The Art Deco movement slays me. Without any doubt, it was and remains the golden age of design. Better known as Jazz Moderne or Moderne in the 1920s and ’30s, the term “Arts Décoratifs” only came after the great Paris Exposition of 1925, exactly 100 years ago.
Sarabjit Babra
The intent of the Art Deco design movement was to make things sleeker, faster and more streamlined. Never has there been a design movement that has affected all forms of design—from skyscrapers to airplanes, from architecture to teapots, from powder compacts to lamp posts, from exquisite bijou to book jackets. No style since the 1920s and ’30s has so overwhelmingly affected so much design. Art deco burned so bright during that era that its force continues to beguile us, its burning embers glow till date, its expanse in design fuels creativity world over, it intoxicates and delights, its ascending tour de force look and vibe continue to enchant. I am in awe of the beauty it has brought into my world, my designs and my homes.
Sarabjit Babra
Sarabjit Babra
Sarabjit Babra
Sarabjit Babra
Growing up around supreme art deco masters in jewels, my eye had been trained very early on. To be able to play with pieces that were made for my grand parents by the greatest living houses gave me an education like no other. I was well versed in the exhilarating beauty of art deco jewels. When I started my line, it was a pared down yet impactful line of architectural gold linear bars with globs of massive beautiful cut semiprecious stones hanging like jewelled orbs. Sleek, modern and oomphy, swinging with movement, architectural lines and a whole lot of pizzazz. Then with travel, the mind’s eye opened and my love affair with the architecture of the art deco period came calling into my pieces. The Chrysler Building in New York, that I would gaze out at from my bedroom window, has given me countless ideas and inspirations; the candy-hued deco extravagance of South Beach, Miami, allowed me the play of line and colour; after being immersed in Mumbai’s deco magic, the sleekness of shape and lines allowed me the flow; the fretwork of those beautiful bold buildings on the Upper East Side in New York, that I would pass on my daily excursions, gave me a sense of proportion and play—a mine of ideas that I could incorporate into my work. I use deco flourishes in all my work. Knowingly and unknowingly, it pours out of me. Never too obvious, but always visible. My use of rock quartz in jewels is a major homage to that era. The licks of French enamel that I use to highlight a piece, or the flourish of a crescent moon shape paired with the linear lines of pavè diamonds, my work has a hint of the period, done in my own signature style. My jewellery is my ode to art deco, with a twist, with my “rasa”. I am beholden and enamoured by this brief but everbright design movement.
All jewels featured by Hanut Singh
