Anita Dongre’s design language has spent three decades positioning handmade right, and her silver line makes the same case through one recurring image: the elephant. The Haathi Icon collection, worked in 92.5 sterling silver by artisans in Rajasthan and hand-set with crystals, semi-precious stones and freshwater pearls, takes this motif as an ode to tradition. The range runs wide: Haathi Studs at Rs 15,000 sit at one end, a pearl-set Haathi Choker at Rs 1,00,000 at the other, with a Harmony Ring, a Drop Necklace and a Charm Necklace filling the middle. The brand’s own line is that a piece isn’t bought so much as inherited into—a fairly precise description, for a house built on slowness, of what it’s actually selling.
Rasa Silver Stories is making a blunter argument: gold is not the only metal counted in for fine jewellery, silver can swoop right in. The label reimagines Temple, polki, kundan and jadau craftsmanship, all of which are techniques used for gold jewellery—in 925 sterling silver finished with a 24kt gold polish. The Luxorian Victorian Necklace Set, its moissanite cascade framing an emerald-green centre stone, runs to Rs 1,35,450; the Gajessa Pallais Necklace Set, its own elephant motif rendered in polki, to Rs 1,11,000; a pair of Mayuraflora polki danglers comes in at Rs 31,000.