BENGALURU: Empowered women empower women. So it’s no surprise that Titshika Mistry’s latest line of arty jewellery focuses on Frida Kahlo. Mistry’s designs have earrings and necklaces adorned with portraits of the Mexican painter, which are quite different from her usual theme of Indian gods and goddesses.
“This time I wanted to do something different and wanted to channel Frida Kahlo’s never give up spirit in my work,” says Mistry, who runs Meera jewellery, which was named after her mother. “My love for jewellery came from my mother. She owns some of the most beautiful pieces of art jewellery,” adds Mistry, who takes around two-three days to finish a piece, which is usually made of clay and jute.
Having always been an art and crafts lover, Mistry started doing it professionally five years ago. She left her job in a pharmaceutical company in 2015, since she was expecting her daughter. Not comfortable leaving her daughter with a nanny, she decided to take a break from work and take up this hobby full time. “When I started putting the jewellery designs on social media, I got lot of traction. People started enquiring and I started taking more orders,” says Mistry, who likes to team such jewellery with handloom apparels.
A pair of earrings start from the price of Rs 350 and goes up according to the intricate detailing in it. Listing out some of the other advantages of art jewellery, Mistry says these versatile pieces can be combined with not just sarees, but Western attire too, to give it an Indie touch.
“You can team it with dresses too if you want to dress it up or down for an occasion,” says Mistry, revealing that most of her sales happen July onwards, due to the list of festivals lined up. “It’s an unofficial start to all year-end festivals. Especially for Bengalis because they start preparing for the Durga pooja from August onwards,” says Mistry. This time, however, she has seen the lowest amount of business due to Covid-19 and hopes the pandemic does not further spell doom for artists who are struggling to make ends meet.