Studio Renn made her Las Vegas runway show debut, and its founders, husband-and-wife team, Rahul and Roshni Jhaveri, won the Innovation Award. “Every time we exhibit in Vegas, there’s always a piece that catches people’s attention,” Rahul said.

That year, 2021, it was the Strangler ring, an acid-treated concrete ring reinforced with black 18-karat gray gold and set with brilliant-cut round diamonds. The design is a bold example of their interest in unusual materials and a collaboration with Material Immaterial Studio, a concrete design center.

The Mumbai-based jewellery brand will return to Couture for the fourth time this year, showcasing more examples of its conceptual approaches to form, materials and finishes that utilise light, reflection, high-gloss and matte surfaces. Roshni explained that the couple was “willing to take risks and try the unfamiliar and was always on the lookout for something new and different”. “We did a lot of unique finishes, such as using grey gold alloys that we made ourselves, and leaving the surface unpolished – traditional materials, but used in an unconventional and unfamiliar way, that people would love to learn about.”

Ongoing design research

Roshni explained that they refer to their works as research, not collections, “because they are physical representations of ongoing research” and are sold as unique pieces or editions. This means that they can grow creatively, freely and organically. “The process of creation occupies a central place,” they stressed. “The most talked-about “research” in the United States and Europe are cactus, fish, and seed leaf works. The cactus features an abstract interpretation, with diamonds teetering in jagged folds of gold. The fish is more conceptual than associated with the aquatic world, while the seed leaf emphasizes the sculptural hybrid of leaf and seed box.

Outside of India, the U.S. is one of the markets they consciously invest in, and although their collectors vary by geography (including Europe) and have different tastes and preferences, “they all have one thing in common, which is their reactions,” Roshni says, “and they are open to unfamiliar aesthetics and open to being challenged by their preconceived notions.” “In addition to their differences, their similarities continue to surprise us.”

Instead of trying to sell, they take a step back: “People want to connect with the work on a personal level: we just talk about it, let them discover the work, let the work market itself,” Rahul explains. ” “It tells a story about what we’re trying to convey through the series,” Roshny added.

Their work is experimental, as the name Renn suggests: “This means ‘rebirth’ in Latin, the rebirth of ideas and concepts,” explains Rahul, a designer who comes from a family of diamond cutters. ” This aesthetic is conceptual, contemporary, and innovative, which explains the use of materials such as concrete as “common but valuable, while diamonds are rare and have no practical use”.

He loves working with diamonds because that’s the space he’s coming from. “I wanted to explore how to use diamonds in completely different ways, including partially processed rough or antique cuts and unusual, rejected colors,” he said.

There are several interesting collections, such as Puffball, in which diamond rings and bracelets appear to be unfinished, hollow unmounted, and gold unpolished. These avant-garde ideas are inspired by the contemporary art world, not the Indian tradition.

The original idea of the Javelis family was not to design jewelry, but to use it as a medium for self-expression. It is this innovative and enterprising approach, like other approaches in the Indian design community, that highlights a new wave of creativity that has changed the international perception of Indian jewellery today.