STRAIGHT-TALKING

How small-town India became Anu Merton's lifelong moodboard

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Growing up as the daughter of a government employee meant my childhood was a series of packed trunks and new beginnings. Every few years, my family would uproot from one small town and plant itself in another, each place leaving its distinct hue on the canvas of my imagination. At the time, I didn't know it, but those long corridors, dusty badminton courts, and sleepy afternoon skies were quietly shaping my design eye. They became the foundation of everything I create today.

Every house we lived in had its own story. Some had high ceilings that echoed with the sound of my brother's laughter, others had gardens and orchards filled with mangoes and sugarcane. The verandah was where life happened – family gossip, evening tea, and endless summer games. Even now, when I sit down to design a piece of jewellery, I instinctively think in those textures – the cool marble floors of government bungalows, the soft rustle of my Ma's chiffon saree as she rushed to serve aam panna, the glitter of golden sunlight slanting across the courtyard at 5 PM. Those memories weren't glamorous by any means, but they were real. And real is what I try to capture through my work. The subtlety, the nostalgia, the quiet luxury that comes from familiarity.