“I might say my journey to date has been thrilling, adventurous, and stuffed with studying. It had its highs and lows, however each time I used to be low, I rose once more stronger,” says jewelry designer Farah Khan Ali. Over the previous twenty years, Farah has carved out her personal house on the earth of high-quality jewelry, redefining what it means to design with soul along with her two manufacturers — Farah Khan High quality Jewelry and Farah Khan Atelier.
Final week, we caught up along with her in Chennai, the place she showcased her modern collections — Miracle, Aayat, Amaira, Gemspire, and Sca-Ra — every impressed by geometry and symbolism.
“At 22, I had no intention of being a jewelry designer, however I used to be extraordinarily inventive as a toddler. So, when a buddy instructed we take a course collectively, I believed it was a creative course, however it turned out to be gemology — a scientific examine of gems, minerals, and their properties,” she remembers.
After finishing her gemology course, she enrolled for jewelry designing. “I fell in love with it as a result of it got here so naturally to me; creating lovely items of jewelry from nothing, simply your creativeness made me really feel on prime of the world.” Beginning her profession in 1993, she started interning with established jewellers, like Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri, Anmol Jewellers, Mahesh Notandass, and AKM Mehrasons Jewellers.
“I realised, at that time, the idea of a jewelry designer didn’t exist. Folks had been primarily working with babus and in-house designers, and since I got here from a household that has been related to Bollywood, there was curiosity — why wasn’t I performing? In a approach, I glamorised the career. For me, jewelry turned not only a product, it turned a bit of artwork as a result of I used to be making issues that had been going to survive their wearer and go down generations,” Farah shares.
For Farah, her collections draw closely from Nature, spirituality and storytelling. “With the Miracle assortment, I needed to remind those who it’s a miracle to be alive. Once I created the gathering, I put my monogram Aayat, which suggests miracle in Urdu, into the items as a reminder of divinity inside and round us. With my Nature’s Nectar assortment, I drew from bees, butterflies, and flowers — celebrating God’s unmatched design.”
Within the Indian jewelry market, which is deeply rooted in traditions, Farah spoke on how she has created a common design language. “I select motifs which are near Indian heritage, however pair them with a Western color palette as a result of I need to create a common design that may be worn in India and overseas, and goes with a sari or robe.”
“Immediately’s shoppers are design-driven and educated. They’re experimental, adventurous, and keen to pay for one thing distinctive. Jewelry has shifted from spiritual motifs to life-style expressions — affirmations of gratitude, spirituality, and individuality. There’s a market that desires luxurious, and it desires assertion items that no person else can get,” she provides.
Although her model shines at this time, the street to it was not simple. “Folks thought that I used to be getting it simple, however the commerce may be very guarded. Early on, varied folks stole my designs, made copies of them, and even took me to courtroom, prevented me from utilizing my very own model identify.”
“I used to be in a litigation that lasted for six months, however these six months had been the very best factor ever occurred to me as a result of I realized enterprise, legislation, emblems — every part. Immediately, I can learn a authorized doc like a e-book of fiction,” she says.
Farah additionally touched on the talk round actual versus lab-grown diamonds. “Something made by man can’t be actual,” she says. “A diamond that takes thousands and thousands of years to type within the Earth’s crust is uncommon, and it’s the rarity that provides the worth. So far as the sustainability of synthetic diamonds is anxious, the reality is that they use extra vitality within the lab than Nature does within the course of…mining is much extra sustainable than it as soon as was, and it helps total communities and even wildlife conservation.”
Printed – September 12, 2025 04:06 pm IST