Long before Gujarati traders bartered cotton for Venetian glass beads in East Africa, the Indus Valley Civilisation had already established terracotta beadmaking traditions in Kutch and Kathiawar. This is the cultural lineage of the region’s pastoral communities that husband-wife duo Puja and Kunal Shah, founders of fine-jewellery brand Moi, encountered two years ago while shaping their brand’s first exclusive capsule.“We were looking to curate a jewellery collection that qualified as rare collectables and was only available offline. Searching for inspiration, we toured Kutch looking for motifs and textiles that came with a solid backstory,” says Puja, who trained as jewellery designer at The Fashion Institute of Technology in New York and worked briefly at Brooklyn Museum and The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Puja Shah, co-founder of Moi
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The duo’s expedition birthed Moi’s Kutch collection, launched last year, which put the spotlight on jewellery-making traditions of the pastoral communities in the region. That year, the brand also presented its nine-month research on the subject at the Society of Jewellery Historians. “One of the key pieces from Kutch Collectibles, bird brooches, was picked up by Isha Ambani (daughter of billionaires Mukesh and Nita Ambani) and she wore it at the Met Gala last year,” remembers Puja.Kunal brings back the attention to the communities: “It was during 15th and 17th Century that communities like Rabaris, Sindh Jats and Ahirs started working with Venetian glass beads. A lot of motifs were inspired by the region’s traditional textile crafts Patola and Bandhani, but each community had its distinct beading techniques and motifs. Most of this beaded jewellery was made by women and was an integral part of the bride’s trousseau.”
