After exploring Folk and street theatre forms of Tamil Nadu, I move on to Bharatanatyam, a classical dance form that is famous all over the world. Bharatanatyam is reminiscent of the divine cosmic dance performed by the Hindu God Shiva as Tandav. The dancers, both male and female, dress in resplendent silks and jewellery and […]
Therukoothu necklaces
While working on the Marabu collection, I wanted to touch on several folk dance and theatre performances of Tamil Nadu. Karagattam, Poikaal Kudirai and mayilaatam (peacock dance) were at the top of my list. I used the karagattam illustration extensively in the labelling and promotional collaterals. however, I could not make jewellery out of it […]
Marapachi doll necklaces
Maram means wood in Tamil, thus Marapachi bommai are dolls or playthings made out of wood. These hand carved dolls are made without palm or feet with a little ornamentation. An average dolls represents a human – male or female. However, there are also wooden dolls that look like Gods and Goddesses. In many states […]
Poikaal Kudirai dance necklaces
The words Poikaal Kudirai translated to English stands for “fake leg horse.” During this performance the dancers wear a shell that resembles the body of a horse, and stand on wooden stilts. In this post, I want to present Poikaal Kudirai dance necklaces from my Marabu collection inspired by this colourful and joyous dance form. […]
Tamil Vatteluthu necklaces
In continuation to my post on Tamil Jewellery, where I described the Tamil Logo jewellery that I created, here is a post on jewellery based on a Tamil Script. Even before I started to teach communication design I had an inkling towards typographical prints. Though I have made several text based prints for apparel, I […]
Tamil Jewellery
While researching for Marabu, I was keen to keep it different from Patinam, a 2017 collection that was based on Chennai. Instead of looking at a colonial city, through an obvious colonial lens, I wanted to focus on the culture of the city pre-post colonial rule. One of the main areas that I concentrated on […]