Krishna Choudhary, the creative force behind the contemporary, Indian-inspired Santi Jewels, has always chosen the road less travelled. Born into Jaipur jewellery royalty, his father and brand namesake was Santi Choudhary, a ninth-generation jeweller and the owner and founder of Royal Gems and Arts, Jaipur: a glorious emporium of exquisite antique and modern creations in traditional style. The Choudharys trace their history to 1727, and the founding of the city of Jaipur, when the family was one of a community of merchants, artists and artisans, including goldsmiths, gem-cutters and setters, who were attracted to the vibrant new city by its forward-thinking founder, Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II. Granted licence to mint coins and manage the royal jewellery collection, the Choudhary family took up residence in Saras Sadan, the magnificent haveli (or mansion) near the palace.

As such, jewels and gems have been the lifeblood of the Choudharys since the 18th century, and Krishna was fully expected to follow in his father’s footsteps and take up the reins as a 10th-generation Jaipur jeweller. Instead, he decided to go it alone, carving out his own career as an independent, individual designer-jeweller and perpetuating his heritage in an entirely different way: by creating strikingly modern jewels imbued with Mughal elegance and opulence.

Choudhary spent his childhood and teenage years shadowing his father – watching, learning, listening, and handling the jewels (the latter opportunity following negotiations of course). Soaking up Indian history and mythology, depicted on the massive frescoed dome and walls of the 18th-century haveli, he found himself immersed in his nation’s deep-rooted cultural, artistic and mystical traditions surrounding jewels and gems. Later, Choudhary studied abroad, including at SOAS in London, and travelled the world, visiting museums where, in untouchable glass cases, he saw artefacts similar to those he had handled and examined so freely in Jaipur. That’s when he realised that, as much as he loved and revered his heritage, he belonged to the modern world. Looking back, he says: “I always wanted to add a modernist context to the story of Mughal art and design, and to highlight its minimalistic aspect. (That’s) something that surprises people who are used to celebrating India’s colour and richness. I saw that with my sensitivity to Indian Mughal decorative motifs, and my preference for modern minimalism, there was a big conversation to be had. A dialogue to be explored.”

In order to bring his two worlds together – antique gemstones with modern design, and the past with the present – Choudhary decided to move to London, where he opened a private salon in Mayfair; it was here, in his exquisite pink silk-lined salon, with its subtle references to Jaipur, that he launched Santi in 2019. The jewels that he presents to select clients there are arrestingly new, unlike anything that has come before. Yet they resonate with familiar echoes of the past, paying homage to Indian skills of gem-setting and stone-carving. Choudhary brings age-old craftsmanship and advanced high-tech processes to bear on a mix of antique gemstones: for instance, limpid Golconda diamonds or historic wine-coloured spinels; such materials are then fused with futuristic materials like titanium. As Choudhary explains: “I wanted to bring finer, more sophisticated craftsmanship to Indian jewellery. It is the marriage of the fine lines of Mughal motif with superlative craftsmanship that shapes and defines the new narrative.”

Choudhary’s favourite motifs, adapted and re-energised from Mughal art and architecture, have become Santi signatures. The chevron that appears on floors and doorways of Mughal palaces becomes a modernist geometric pattern, often hand-pierced into openwork that conjures images of the jali, the stone walls behind which the women of the court would watch ceremonial events. Elsewhere, a lilting cartouche silhouette is taken from intricate lattice patterns on tiles, carpets and fabrics; the otherworldly flowers, including the lotus, lily and other indefinable species, represent the serene beauty of Mughal paradisiacal gardens; the familiar “paisley” motif, depicting the shapely mango, is sourced from Kashmir textiles.

Choudhary is a shining star of India’s new wave of dynamic, home-grown jewellery creators – designers who both honour and subvert the millennia old, deeply entrenched conventions surrounding Indian jewellery. As Choudhary says: “the jewellery market in India is changing so fast, and is so dynamic. Informed clients are now looking for something different. For something nobody else has.” 

In India, jewellery is considered an essential element of life’s milestones. It’s especially integral to wedding ceremonies, with different sets of jewels worn for each day of the celebration, and well-to-do families collecting jewels for the dowries and weddings of their daughters almost from their birth. Generally, these suites of jewels tend to be traditional, rich, elaborate, focused on gold and intrinsic value, and in styles largely unchanged for centuries. Moreover, they are made by family goldsmiths and jewellers – the concept of the individual designer-jeweller was virtually unknown in India until recently.

Now, with a vast new cosmopolitan wealthy class in India, tastes and practices are changing fast. And beyond the country, a renewed appreciation of Indian jewelled arts has been fuelled by major global exhibitions, such as a 2015–2016 show displaying the Al Thani collection at the Victoria & Albert Museum, the venue which is now hosting The Great Mughals, showcasing the period’s vast creative output. That show marks the latest moment in the long story of the West’s fascination with Indian gems and jewels, the crescendo of which was 100 years ago: in the 1920s and into the 30s, bejewelled Maharajahs travelled to London and Paris, bringing with them whole treasures to be reset in Art Deco style by houses like Cartier.

With all these influencing forces, Choudhary’s contemporary style is forging a whole new identity for Indian jewellery, offering an alternative to traditional adornments, catering to the demand for “quiet luxury” and attracting discerning collectors across the globe. With intriguing, emotive echoes of the past, Santi Jewels perpetuates that ongoing, ever-evolving, mutually creative exchange of inspirations and ideas between India and the West, pulling a precious thread through history to find a new expression for the ages-old tradition of Indian jewelled arts.