For a creative mind, inspiration can come from anywhere, anything, anytime. Arti Gidwani, a sculptor and clay jewellery maker with a penchant for the unusual and innovative, gets her inspiration from people and things around her. Her latest jewellery collection, Celestial, is her interpretation of the universe that we live in.
The fashion show ‘Celestial’ featured elements of the universe, mainly the moon, the sun and the stars. Through her quirky designs, as has always been Arti’s style, she wants to remind everybody of the beauty in the universe that we live in, instead of getting caught up in the stress of our everyday lives.
The new collection is another collaboration with a jewellery designer, Vibeke Lorentzen. They both come from very different cultural backgrounds, Vibeke is Danish and Arti is Indian. One would think the design process would be difficult. But as Arti puts it, “It’s actually very easy because when you understand each other, you learn about each other and work with each other’s strengths. Since I am a maximalist, I learned to scale down a bit. And Vibeke is a minimalist so she learned to go big a bit.” Together they have been creating beautiful whimsical pieces and this new Celestial collection was another fantastic ode to their creativity.
The jewelry is like a Pandora’s Box full of beautiful colours and different sizes and shapes. Silver and clay compliment each other in design, each piece shows both the mediums in all their beauty. Every piece is unique and carefully handcrafted. As usual, Arti’s clay pieces are created free-hand and sometimes moulded. This is her forte and this is how she likes to create. She believes that clay has a life and soul so she lets clay guide her in forming shapes.
To introduce the Celestial collection, Arti and Vibeke held a fashion show in Raffles Hotel, Jakarta on 7 May 2018. Her dear friend Erza S.T. created the sophisticated and elegant event. Before the show, guests mingled and enjoyed the delicious high tea that the hotel had organized for the event while admiring the new collection on display.
For the fashion show, the catwalk was set rather intimately; having no elevated level and surrounded by seats for the audience on all four sides and in the middle. The strength of the show were the models who walked. Instead of professional models, the Celestial Collection was worn by real people, Arti’s friends from Jakarta. This was her idea of showing her audience that her creations are for everyone. Having friends with busy schedules giving time and effort to support her dream shows that Arti is a part of the inspiring universe herself.