INTERVIEW-Bina Goenka creates exquisite designs from nature
By David Brough
LONDON, January 2018 – Indian designer Bina Goenka takes her inspiration from nature when she creates her opulent one-off jewellery pieces using rare natural pearls and coloured gemstones.
She has very clear and decisive ideas in her design focus and can use sketches and informal scribbles to bring alive her creations in her imagination.
“The design is in my head before it’s on the table,” she said.
One recent necklace was inspired by undersea life and featured a large and extremely rare, twisted pearl around which was set an array of coloured gemstones and coral in contrasting hues representing the seabed.
Bina Goenka, who has a showroom in the Grand Hyatt hotel in Mumbai where clients can discuss bespoke commissions by appointment, has moved increasingly into pearls and coloured gemstones, including tanzanite, in recent years. She works with 18-carat gold.
Her pieces tend to be collected by high end customers around the world who already own diamond jewellery and are now looking for something new and different.
“People love their diamonds but once you have your diamonds, you are looking for a different colour,” she said during a recent interview in central London where she also has a showroom.
“You are always looking for something with a new look.”
Bina’s jewellery pieces are entirely hand crafted by highly skilled and experienced craftspeople at an atelier in Mumbai and meet the highest standards of sustainability and ethical sourcing.
Bina acquires extraordinary coloured gemstones during her extensive international travel, and has built up a vast collection gleaned from her trips to trade shows and her contacts with a network of dealers.
“The stone needs to speak to me,” she said.www.binagoenka.com
