That 20s show

Sabyasachi Mukherjee, the designer who believes in ethnic foreverness, whose sense of style redefines Indian fashion,who has dressed the likes of Vidya Balan, giving her a fresh sartorial facet, is now looking pretty satisfied with his new creation Zanyah for Forevermark.

Is jewellery design a natural progression for fashion designers? "In a way it is," he says, "But jewellery has always enchanted me. Bengalis have been hoarders of good jewellery. There may be no money for food, but he or she will have secretly bought a bangle. My grandfather (mother's father) who owned large rice fields, would buy beautiful pieces of jewellery and show it to me. I got my first taste for jewellery from him. My mother too had great taste in jewellery so this was something I always wanted to do," he says.

When the diamond brand Forevermark talked to him, the challenge he says, excited him. "When people think of my brand they think of 'jadau' and gold, not diamonds." His mind was furiously racing to own this domain and make it his own. He started defining his brand DNA: education, exploration, travel, history, whimsy and decided to bring these elements in the collection. "I am a very technical person at work and need to see how things are done. And I am also well-educated in jewellery," he says. To get his basics right, he interned with B-to-B diamond companies and discovered to his delight, a whole lot of Bengali karigars there. "Maybe that was a sign that I should pursue jewellery.'' He went to Milan with Forevermark manufacturers to do an internship. To satisfy himself some more, he took a trip to all their antique and diamond jewellery stores. "One of them had some amazing Buccellati jewellery.

I saw stunning Sicilian earrings – filigree with pearls. An old man there came up to me saying, 'You're Indian?' I said, 'yes'. He said, 'Do you know in India, there is a place called Calcutta?' Excited I said, 'yes'. And realised this really was a sign for me to get into this."'

He decided his Forevermark Zanyah collection would be a mix of Italy- and Bengali-inspired jewellery. "I wanted to make manufacturing a b***h. To make it so difficult that it would be impossible to mass manufacture.'' The collection therefore is a bouquet of filigree, enamelling, etc. He believes that diamonds don't look good on Indian skin. The former is brown the latter is white. And rarely the 'twain do meet'. So he created an alloy of gold that's a warm mix of rose, white, yellow, antique and platinum gold. Sabyasachi also brings to the collection his inspiration of the 20s era and all the women he loved: Frida Kahlo, Amrita Sher-Gil, and Edith Piaf. "They were so sexy!''

"Forevermark works with very big manufactures. I must have driven them up the wall when the pieces went back and forth several times. They didn't know they were working with a monster. It delayed the launch by a year, because I was stubborn with what I wanted. And to their credit Sachin (Sachin Jain President of Forevermark) didn't once say no. "If you're not happy, we're not happy," he said. Which made Sabyasachi extremely happy.

"It's good to work with a company that allows you that freedom. I understand that one entire season is a big loss of business, but they were very patient," he says.