It’s official – the Indian festive season has begun with the festival of Raksha Bandhan leading the way. During this wonderful time of the year, everyone looks forward to dressing up in their festive best. It’s also a time to scout for good gifts. Noyra, a brand that creates ageless jewellery handcrafted in Jaipur provides ideal gifting options. The Sunday Guardian speaks to founder and designer Meher Jetley on what Noyra stands for.
Excerpts from an edited interview:
Q : How did you enter the field of design?
A : I graduated from NIFT, Gandhinagar with a Bachelor’s degree in Design (Fashion). I’ve previously headed the design team of an e-commerce fashion brand, worked with textile weavers in Gujarat, and worked in sales and marketing for a legacy brand. Over the past eight years, I have had exposure to design, marketing, sales, as well as customer experience and these fields have enhanced my knowledge. My journey has helped me understand the nuances of the industry and the customer, and it felt like the right time to channelise this knowledge into my own business.
Q : How did you transition from fashion to jewellery?
A : Jewellery is something I have always been passionate about. I have extensively researched it and would even create custom jewellery for myself much before launching Noyra. Since the designs I used to create myself were stylish, of good quality and affordable, they were admired by a lot of people, which made me realise that I had a knack for it. In the middle of the pandemic, I was faced with a pay cut at my job. So, I took a leap of faith and decided to start Noyra. I knew I had extensive experience working with artisans as well as customers, and knew how to create and sell a product, and I felt confident about it. That’s how the jewellery business began.
Q: What kind of jewellery do you specialise in?
A : At Noyra, we specialise in high-quality, handcrafted jewellery at affordable price points. All the jewellery takes inspiration from art, culture, history, and my many moods and is carefully made by talented jewellery artisans from Jaipur, India. We focus on working with the best plating techniques and certified semi-precious stones for all our pieces, while pledging to provide our patrons with as much information as possible in order to be transparent. We work on a made-to-order model as a conscious effort to lower our carbon footprint. Owning a piece from Noyra is like owning an ageless, crafted, rare museum piece.
Q : How do you stand apart from competitors?
A : Noyra is a unique jewellery brand where we design and craft our pieces from scratch. A thorough design process is followed, where we start right from the type or design of stone we need, to what base metal it will finally be set in (we work majorly with brass and 92.5 silver). The most important thing is our plating technique. We use micron plating, for all our products and rhodium plating for the shiny silver finish. Our designs are unique, and we work with only the highest quality semi-precious stones. Our products are nickel and lead-free, and we offer a stellar after-sale service that includes replating, refurbishing, and fixing the piece in case of any damage, to increase its longevity. Plus, our customisation is very affordable.
Q . What have been the biggest challenges you have faced so far?
A: Noyra is a bootstrapped business without a legacy. It has been hard to break into a competitive market where people come from much more comfortable backgrounds and situations than I presently have. Market the products consistently, or spending money on social media campaigns and celebrity endorsements can be challenging. I also feel we lack international exposure, but I’m sure that with time as we continue to grow, these problems will cease to exist.
Q : What have been your biggest rewards so far?
A : Even though we follow a made-to-order model, we have managed to create a loyal customer base and earned the trust of our customers. I’m so proud that niche, high-end marketplaces stock our products now. We have managed to create a name for ourselves where admirers and customers of the brand really appreciate our brand ethos and story. We especially loved launching our third collection called ‘Supernova’ in under three years. It’s a big deal for a new brand like ours to launch annual collections, and fortunately, ours have always been well received by both marketplaces and individual customers. I also take pride in being able to sustain my original artisans and vendors who have seen the growth of the brand from the first day. It is my dream to make the brand international and have it stocked at well-reputed global stores. As I’m a big fan of Sabyasachi Mukherjee, it is my dream to have Noyra products stocked at Bergdorf Goodman someday!
Q : Tell us about your design process.
A : Each piece at Noyra first begins its journey in my head. I believe I have the gift of creative visualisation which allows me to formulate an entire design from start to finish, without lifting a pen, and translate it directly into materials with the help of my artisans. Artistic themes, history, psychology, science, anything and everything that inspires me at that particular moment, acts as an inspiration while I design the pieces.
Q : Where can customers find your designs?
A : All the jewellery at Noyra retails through our own e-commerce website noyra.co and designer marketplaces such as Tata Cliq Luxury, and Nete.in, IKKIVI, The Yarn Story, etc. Currently, our physical designs are on display and for purchase at Jewelry Box by Arnav in Bangalore, Meraki Lifestyle in Pondicherry and Studio 108 at Kochi.
Noor Anand Chawla pens lifestyle articles for various publications and her blog www.nooranandchawla.com.