Dazzling show

Kathmandu

On November 15 the New Orleans restaurant at Pulchowk was transformed into a paradise for women. The small hallway at the front of the restaurant was decorated with sparkling pieces of colourful designer jewellery. The event was the first ever exhibition by designer Michelle Gurung, who presented her collection of beautiful jewellery of semi precious stones.

Gurung, who said that it is the stones that she buys which often helps her with the designing, added, “ My inspiration is basically the royalty and my pieces have this Asian flavour to it. There is this mixture of Bollywood and rock-and-roll as well in my jewelleries.”

Be it an earring or a necklace, every piece had its own distinctive style and the variety of semi-precious stones added glamour with its colours. One could find a variety of stones like amethyst, topaz, aquamarine, emerald and rubies in the pieces. Along with the jewellery, the exhibition also displayed beautiful silk shawls with suzani work made in Afghanistan and stoles with chicken work from Lucknow.

Gurung, who earlier was associated with an INGO called Solace International, had worked with trained women of Afghanistan for a cottage industry for women. She said that this passion for supporting artisans is also something that keeps her going.

Her jewellery pieces are made by a local badaa (jewellery maker), Mathura BK. BK shared that making such designer jewellery is tougher than making the usual ones.

“We make other jewellery by looking at the samples, while she gives us sketches. And making jewellery from sketches is s bit difficult.”

For Gurung, who wishes to open a shop one day, the success of her first exhibition has come up as a major encouragement to follow her passion.