Whenever we think of handmade jewellery in Nepal, the first and usually the only thought that strikes us is about this certain ethnic style. So, it is truly surprising to find a place where we can get not only ethnic but also contemporary designs.
Established under the name ‘Miir’ - ‘My imagination into reality’ - and Inscape, the small family run business delivers different types of ornaments from earrings to necklaces.
While Mirr focuses on ethnic designs, Inscape emphasises on contemporary designs.
Navaid Ahmed, co-founder of Miir and Inscape says, “I always knew I wanted to do something related to handmade jewellery in Nepal. Handmade jewellery has a very small market in Nepal, as many people do not look for handmade designs due to the high price of such ornaments.”
The company first started in 2020, with Miir, with the hope of showing the craftsmanship in Nepal.
Ahmed says, “The whole idea of Miir was to show the craftsmanship with ethnic designs. We came up with old traditional designs with a bit of a modern touch. For instance, if you take a close look at each of the designs, they are connected to each other. As for how we come up with the idea, sometimes it’s the inspiration of the world and sometimes it is just about what works the best.”
Since the market price of gold and silver is rising, Miir delivers ornaments made up of brass. However, their new collections will be crafted of silver!
And since Inscape delivers contemporary designs, Ahmed explains, “My partner and I came up with the idea of introducing contemporary handmade designs. But if we showcase both the contemporary and ethnic designs together on a single website it could become a bit
messy for the viewers. So, we decided to have two different sites for each of the designs.”
Inscape tries to focus on the modern designs which means ‘for the modern muse’ with its 24-carat gold plated jewellery and each of the designs tells a story. The word itself means, ‘the unique inner nature of a person or object as displayed in a work of art’.
Till date they have come up with two collections - the first called, ‘Dusk till Dawn’ that delivers earrings of different designs that focus on the meaning of life. And their second line called, ‘Shape of you' comes from the inspiration of different body types. As there is a saying, “Jewellery is a woman’s armour.”
Shrisma Shrestha, the other co-founder of Miir and Inscape explains, “The whole idea of coming up with Inscape was to focus on modern designs. We wanted to show that handmade jewellery can be so much more than just traditional style.”
Shrestha says, “While the first collection with six different earrings is designed for normal day-to-day wear, our second collection narrates a story. Inspired by the body types, these designs focus on body positivity - ‘all bodies are beautiful. While our first collection was gold plated but since it would have tarnished in about a year, we came up with the idea to make our ornaments out of 'panchadhatu' which looks like 18 carat gold, is water-resistant and has color guarantee as well."
Created with love and a lot of thought, Shrestha explains how from childhood itself women are taught to look and act in a certain manner. She says, “We wanted to craft something that will tell a story and send out a strong message. We wanted our customers to not only wear our jewellery but also be reminded that they are beautiful. So, every time they wear it they are inspired to be themselves. After all, it is art and we are trying to do justice by it.”
“We want women to make a statement when they wear our jewellery,” she states.
Since the craftsmanship in Nepal is underrated, Miir and Inscape try to promote the real value and importance of it. With their little effort and imagination, things might change for the handmade jewellery market.
“Things have yet to get better but the market is growing and I am sure it will not take very long for people to realise the beauty of what we are selling,” Ahmed signs off.
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