The man who has been wowing women with his designs for well over a decade, designer Gaurav Gupta is now wooing their best friend—diamonds. The Delhi designer credited with changing the face of the sari forever with his much-celebrated sari-gown, now hopes to recreate the same path-breaking magic with his new diamond couture jewellery collection.
Launched in association with the jewellery brand, Occasions, the line is called ‘Gaurav Gupta Occasions Fine Jewellery.’ Talking about his new venture, the designer says, “I was inspired to do something different on completion of 15 years of my brand. And crafting these beautiful and long-forgotten magical pieces out of Golconda diamonds appealed to me.”
Another big reason for starting the jewellery line was the fact that Gaurav is every inch the perfectionist. “When creating bridal couture, I realised that here I was putting in all my thoughts to craft the perfect attire so that everything would be well-synchronised, and then the bride goes and pairs it with some jewellery that definitely does not go with it and kills the entire look. I had to start designing the jewellery bit, too, simply because I needed everything to be perfect.” In fact, not many know this but after graduating, Gaurav did jewellery design projects for Italian companies in Vicenza. So the exposure to jewellery design is very much there.
This exposure is evident in the complexity of his designs and the intricacy of the workmanship. Take for example, the Liberation necklace. Crafted in layers of white and rose gold, it is studded with as many as 8,000 diamonds in a variety of cuts and sizes. Another stand-out piece is the Kaleidoscope ear-cuff where the diamonds glint and glimmer like a shimmering kaleidoscope. Gaurav has yet another favourite—the Artemis necklace. It has art nouveau-inspired leaf motifs that lends it an almost cosmic quality. Really, like his store and his couture line, even his jewellery collection has an aura of surrealism around it.
The designer has always been destiny’s favourite child. On graduating from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, London, in 2005, a very young Gaurav was instantly recognised as the ‘Future of Couture’ by Rome’s fashion week, Altaroma Altamoda. He set up his own atelier in Delhi in 2011. Over the years, he has emerged as one of the strongest voices in couture from India. The likes of Skylar Grey, Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Nicole Scherzinger, Julie Berman, Deepika Padukone and Sonam K Ahuja have often endorsed him on the red carpet across the globe.
The designer loves using different shades of white and cream in his designs. Needless to say, it adds an almost ethereal touch to the final outcome. Besides the sari-gown, Gaurav who calls his style “future primitive,” has also given fashionistas half-saris and lehenga-saris, and no one is complaining! Well known for his metallic work and use of gold and silver, the designer has also recently incorporated the age-old beauty of Lucknawi chikankari in his ensembles.
Even as he keeps busy with his two flagship stores in Delhi and Mumbai and caters to clients from across the globe—Bengaluru, Nagpur, Lucknow to London, New York, and Singapore, besides the UAE—the eccentric designer has gone ahead and unveiled the brand’s debut couture stores in Kolkata and Hyderabad. Nestled in a 109-year old, restored heritage bungalow in Kolkata—Galleria 1910—this experiential 1,600 sq ft retail space will house the designer’s progressive bridal couture, women’s haute couture along with GG Man for weddings and occasion wear. while in the city of Nizams, the romance of the regal old and new have been brought together in a harmonious contrast.
Gaurav says, “I find myself going back to beauty in art and architecture, abstraction and magic and Kolkata has so much of it. And Hyderabad appealed to men as I have always been enamored by the regal opulence and history of this city along with the omnipresent elegance.”