Expressing Indian Spirituality in Jeweled Form - Zhuhai Chakra Jewelry Group Co.,Ltd

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Ananya Malhotra says she tries to put meaning in all her designs.

By Praachi Raniwala

In a recent Zoom interview Ananya Malhotra was wearing ear jackets from her Scatter collection and a stack of her chakra bracelets — signature designs of her jewelry label Ananya — as well as what she calls her lucky emerald solitaire ring, a white opal signet and her diamond engagement ring.

Too much for a virtual appointment? Not according to what she describes as her brand’s purpose: to create ready-to-wear fine jewelry that elevates an urban woman’s everyday wear.

But her work has a twist, as Ms. Malhotra’s design sensibility is deeply rooted in the codes of Indian spirituality. “For instance,” she said from her home in Chennai, India, “a newborn is made to wear black and gold beads around the ankle as protection from nazar,” a common term in India for the evil eye. “Over time, I feel, we lost these values and started focusing on the material aspect alone.

“So I wanted to dig deeper into our traditions and history to create a brand that celebrates the meaning behind jewelry,” she added. “I had a very spiritual upbringing, so these ideas permeate into every aspect of my process and designs.”

Ms. Malhotra, 30, has not lived full-time in India since 2011 — she divides her time among Chennai, London and Miami — so her own life is something of a pattern for the brand’s cosmopolitan approach. “The treatment is deliberately contemporary to complement the global lifestyle of so many women today,” she said.

Nonita Kalra, editor in chief of the e-commerce portal Tata CLiQ Luxury and former editor in chief of Elle India and Harper’s Bazaar India, wrote in an email that Ms. Malhotra’s designs joined a new aesthetic for fine jewelry in India. “It is fresh, modern, relies on diamonds and colored stones — all of which is new. But what makes it more interesting is that while it comes rooted in an Indian sensibility, in it you see the voice of a new India.”

The pandemic has changed jewelry, Ms. Kalra added. “Young women want to tell their story, leave their imprint on the present, and they are using jewelry as a tool. They want to wear precious jewelry every single day.

“With a little bit of irreverence and, dare I say, insouciance, Ananya’s pieces define this attitude,” she added. “You can stack them, layer them and even wear them with pajamas.”

Ms. Malhotra grew up around design and fashion; her parents, Atul and Tina Malhotra, run the popular multidesigner store Evoluzione. But she gravitated toward jewelry and learned her craft while earning a Bachelor of Arts in jewelry design from Central Saint Martins and studying gemology at the British headquarters of the Gemological Institute of America, both in London. “I also learnt about gemstone healing from a private tutor in Chennai during my university breaks,” she said.

Her interest in harnessing the spiritual properties of gemstones — a widely held belief across India — became the foundation of her brand, introduced in 2016 as Naya, which means “new birth.” (It was rechristened Ananya the next year.)

In 2016, she felt there was a blockage in her root chakra, the first of the body’s seven chakras, or energy centers, so she created a ruby bracelet inlaid with a black onyx bar to remedy the problem (both gemstones are said to be linked to the root chakra). The idea of making fine jewelry that also had a deeper purpose may have been a little ahead of its time as “no one really understood what I was trying to do,” she said. “Investing in fine jewelry was limited to weddings and special occasions in India back then. It took some time for interest to build.”

The chakra bracelet has become synonymous with her brand, and now is available in more than 50 combinations of stones and beads, with prices ranging from $3,900 to $9,300. “Some clients consult their healers on the stones before coming to us,” she said. “For others, we have a comprehensive glossary or can source recommendations from a healer, too.”

Ms. Malhotra said that she had been working on a rainbow moonstone chakra bracelet with a gold bar for Gwyneth Paltrow, whose wellness and lifestyle website, Goop, now sells Ananya jewelry. Thread Styling added the brand in February, and Net-a-Porter, Farfetch and Moda Operandi followed.

It also has been a significant year for the brand on the red carpet — its Scatter Floating rings were worn by Dua Lipa at the Grammys and by Taylor Swift at the Brit Awards, and Vanessa Hudgens wore a Scatter choker for the Tribeca Film Festival.

Ananya now has five collections, which continue to expand. The Scatter, which Ms. Malhotra said captured the flow of physical energy from the root to the crown chakras, features gemstones like sapphires, emeralds and rubies alongside black and white diamonds.

The Mogra collection celebrates the jasmine flower, commonly associated with goddesses in India. The jewelry has a light color palette, using pink tourmaline, pale sapphires and morganites, while its hand-cut mother-of-pearl inlay work is a modern take on meenakari, a jewelry technique popular in India.

What comes next? The designer said she was playing with carved gemstones and studying to “get more qualified and obtain a local license in gemstone healing and chakra meditation.”

Ms. Malhotra said she spent six months creating a collection, from sketches to finish, with the pieces handmade by artisans in Jaipur, India, and in Bangkok.

Like most other brands, Ananya has had to adapt to the challenges of the pandemic. Earlier this year, the deadly second wave of coronavirus in India halted production temporarily. She has been using video calls for client appointments at her Knightsbridge studio. “But every challenge has been a learning experience,” she said. “The pivot to digital has been instrumental to our growth during this period.”

As Ms. Malhotra’s inspiration is India, is she tempted by the bridal jewelry category that is the focus of so many Indian jewelers?

“I do have bridal high jewelry, but they are unlike typical Indian bridal pieces” and are particularly popular with brides in the United States and the Middle East, she said. For example, it took six months of intricate custom cutting to create a bridal necklace of tanzanites, diamonds and white mother-of-pearl.

A bride can be confident that her jewelry is unique, Ms. Malhotra said. “I never repeat my high jewelry pieces. There will only be one of each design.”