WUNDERKAMMER

Sabyasachi Mukherjee’s new flagship jewellery store in Mumbai is poised to be a jewel in the couturier’s crown

- ROSHNI BAJAJ SANGHVI

As a young boy who wanted money so he could go to the movies, he began selling jewellery he made with beads that he found in the markets of Kolkata, while shopping for Durga Puja clothes with his mother. With help of their in-house carpenter, he strung bits of plastic, glass and horn together, and sold his first designs in small plastic boxes to little shops in the city. “I started making this pretty disastrous jewellery, which, fortunately or unfortunately for me, started selling at a premium,” says designer Sabyasachi Mukherjee of his first but short-lived entrepreneurial venture. “When you’re asking your father for one buck for a ‘pepsi cola’, and three bucks for a movie, and you make Ì€ 1,200, it’s major empowerment. But the business ended quite tragically, because I started stealing all my mother’s domestic help. She just threw a fit one day and that was the end of my business.” Mukherjee then went on to support his movie habit by offering tuitions in English and mathematics.

The fashion designer, known for his regal bridal wear, continued to revisit jewellery through his career, collaborating with brands like Forevermark as well as designing privately for friends, and for royalty in the Middle East. In October this year, Mukherjee opened his flagship jewellery store in Mumbai, on the third floor of Ador House, the grand colonial building that also houses his flagship fashion store.

SETTING THE SCENE