Jewellery on display

A couple of months ago, I visited an exhibition  called “Seed to Silver” showcasing jewellery from different countries.

What captured my interest were the advance publicity reports that mentioned that natural objects and recycled material was used to create some of the jewellery. I asked the little boy to come along, and bring his camera, and although he is more of a nature photographer, he obliged quite happily.  

It was held in the most stuffy artificial location though, a hall in a five star hotel, with some token twigs and stones added to the exhibit décor to set the scene. And to make matters more congested, we suddenly discovered that the Chief Minister(CM) of Delhi, Mrs Shiela Dixit, had also decided to re-visit the exhibition on that day, after inaugurating it on the previous day. She must have really liked what she saw to visit it two days in a row.

The little boy, aka the boy journalist, took some time to start clicking the exhibits because he was a bit disturbed by the entourage, and was extremely reluctant to photograph the celebrity visitor - he was least bothered that the CM was just two feet away!  Frankly, it was all I could do to suppress my journalistic instincts, and grab his camera and start clicking away myself.   

Anyway, he did capture some of the jewellery through the glass fronted cabinets, and some appear here.  

On the whole, it was interesting more as a documentation of cultural tastes and creativity across countries. Some of the jewellery was made using recycled material that was man-made, and others made me wonder whether they could really be worn at all, or were they more of a one-time experiment.

 

Paper jewellery from Finland.

Plastic fish shaped vials were used for this elaborate neck piece.

Interesting use of bottle caps that would otherwise land up in the trash.

Finally something really natural - seed pods used  in jewellery/

Eventually the little boy did take a couple of shots of the CM (see below). Although there were questions I really felt like asking her, primarily on the safety of women in the city, looking at her just being a woman, enjoying an evening looking at jewellery and sometimes exclaiming in astonishment, I just clammed up and decided to give my citizen journalist instincts a day off.

Of course, eventually we (OK, I mean I) meandered into a separate hall where items were available for sale. I bought some of them including jewellery made from seeds from Tamil Nadu,  jute earrings from Bengal, and modern paper jewellery made by a young girl in Chennai. The absolute piece de resistance is the striking necklace made from some grass that grows in the water - it has to be worked upon to make it flexible, and I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. It's good to let go sometimes, and the little boy indulgently encouraged me to do so!  I'll try to post a photograph of my purchases sometime.