Fruit Punch

Giving a fruity twist to jewels, Manish Arora’s third collaboration with Amrapali has left us with a sweet aftertaste. We take you behind the scenes and show you how this collection came to life.

Trust Manish Arora to keep things fresh and fascinating. The ever-growing fanfare following his creations for Amrapali led to the third edition of his collaborative line with the jewellery house. Manish has already showcased his prowess in this department through his past collections, which became a massive hit. But this summer has surely taken an interesting turn with his succulent pieces. Yes, we are definitely in love. The latest collection screams summer with the juicy palette of banana yellow, sherbet pink, fuchsia and mint green. Dominated by geometric shapes, each piece in the collection embodies the authentic Amrapali design in harmony with Manish’s psychedelic style. Manish’s vibrant visions are woven into interesting contemporary contours such as finger and midi rings, palm bracelets, ear cuffs, belts and hair accessories, alongside chandelier earrings and long-chained neckpieces. Art deco accents punctuate this collection with fruit-themed additions like grapes, pineapples and bananas combined with Manish’s trademark heart motifs. We talk to the creative minds behind this collection with a unique design language.

L’Officiel India DigitalRead L’Officiel India in the digital libraryEvery issue and every cover story, on TCG Media.Read now

Manish Arora

How different is the creative process of designing a jewellery collection from making clothes?

Designing for me is a liberating process. The excitement you feel when something that you had envisioned comes to life and is sitting in front of you is just mind-blowing. So, when you’re creating anything, be it clothes or a piece of jewellery, the process of conceptualisation is the same, but the realisation is completely different.

What prompted you to collaborate with Amrapali?

When I think jewellery, only Amrapali comes to my mind. The entire Amrapali team is extremely supportive and, most importantly, extremely experienced. So, bringing my experimental designs to reality was very easy for them.

How do you conceptualise each collection? Tell us about the process.

The process is always the same — you start with an empty canvas and mould your ideas around the product type. I would say the most amount of time is spent on understanding the limitations of a new product. Once the execution and flexibility of the product is understood, designing it is always fun.

Akanksha Arora of Amrapali on how it all began

Amrapali is known to be the jeweller to royals and celebrities. What prompted you to collaborate with Manish Arora?

We had never collaborated with anyone before. So when Manish approached us in the summer of 2012, we were slightly unsure about it. Having collaborated with so many brands in the past, Manish wanted to work with a jeweller this time and he said that he could do it with no one else but Amrapali. We love him as a designer, so we gave it a shot. And since the first collection did so well in India and internationally, we were more than thrilled to continue this collaboration.

How do you fuse Manish Arora’s design sensibilities with Amrapali’s aesthetics?

When we first collaborated, Manish came to Jaipur for a dekko at all our pieces, both vintage and new. He took cues from our archives and gave the collection his signature kitsch twist. It is very evident when you look at the collection. You see Manish’s patent style in all the pieces and yet the collection is so Amrapali at the same time.

What is the entire process like? Do you brainstorm together?

Well, Manish decides what the collection is going to be like. Since the pieces are in sync with his clothes, he sends us the mood board and we take it from there. But there are many technicalities involved in creating jewellery. For instance, enamel might not work with a certain design or a stone won’t fit the way he wants. So that’s where we step in and suggest alternatives. At the end of the day we have to make sure the essence of his designs remains and we create a piece as per Amrapali standards.

You have showed at various fashion weeks around the world. Is there a stark contrast in the sensibilities and tastes of people in India and abroad?

To a certain extent, yes. We, in India, consider jewellery extremely important and gravitate more towards traditional designs. Whereas internationally, people like minimalist pieces. But it is changing now. People living abroad are open to experimenting. And that’s where Manish’s collection fits in perfectly. It has an ideal blend of traditional and modern. Taking cues from very ethnic designs like bangdis (broad cuffs) and mangtikas, he spins his kitsch magic on them.

Manish Arora’s insight on the collection

The duration of the development of the entire collection was about three months. Conceptualising it didn’t take much time, but the realisation of the designs was where both the teams invested a lot of time and effort.

Psychedelia is a recurring theme in all your creations. How do you translate that into jewellery?

Colour is in my DNA and it is visible in all the things that I work on. In jewellery, for this season, we used varied enamel colours like hot pinks, bright greens and deep reds, and the pieces are topped with intricately detailed candy charms like ice cream, cupcakes, candies, and the like.

A word that defines your collection...

Experimental!

Your pick for the L'Officiel woman?

I would choose the Emonita earrings, which are effortlessly stylish.

From the April 2014 issue of L’Officiel India.