Munnu Kasliwal was a jewelry maker and late owner of the Gem Palace in Jaipur. “Gem Palace” is lavish emporium, primarily containing intricate jewelry pieces. His family served as the crown jewelers to country’s Maharaja since the mid-18th century. For nine generations, the Kasliwal family has been handcrafting jewelry that challenges conventions of the art.
At the end of 2014, Siddharth Kasliwal, son of Munnu Kasliwal, the late owner of Munnu the Gem Palace, has debuted his own seven-piece collection. Now, the younger Kasliwal unveiled his second collection For Munnu The Gem Palace. The inspiration for this collection arose where he found a traditional Mughal style Sindoor Box made of rubies that caught his eye.
Sindoor Collection
“My father had made these boxes using extreme patience and passion,” Kasliwal said. “This kind of workmanship has nearly become extinct. He really wanted to make an item that used the finest caliber rubies. They are cut so fine that without close inspection they look like enamel. It was really a challenge to recreate this.”
Appropriately named Sindoor Collection, which, translates roughly to “red” in Hindu include five pieces of jewelery: a teardrop-shaped pendant necklace, ring, earrings, bracelet, and perfume bottle. Every piece was handmade using the traditional Indian technique, called Kundun where the rubies are cut paper-thin and then inlaid with gold.
Also, the collection also employs old-mine diamonds. “They were a favorite of my father’s,” Kasliwal said. “And I thought it would be incredible to combine it with rubies. The results are full of character and have a very Indian feel. Also, no other jewelers in the West are doing something like this.”
The five ruby designs debuted earlier this month and range in price from $48,000 to $480,000. The pieces are available in company’s New York salon, and its stores in Mumbai and Jaipur.
Sindoor Collection
