordinary talent Kolkata-based Eina Ahluwalia has is her skill to project something emotionally and politically relevant onto her jewellery collections without making them oppressive. 

Conceptual jewellery designer Eina Ahluwalia puts her collections together by designing pieces of jewellery that incorporate symbolic commentaries. The designer's pieces of wearable art are containers for messages and reminders, which form the main material of her work.

Eina trained under pioneering conceptual jeweller Ruudt Peters in Holland and studied at Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School in Florence- Italy. In 2012 David Lamb- Managing Director- Jewellery at World Gold Council chose her as one of the hottest talents to watch out for.

Per First Post: "“Every piece is to serve you as a reminder of your journey… These are things that will hold you through. Sometimes you need faith, other times you need love and support, and some other times you need a personal cheerleader. Your pieces are your support structure through life,” Ahluwalia avers. Her website, where she sells them from, describes the necklaces, bracelets, earrings and others as “strong, soulful and spiritual”."

The extraordinary talent Eina Ahluwalia has is her skill to project something emotionally and politically pertinent onto her jewellery collections without making them oppressive. Per a note on her LinkedIn profile: “Each piece is created with equal head, heart and hand; each jewel is unique and independent. Intricate fretwork and miniature sculptures imbued with meaning that serve as a personal reminder for you to wear. My work is on that blurry line between art, craft and design, sometimes crossing over to fashion.”

Per Not Just A Label: 'Her signature style is intricate and exquisitely detailed, the delicate handmade fretwork (jali) which is a disappearing skill, with just a handful of craftsmen remaining. She has worked with them since 2003 and honed their skills to the level of perfection that the pieces are often mistaken as laser or machine cut. She incorporates this fretwork in every collection, and is working towards ensuring that this is not the last generation of master craftsmen with whom this skill will disappear, only to be seen in museums of tomorrow.'

Her collection Wedding Jewels is not merely about gold jewellery. She uses it as a platform to talk about domestic violence and female empowerment. “The collection talks about the wedding jewels that you need to give your daughter for when she gets married, is not gold but empowerment and the ability to say no if things are not going right” Eina tells Vogue. "It has a lot of knives, trishuls and texts of love and respect. It's very handmade and intricately carved. It looks like wedding jewellery but the symbolism is completely different."

The Kolkata-based designer's iconic kirpan pendant has been featured in a collector's edition book: Showcase 500 Art Necklaces by Lark Craft publishers. The pendant was one of five hundred designs selected by a jury on the basis of technical excellence, diverse forming techniques and aesthetics. "They sent us a form about six months ago asking us to submit a design," Ahluwalia tells Vogue. “They were looking for pieces that went beyond just commercial value, which is why we chose the kirpan. Symbolically, it's a very strong piece.”

Per the official website: "We use traditional craft as well as cutting edge technology to create new traditions and contemporary heirlooms. We also loves subverting the traditional idea of jewellery as mere ornamentation and reclaiming it as a woman’s way of expressing her independent identity and as a celebration of herself."

Few know that Eina Ahluwalia's jewellery is deeply rooted in sustainability. Each piece of jewellery is handcrafted by master craftsmen in Kolkata to keep alive artisanal tales that has been passed down generations but are sadly being lost to mass production. The craftsmen employed by Eina Ahluwalia have the opportunity to earn a sustained livelihood by doing what they love most.

Conceptual jewellery artist Eina Ahluwalia envisions that her pieces of jewellery become the wearers' personal cheerleaders, witnesses to their lives well lived and a carrier of their memories. The care with which she bridges the traditional and modernist elements of design and techniques result in a fine work of art.

Eina Ahluwalia retails conceptual jewellery as a platform to raise awareness about domestic violence and female empowerment.. through its powerful design. 

The conceptual jewellery designer puts her collections together by reworking pieces to incorporate symbolic commentaries. Her spring summer 2011 showing opened with a necklace designed a large moon-shaped pendant that opens up as a knife. This was followed an oversized mangalsutra with a skull at the base, a pendant resembling a road sign that read 'Violators will be prosecuted', another pendant that read 'No Entry Unless Authorized' hanging low to allude sexual abuse. Trishuls were symbolic of the trinity of Love, Respect and Protect.

For Spring Summer 2012 Eina Ahluwalia showcased a stunning conceptual jewellery collection threaded with charged emotion. Per Explosive Fashion: 'Theatrics never got the better of the jewellery. In effect, it was a collection in which Eina Ahluwalia demonstrated that she's reached the stage of maturity where her ability to articulate significant symbolism only enhances, rather than obscures, her abilities as a jewellery designer… The motifs of swords, knives and trishuls were meant to remind women (and warn men) that they have the power of goddesses Durga and Kali, and should stand up against violence.'