How this fine jewellery project found value in glass beads

The interview is well underway when Kunal Shah, co-founder of luxury jewellery brands AURUS and Moi, shares an interesting fact. “Did you know that for 1,500 years the world’s glass beads came from Arikamedu in Tamil Nadu? Those beads travelled by land or ocean to Muziris, the ancient port near Kochi, and from there spread across the world.”

Over time, Arikamedu lost its position to Venice. But the trajectory of glass beads would eventually take a U-turn. Adopted by the nobility of West Africa, soon enough, Gujarati traders living in East Africa would bring these beads – considered so valuable that they were bartered for gold – back to Kochi. Another trail saw migrant pastoral communities from West Asia bringing their beadwork traditions to Rajasthan and Gujarat. By the 17th century, the tradition had become so ingrained that brides in Kutch and Kathiawar would craft entire wedding trousseaus out of glass beads.

As founders of jewellery brands with an elite clientele, glass beads ought to be the last material for them to work with. “We are primarily an online business, but Puja creates limited-edition collectible pieces that are sold offline. One idea she had was to create collectibles using materials and crafts from Gujarat. That’s how she came across glass beads,” says Kunal. Puja adds, “Glass beads appear in almost every culture across civilizations. Often, the earliest archaeological objects discovered are beads. So the idea was to bring this humble object back into the jewellery lexicon.”

What gave the idea additional momentum was a call from the Society of Jewellery Historians inviting submissions for a paper on beadwork. “We submitted our research and got selected. Then we began travelling through Bhuj and Kutch, which are better known for textiles like Ajrakh than beadwork. What we found was mind-blowing,” he says, before laying out the fascinating history of the beads’ journeys.

The idea would eventually materialise into a research project titled Unbound by Beads: Beadwork of Kutch and Kathiawar. Presented in London last June, the couple officially launched the project in India on 11 December, on the eve of the sixth Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB). Large-scale installations by Lamka-based artists Emmanul Tausing and Thian Hoi shared space with contemporary jewellery pieces designed by Puja. The choice of Kochi as the location, the couple explain, was easy given the port city’s historic connection to the glass bead trade.

The project involved working with artisans from Kutch. “Today beadwork exists largely as a basic craft, but our project wasn’t just about reviving it. What fascinated us more was the cultural tradition behind it. In a world that is becoming increasingly flattened and homogeneous, the question of cultural identity became central to the project,” Kunal says. In this interview with Lounge, the couple delve deeper into the project, which they say is still very much a work in progress.

As a jewellery designer, what value did you see in working with glass beads?

Puja Shah: This journey started with a vision to create collectible jewellery pieces. Today, sadly, under the garb of collectibles, what you often get are objects in unusual designs or pieces embellished with big—bigger—biggest stones. These objects can be great, but the idea I wanted to explore was whether a collectible could go beyond simply adding a larger emerald or diamond to make it look pretty.

That is how the whole journey with glass beads began. When I was creating these pieces, the designs were largely inspired by the motifs used in bead artistry from Kutch and Kathiawar. I chose to incorporate glass beads into these collectibles, which are otherwise crafted using gold, diamonds and other precious stones. By adding glass bead detailing, I wanted to explore whether introducing something with little or no material value into a piece of fine jewellery might affect its intrinsic value. In using beads, I also hoped to present a broader context: beads that were common across many ancient civilizations still hold relevance today—they continue to remind us where we all came from.

In your 46-page research report, titled Unbound by Beads, you talk about custodians of the Kutchi beadwork – whether its craftspeople or enthusiastic collectors of the works. How do they view the job they are doing?

Puja Shah: One important thing to clarify before answering that question is that beadwork, unlike many other crafts, was traditionally done for self-consumption. Women created it for themselves, for their homes and for their daughters. It was never something people made to sell.

It was around the 1970s and ’80s, when the tradition of dowry was abolished, that the craft began to decline. Earlier, brides would create elaborate beadwork trousseaus. In the 16th and 17th centuries in Kutch, it was common for brides as young as 12, 13 or 14 to craft clothes and jewellery using glass beads.

Seen in that context, many present-day custodians—such as artisans—continue to practice the art because they learnt it from their mothers and grandmothers; it is simply what they know. Today, however, beadwork is largely produced for commercial purposes. Very rarely are these beautiful objects made for self-adornment, to pass on to daughters, or to decorate homes.

As an artist, sometimes the thrill of the work lies in working with new mediums. So, in working with glass beads, what made you go “wow, this is absolutely amazing”?

Puja Shah: I think the wow moment for me didn’t come from the craft itself. Beadwork is not as complex as one might imagine, and anyone who has worked with a needle and thread can learn it. For me, the excitement came from the larger umbrella of what it embodied—its history and the purpose for which it was practised by women (as a craft for self-adornment).

You’ve presented the project in cities as varied as London, Hyderabad and Kochi. What are the kind of conversations that have been triggered?

Kunal Shah:Our academic work with the Society of Jewellery Historians helped us unpack the idea of the bead as a “metaphor for value” in the luxury space. Does adding something as simple as a bead to a piece of fine jewellery elevate its value or diminish it? In Kochi, Chennai and Hyderabad, where we presented the project, the bead became a common denominator for conversations around traditions that we pass on, and around identity. After all, these beads were identity markers for the women of Kutch. Since cultural and technological changes have redefined the meaning of desirable objects today, how do we assign rarity to something that is made in the present? These are some of the questions the project helped us unpack, and there are many deeper conversations still to be had.

How do you work together? Do you have clearly defined boundaries?

Kunal Shah: This interview was a microcosm of how we work. We both sit in different offices and yes, we have clearly defined boundaries around what each of us focuses on. Puja is the creator. Since we are a digital-first brand, a lot of effort goes into digital marketing and technology—an important pillar of our work that I drive. What’s interesting is that on one end we work with new-age technology, and on the other, we engage deeply with crafts and practices that are steeped in our culture. In many ways, we exist at two extreme ends of the spectrum—but that’s exactly what gives us joy.