Maths teacher Subini Lawrence is a jewellery designer by passion
Colours jostle for your attention as Subini Lawrence arranges the necklaces on the table. Purple, green, blue, red, brown, pink, orange, yellow… As she proudly spreads out the neckpieces, bracelets and earrings she has made, there is a child-like enthusiasm in Subini.
A maths teacher, Subini’s free time is spent with beads, not of the counting variety but beads to be made into charming accessories. All thanks to her childhood friend Anita Nair, a resident of New Jersey, United States. Anita sends or brings the semi-precious stones and other raw materials with which Subini makes the jewellery. “From childhood I had a fascination for jewellery design. My mother used to get gold jewellery custom-made for me. In 2007, when Anita came down to India she brought jade beads and asked me to make neckpieces for her. The compliments that came her way when she wore them, made her bring six varieties of stones with her the next time he came. That’s how I started out,” says Subini, displaying a necklace with blue chalk turquoise beads. The pendant is a real flower, a resin-coated daisy.
Completely self-taught, Subini has that eye for colour that helps her come up with eye-catching colour combinations. Neckpieces made of jade, fossil beads (in red, blue and purple), oval-shaped cat’s eye beads in mauve and light green hues, oval- and round- shaped Czech glass beads (royal blue, dark pink, mauve), amethyst (purple), German white crystals, orange corals and sugar beads… Subini has them all. “I also make jewellery with cloisonne beads that are metal beads with enamel work fired into them,” she adds. Light-weight lava rock bead jewellery are head-turners in her collection.
She calls her collection ‘Treasures, “for every woman is a treasure.” Her customers are her friends and family and exhibition shoppers. “I make earrings to go with a neckpiece only if the customer wants it,” says Subini, showing me an elegant necklace of cloisonne beads and matching danglers. The collection is priced Rs. 50 (for bracelets) and up. She often wears her designs to her workplace, Christ Nagar International School, where she has been working for the last 11 years. Contact: 8281256621
[“source-thehindu”]