Jewellery designer Puja Bhargava Kamath on her brand 'Lai'

Jewellery designer Puja Bhargava Kamath likes her jewellery to talk to the one who is wearing it…

How did your brand, Lai, come into being?
The brand is just a few months old. But I have been in the field of design for almost 10 to 12 years. After passing out from NIFT, Delhi, I worked on a lot of accessory designing. There was also a time when I thought designing bags were my true calling. Then I moved into the crafts sector, travelling into the hinterland and discovering some fantastic craftsmanship. After I started designing jewellery, I used to showcase mostly at exhibitions etc under my own name (Puja Bhargava). It’s only now that I thought of naming my brand. Then I was meeting with Fabindia to create some home décor stuff and that’s when they asked me if I’d do some jewellery for them. And that’s how it started.

What does Lai mean? 
In Sanskrit, Lai means the beloved one. And in French, it translates to a lyrical and narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets. There was no specific reason for me to choose this name as such; I just wanted to make sure that the name went with the brand and didn’t have any negative connotations.

You say the production process is difficult, why?
One has constantly got to coordinate with the karigars, wherever they are, and make sure everything is going as planned. You have to follow up constantly to ensure smooth flow of delivery and do constant quality checks; so yes, I was quite apprehensive in the beginning but not so much anymore.

Why don’t you have a store?
Under Lai, I make jewellery as and when I like. There is no pressure that I have to constantly deliver or keep my stock updated. I participate in various exhibitions across different cities and I plan in advance and design accordingly. I continue to work with Fabindia and that does take up a lot of my time. But I will be open to doing in-store promotions in the city because that helps me and the store owner to judge the response to my jewellery. I am also on Facebook now where I keep updating my collection and people are welcome to write to me if they are interested in something specific.

Are exhibitions are more profitable then?
Sometimes yes, especially when you’re starting out. I had participated at the Dastakar exhibition in Delhi about two years ago, where I got fabulous response and not only that, the networking is mind-blowing. People enquire and invite you to participate in another exhibition. That way, you get to do so much more and meet really interesting people. However, I wouldn’t mind having a small space in a store which sells other things. A lot of stores like to have a sprinkling of accessories because people are tempted to buy.

Why do you work only with silver?
When I started making jewellery, I wanted to make sure people could afford it. Most of my jewellery is priced from about Rs1,000 to Rs5,000 with the necklaces costing a little bit more. I don’t use precious stones, preferring to work with garnet and agate etc. I’ve done a few pieces using vermeil, about two to three microns of gold is plated onto silver and I also do enamelling. Silver jewellery opens up more opportunities; if I were to make something very expensive my clientele would also be limited. I’d much rather have more people wear what I make than sell once in a while.

It’s a clichéd question, but what inspires you really?
I am very research oriented. So I won’t tell you that I see snow-capped mountains and am inspired to do something. If I like a motif or a design that I like, I’ll go back, read books and find out if there is any history behind it. I like to absorb a lot of information and all my designs have a little story to tell. I like working with themes quite a bit because there is always some relevance to the designs.