When I started painting and creating my own line of brooches, it was because I love wearing brooches and there were barely any options in the market to satiate my love. There seemed to be the typical “made in China” stuff and the generic shapes on plastic and “badges” made of plastic. But not a lot of custom made or unique or beautiful work.
Priyanka from Nirwaana got in touch with me for a collaboration of some form. The first thing I did was to check out their website and immediately homed in on this Evil Eye Brooch from their Talisman Collection. I wrote back to her, saying that I wouldn’t be able to do any of the other jewellery since I don’t really wear a lot of jewellery personally, but that I could think of doing something with the Evil Eye Brooch specifically.
Her email in response was on the lines of, “OMG that is EXACTLY what I had in mind!” and here we are!
Things like the “kaala teeka” for “nazar na lag jaye” or concepts like the “evil eye” have never been part of my personal belief system. But, there’s no denying that there’s a large section of people that like to embrace these concepts. The Evil Eye concept in particular, has always seemed rather boring to me – a glass bead that looks nothing like an eye, but has pleasing shades of blue – it does nothing for me, even aesthetically.
Which is one of the reasons why I was so tickled with Nirwaana’s interpretation of the Evil Eye concept in their Talisman Collection. Neither concept, nor shape is new of course, but it’s such a breath of fresh air! And it’s an eye, which is what my name means, so there was that of course.
The brooch comes in two forms – one with white / transparent cubic zirconia on the outer edges and one with blue. The central pupil is always blue. The metal used is 925 Silver. Each piece is hand made in India.
This shape and form is available as a brooch ( with a pin at the back ) and also as a bracelet for your wrist and a necklace. Since I’m more of a brooch person than a necklace or bracelet person, I chose to wear and photograph with the Evil Eye Brooch.
Hope you like the photographs. And do go see the Nirwaana website for more jewellery. They ship internationally.
Nirwaana : Website | Instagram
(This feature is part of a paid partnership with Nirwaana.)
