Chennai-based brand Mookuthi reimagines the nose pin as a contemporary symbol of memory and heritage

Certain ornaments carry extra than simply ornamental worth. For Chennai-based designer Sarath Selvanathan, the nose pin is one such piece. His brand, Mookuthi, which can showcase its jewelry at a pop-up in Visakhapatnam’s Aarna Boutique, has made the decoration the centrepiece of a contemporary design apply that’s each intimate and rooted in memory.

Selvanathan’s path to design was removed from predictable. Trained as a mechanical engineer, he started his profession in the car trade earlier than turning to jewelry in 2013. “I found myself at one of those points in life where you wander,” he remembers. What started as curiosity quickly changed into a sustained exploration, resulting in the launch of Mookuthi on February 16, 2018.

His background of engineering, he notes, was not wasted. It formed his strategy to precision, organisation and problem-solving, qualities that he discovered unexpectedly beneficial to jewelry design. Yet the bigger shift from a standard profession to a creative one required him to depart behind construction and lean into instinct.

The choice to deal with nose pins gave Mookuthi its singular id. For Selvanathan, the decoration’s impression is disproportionate to its dimension. “It is the smallest ornament that makes the most difference to the wearer,” he observes. This recognition allowed him to make use of the nose pin as a canvas for frolicsome re-interpretation of memory and heritage. His Kolam assortment, impressed by the ground drawings of South India, is amongst the hottest, evoking a sense of belonging that’s each visible and emotional.

The identify Mookuthi itself appeared nearly inevitable to him. Despite experimenting with options, he selected the Tamil phrase for nose pin as a result of it embodied language, id and cultural resonance. That resonance has additionally formed the method his patrons join with the brand. He factors out that a lot of Mookuthi’s development has been pushed by community-led discovery and word-of-mouth appreciation and not fleeting traits.

In latest years, the nose pin has begun to shift from being a conventional marker to an on a regular basis accent. Selvanathan believes this alteration stems from an growing consolation in private expression. “They are moving from being traditional cultural symbols to being deeply personal,” he remarks. This, he notes, has allowed nose pins to maneuver past gendered boundaries and to slowly enter mainstream trend exterior India.

Despite frequent questions on whether or not Mookuthi will department into different jewelry varieties, Selvanathan is agency. His work stays dedicated to the nose pin, distilling heritage into varieties and textures that really feel common. “Time will tell,” he says, when requested about the brand’s future. For now, the focus stays regular: a small decoration that holds memory, id and contemporary relevance in a single.

Date : September 12-14Time : 8pm to 10pm Venue: Aarna BoutiqueBalaji R Square, Harbour Park RoadPandurangapuram, Visakhapatnam