We lived in Chennai for a short while, back in 2010. A lady I met in my yoga class took me under her wing and made me feel so at home in an entirely new city.
She was intrigued by my creative approach to jewelry designing, but unfortunately could not really wear any of the jewelry I designed as her head and neck were always covered by a Rida, which is a burqa. Her hands were the only part of her body that was visible and hence she wore several bangles, bracelets and finger rings to accentuate the beauty of her hands. She liked to match the color of her jewelry with every color of the beautiful Ridas she wore.
She requested me to design a few bracelets with changeable stones as she wanted to build on her jewelry collection. I did start off with a few designs but wasn’t happy with the outcome. I wanted to design something which was a combination of contemporary design with traditional elements. And the jewelry also had to be something that matched her personality, build and budget as well.
After experimenting with a couple of designs, I decided to make a short trip to Mumbai for inspiration. During my visit to Zaveri bazaar, I was struck by the beauty of these fiber glass bangles which were available in around 6 colors in both translucent and opaque formats. I loved the vibrancy and sheen of the translucent fiberglass bangles. For me, that was a serendipitous moment and was the perfect solution to my design dilemma. Fiberglass was also the ideal material choice for hand jewelry as it was scratch-proof and unbreakable.
Thrilled with my new find, I started working on multiple sketches. As a traditional person who wore gemstone jewelry all her life, my client seemed slightly hesitant with the idea of wearing fiberglass jewelry, though she was equally thrilled by the same.
We created a sample in brass (picture attached) and she instantly fell in love with it. What excited her more was the fact that she wouldn’t have to spend on multiple pieces of jewelry to match her outfits. These fiberglass bangles could easily be changed inside the same gold bangle whenever the client wanted to.
The main piece of this set is an elegant gold socket studded with diamonds. The socket sits perfectly atop the fiberglass bangle base to create an interesting fusion of color and light.
In the end, we made the client and several others happy with this novel idea in jewelry design. Till date we have several clients, both in India and outside, get these bangles custom-made to suit their personal style.
Kria Jewels 
Lovely designs , Khushbu.
Thanks Usha.
Good one masi really liked the thinking behind such an amazing art. The way you the bangles can be used multiple times with different colours. Just a small question can we manually change the bangles colour strip? Or we have to give it back to the sale’s person
The Fibre bangles come along with the diamond and gold bangle. It can be done manually, every time you want to change a color with ease.
Interesting thought process! I have seen my mother use ear studs with interchangeable colour stones. Your idea is an interesting adaptation of that concept. Keep up the good work! 🙂
Thank you Vatsala for the appreciation and motivation. Kria jewels journey so far has been about recreating beautiful jewels and stories.