Jalebi inspired jewellery

In my post on What is Art Jewellery, I brought to light several definitions of Art Jewellery as shared by AJF members. My quote had an image of one of my works titled What’s cooking: Jalebi! In this post, I will share how I conceptualised and created Jalebi inspired jewellery.

Art jewellery

I think of art jewellery as an artistic representation of our lives and the times that we live in. They are sensorial narratives, that not only convey the memories of the maker-designer but also elicit a response from the viewer. Making art jewellery is a kind of play, where the maker plays with not just materials and forms but also the way in which the idea is conceptualised. 

What’s cooking

What is cooking was conceptualised as a series of jewellery that proposes a nostalgic approach to food. Incorporating miniature steel utensils that are used as playthings by children, the pieces are sensorial and powerful reminders of childhood memories. The piece titled What’s Cooking? Jalebi! captures the memory of a child looking expectantly at her mother frying the crisp sweet and tangy jalebis n a wok filled with oil. Through the incorporation of a plaything, fabric cords, and resin that resembles oil, the piece invokes nostalgia and acts as a sensorial reminder of awaiting a treat during one’s childhood. The necklace is also a plaything that the wearer can wear and play with.

What is a Jalebi

Jalebi is a pretzel like crispy sweet made of all purpose flour or maida and is coated in sugar syrup. It is eaten hot or relished in combination with ice-cream, curd or rabri. Since the flour is mixed with yogurt and fermented over night, it tastes a bit sour.  For this reason, as a child I preferred, Jhangiri, jalebi’s cousin made of Urad dhal, which is spongier and sweeter. Also, Jhangiri is popular in southern India while Jalebi is popular in North western and Northern India. However, thanks to countless food delivery apps, everything is now available everywhere.

Both these sweets would be made during weddings or festivals such as Diwali or Krishna Jayanti when they would be offered to the Gods first before consumption. Therefore, it is forbidden to eat them before offering them to the Gods.

Interpretation of memories and narratives

What is cooking – Jalebi is nor based completely on my own personal memory. Neither did my mother make jalebis when I was a child nor did I have the temptation to eat them. Infact, I disliked sweets as a kid and probably never ate a jalebi until I was in my early twenties. However, this is one of my strongest ‘collected memory.’ I have read several stories, seen advertisements based on this temptation that kids have to eat offerings, that I wanted to make jewellery that narrates the same. I have also seen the process of making jalebis, particularly frying them several times. I was, therefore familiar with the shape, colour change and even how they would float on oil. Above you can see a photograph of jalebis being fried that I took at a popular eatery. You can find a video on my Instagram page.

Jalebi inspired jewellery

I started this project with a miniature stainless steel plaything. Its a wok or a kadai or a steel version of an ilupachatti (cast iron wok). I darkened it to make it look old and used. Next came the resin pours in stages and placing the wire spiral jalebis in resin. I used a tiny bit of resin to stick a jalebi to the ladle and poured a little more resin over it to make it look as though the oil was still be drained.

By this time I decided that I wanted to make a long necklace that could also be played with. Since the pendant was a direct representation, I wanted the necklace part to be abstract yet simple. I remembered that my mother used to wear polyester sarees of various colours when I was a kid. On several occasions, I would stand the threshold of our tiny kitchen and watch her cook. Her gold bangles would make a distinct sound as she moved her hands around. As this image fit in with the story that I wanted to tell with the piece, I used 2 cotton-poly fabric cords as the necklace, sew them together and embellished with golden wire.

What’s cooking was intended to be a series. However, I made only one piece in 2021. While I started the resin work for more pieces, I am yet to finish them. Maybe 2022 is the year when I will complete the series and share all of them. In the meanwhile, please share your views on the piece. Do tell me if you have thought of making or made food inspired jewellery and what was it that inspired you.

I hope you find it interesting

Cheers