Be selective in selecting

Description

We’re currently in an age where the concept of ugly beautiful dominates the creative discourse. This idea sets ugliness up as a quality that is not opposed to beauty, but an extension of it. It encourages the viewer to challenge and expand their inherent notions and perceptions of beauty by celebrating objects that, at first look, might seem inelegant or asymmetric to the eye. In fashion, the oversized sneaker is the poster child of ugly cool, while in the culinary world, dishes that look sloppy and unappetizing but are transcendent on the tongue are termed ugly delicious.

On the Indian jewellery landscape, no one embodies this philosophy better than Studio Renn, an emerging jewellery house run by Roshni and Rahul Jhaveri, a Mumbai-based husband and wife team. That’s not to say that Studio Renn’s jewellery is ugly—it’s better described as atypical or cerebral. Especially when compared to the more traditional offerings on the Indian jewellery scene, Studio Renn’s pieces are more likely to be inspired by their founders’ conversations and collaborations with artists, architects and poets, as opposed to being inspired by nature or more conventional objects. “One of the first designs I made was of two rings: the idea was one is alive and the other is dead. The second is blackened, and it appears that some natural diamonds have fallen off. The thought behind it was atrophy, and depicting the process of decay. The rotten ring for us is the most beautiful one,” says Rahul.