Wearable art

"This isn't just jewellery, it's art," said India's famous painter M.F. Husain when he first took a look at Coomi's jewellery. A sentiment oft repeated by many. Coomi's line of creations closely resemble rare, valuable pieces of art. From the unique designs to the topmost quality handcrafted pieces, each piece of jewellery is in a league of its own.

Coomi doesn't design jewellery you can wear everyday to work, or maybe even fall asleep in, her's is an unusual collection of precious and semi precious gems, rose cut and brilliant diamonds mixed with natural-coloured diamonds. All of the pieces are handmade, one-of-a-kind jewellery created around a precious, exotic, or otherwise unique gemstone. Each piece of jewellery is handmade and no more than three of each design are ever made.

For the first time in Dubai, Coomi jewellery is brought to you in a private exhibition held by Al Ameerat Diamonds. Coomi is named after its designer, Coomi Bhasin, an Indian lady from New York. "It all started as a dream," says Coomi. "Even before I could have my first exhibition, I was involved in a silent auction done for charity by Prince Carlos. Normally, the only designer Prince Carlos uses is Harry Winston. To my honour, three of my jewellery designs were auctioned at the event along with one of Harry Winston's."

Having started off on such a high note, Coomi's first exhibition was held in New York. Needless to say, it was a total sellout attracting a guest list of countesses and baronesses.

"Wearable art," says Coomi, "is how I like to think of my designs. I graduated with a textile degree from university and went on to do my thesis in jewellery. For me it was one of my most treasured memories. I travelled all over India for a few months learning all about traditional jewellery from different regions in India. Gradually I moved on to New York and ended up as a commercial real-estate developer."

For this innovative designer, designing was a long-time dream. Ever since she can remember, she's been designing jewellery for friends, etc. Coomi includes lots of technical details in the making of her jewellery. All the nuts and bolts, details come from her technical side of real estate developing, which was then used in the making of her jewellery.

"Being a textile designer, a lot of the inspiration for my jewellery comes from old textiles and architecture." In order to create and manufacture original pieces of jewellery, Coomi first studies shapes and textures in order to hone her sense of design.

It all begins as an idea, a vague dream, which takes form, is enhanced and comes to life through the latest techniques used in the jewellery trade. "It's a process that takes about 12 weeks from start to finish. Step one, of course, is a drawing or sketch, from an idea in my mind. Then I send it to my workshop in Mumbai, where the craftsmen first make a prototype in silver. They don't obviously make the entire piece of jewellery, just a section of a piece or a particular link in silver to see if it's working out or not."

The finished product is flawless. A Coomi signature means extremely high quality stones, exquisite, unique design, and impeccable craftsmanship in manufacturing and finishing.