The award-winning jewellery brand No.Na.Mé’s design concept stems from the idea that if one object can become more than one thing, it helps slow down consumerism. While the label’s previous collections, Binary-non-Binary and A Bar, A Circle, A Detour tackled this challenge, founder and principal designer Smruti Mathisekaran wanted to add another dimension to her jewellery.
Last year, when she embraced motherhood, the designer was inspired to create a new series of fashion accessories from dismantlable components that are not only ornamental but are functional too. And that is how the label’s latest collection Metamorph came about. “Metamorph is about being more than one thing. It is about transformation to fit different roles, much like how I feel while playing the role of a mother and a designer.” Smruti begins.
The word ‘metamorph’ comes from ‘metamorphosis’, which indicates a change of form. Similarly, when the components from the collection are assembled they not only form minimal jewellery pieces but also transform into bags. “In South India, people use these jute bags with wooden handles. When I saw those, I thought to myself, why not incorporate bags as an extension of jewellery,” she reveals.
The bag-cum-jewellery pieces have three main components—metal, wood, and leather. The dismantlable wooden components of the collection are crafted from sustainably sourced and certified Canadian wood, which is light, fine-textured, and boasts beautiful grains, while the metal accents for the jewellery are crafted from 24-carat gold-plated recycled brass with a tarnish-resistant top coat. The collection offers two options for leather—one being authentic animal leather while the other is crafted from coconut leather.
“We are especially thrilled to introduce this vegan option to our audience, which is a new material
developed from agricultural waste sourced from the coconut industry in Kerala,” Smruti says.
Metamorph features a total of six transformable jewellery pieces. “The collection is kept small for its unique concept. We will add a few more pieces every year to expand the collection,” she shares.
Some of the notable pieces from the collection are Dragonfly, Mantis, Hellbender, and Flatfish. Dragonfly is made from a wooden handle (to support the bag) and a pair of leather straps, which help the handle transform into a neck choker while Mantis is a wooden bangle that doubles up as the handle of a leather bag. This year, Smruti and her business partner Gehana R Doshi will also introduce 7 Deadly Sins, a new collection of seven pieces titled Wrath, Greed, Envy, Lust, Pride, Sloth and Gluttony. The jewellery from this collection can also be used as sculptures to decorate your living space.