Vibhushanam by Sowmya Lakshmi

In July this year, Ms Sowmya Lakshmi, a textile artist whom I had met online years ago messaged me asking for literature references that discusses ancient (Tamil) jewellery. Piqued by her query, I shared with her my articles on jewellery as described in Natya Shastra and Silappathikaram only to be told that she had already read them and was looking for more. She was working on a textile jewellery project and was keen on getting her references right.  We put our heads together to look for more resources but found very little. Skip to the present, Sowmya’s textile jewellery collection titled “Vibhushanam” has won the second place at International Quilt & Fiber Arts festival (October 4th-6th, 2024) by Pacific Northwest Quilt & Fiber Arts Museum, at Everett, Washington, USA.

Sowmya Lakshmi holds a Masters in Chemistry with a Bachelors in Education. As a child, her grandmothers used art to enage her while her parents were away at work. By the age of 16, she after learning from several craft teachers, she started selling the products that she made. “After experimenting with many mediums I decided I belong in the fabric world,” she says when asked about why she chose to be a textile artist. Equipped with a Diploma in fashion designing and tailoring, she now makes clothing, wall pieces, handbags with 3D applique, fabric dolls, jewellery, quilts.

Textile Jewellery

Sowmya Lakshmi is passionate about both reading and sewing and often incorporates her readings into her textile projects. “I try to make all kinds of objects and stories with fabric as a medium. In 2014, I stumbled upon an essay that was talking about how fabrics could have been one of the earliest mediums for jewellery and dolls but since they degrade easily, it is impossible to prove,” she remarks. While she was used to cloth dolls, fabric jewellery was another matter. Though makers use textiles to create jewellery, they restrict themselves to necklaces and earrings. Therefore, she harped on a project to create an entire jewellery set that could be worn by a Bharatanatyam dancer during a performance. That is how Vibhushanam was born as a thought in 2014.

Research and Design Process

Both the research and the making took considerable time and effort with Sowmya Lakshmi, trying and failing multiple times. She had a strict criteria for the pieces – easy and comfortable to wear, aesthetically pleasing and in free size. Re-setting her studio during Covid lockdown brought the put-away experiments to sight. With a clearer mental image, she started to rethink them, this time based on her research on ancient Indian jewellery.

The colours, intricate patterns and form of peacocks inspired her and she used it as the central motif for her collection. Her experience in creating a 3D peacock quilt pushed her to use peacocks in different ways in jewellery. She incorporated different embroidery and applique techniques to create sturdy yet soft and lightweight pieces. However, it was only in 2023 that the concept turned into reality and she completed the collection in 2024, ten years after its inception. Ironically, it was towards the end that she came across more research on dance jewellery which she plans to incorporate in future work.

“I knew that if I had a deadline I would work faster. So I chose to exhibit it at an International show,” she says. This decision helped her select jewellery forms to create, findings and techniques to incorporate.

Vibhushanam (Jewellery)

Vibhushanam (jewellery) is a collection of four hair accessories, one necklace, one waistbelt, and a pair each of earrings, armlets and bracelets. They are referred to by their Tamil names, some of which are mentioned in Silappathikaram as an decription of Madhavi’s ornaments.

Top hair ornament -Rakodi- தெய்வவுத்தி, Front head ornaments – Chandra- Surya Prabhai, Front head ornament- Netrichutti-தொய்யகம், Earrings-குதம்பை, Earring support – Maatal Necklace-சவடி, Upper hand ornament- Vangi Bracelets- சுடகம் Hip chain- விரிசிகை.

They include minimal findings such as studs, metal tic-tac clips and the rest as fabric tieups.

Exhibitions and Awards in recent times

Sowmya Lakshmi has won several awards. A few noteworthy ones are a silver in the ‘Quilted Creations’ in Quilt Show, Dubai 2020, silver in the same category in The Festival of Quilts, Birmingham 2021, and a Judge’s Choice in the latter again circa 2023. She has also held audiences in the Visvesvaraya Museum of Bangalore, 2020, the India Art, Architechture and Design Biennale in Delhi, 2024 and in all editions of the International India Quilt Show.

Coming back to Vibhushanam, she remarks that she was able to match only a few of the terms that she decoded. “I hope to make more ornaments in future” she says as her research into ancient Tamil jewellery continues.

All images courtesy of the the maker. Find her on Instagram here.

I hope you find it interesting.

Cheers