Keshav Arora is passionately into designing of jewelry which is predominantly influenced by Ladakhi and Tibetan culture by using semi-precious stones with Silver, adopting ancient designer technique to create totally unique, hand-made, regal heirloom treasure for the 21st century. His art is therefore an extremely beautiful amalgamation of gemstones like Coral, Turquoise, Amber, Lapis etc., either embedded or beaded with old & new Silver.
A brief introduction as mentioned below and idea about the fascinating facts attached to his jewellery designs from this region of the world is not only very interesting but also quite divine, therapeutic and satisfying.
On earth, all human efforts tend towards one goal, that of remaining in permanent harmony with the divinities in order to draw down the protection of some and avoid the wrath of others. Threatened by misfortune, men lived in fear. They had to appeal to the Gods for protection, which they implored by offering them gifts in the form of precious stones like Turquoise, Lapis Lazuli, Corals, Amber, Pearls, Rubies, etc. beside others. The stones thus sacrificed were considered as a gift.
Wearing same precious stones in a variety of jewellery thus became a part of not only holy rituals but also a part of Buddhist cultural richness, ensuring continued blessing of gods and protection from evil forces. The art of statuary in Tibet is connected in an intimate and essential way with Buddhism. When the Tibetans in their fascination admire and wear precious stones, they prefer for their colour and the beneficent power attributed to them and they believe that they have seized the divine azure.
Turquoise is a favoured precious stone because of its natural qualities that people have attributed to it since the time of ancient Egypt all over the east and Arab world, Persia, Afghanistan, and in the Himalayan countries as the whole population had believed in its beneficent powers. It is in the existence of this power, in addition to its beauty, that one can see the reason for the Turquoise`s popularity in so many countries including that of western world.
Turquoises are normally strung on necklaces between bright corals and balls of yellow amber. It is supposed to cure certain ailments and avert the evil eye.
Red coral is a precious stone for the Tibetans, and the value they assign it is close or above to that of turquoises.
The Tibetans, whose artistic creations are subtle and refined, try to unite the living, colourful forces of nature by joining the blue of sky with the vital red of fire. Buddhist symbolism has its sacred colours where blue is air while red is light. This is why turquoise and coral are combined in the composition of nearly all the ornaments adorning the deities in the temples. They can be seen in the jewellery worn by men, women and children and are used to decorate liturgical objects.
That`s how, that the Tibetans had an insatiable craving for corals.
The third precious stone favoured by the Tibetans is Amber.
Already in antiquity amber was prized for its colour but also for the curative qualities that it was thought to possess. It has a warm yellow colour but the tones vary from light yellow to radish brown. Entire population of Himalaya are particularly fond of large yellow amber beads ( yellow – the element earth ), which women place in their hair or string on necklaces between blue turquoise and red coral.
Among all the pieces of Tibetan jewellery , there are some so characteristic and attached to Buddhism that even poor people in Tibet wear a few such ornaments, not only to satisfy their beliefs but because this was judged to be a necessary embellishment.
The great diversity of pieces in a Tibetan jewellery shows that the artist were sometimes able to express their imaginations freely, despite the constrains of traditional symbolism. With the addition of higher aesthetic sense to refined skills of the craftsmen, the creation of an art of jewellery with exclusively Tibetan characteristics was assured. The opulence of these jewels gives them an almost royal dignity synonymous in this part of the world with religious history.
Such is the background and theme of our jewellery designing, which has a combination of Tibetan rich culture, diversity, mythological myths and its creations, magical rituals ensuring that the mysteries of Gods are still preserved, beside Tantric and therapeutic values to attain liberation bearing the smile of Buddha.
All the designed necklaces are made of old Tibetan corals, Ambers, old silver beads mainly from Himalayan region ( Himachal, Kashmir, Ladakh ) old Lapis Lazuli and Ladakhi / Nepalese Turquoise.
Interestingly our each design is new in creation but gives a look of old. Though it would have been very easy for us to copy and imitate the old Ladakhi jewellery designs, but since we always wanted to be creative, original, not only to achieve and bring the very spirit and culture of that region of the world in all our creations, but also to satisfy ourself to feel happy and satisfied while addressing the artist in us that connects our soul with Ladakh and its culture as envisaged and conceived by Keshav Arora, the sole designer of this contemporary art and owner of this company.