Otara, only Lankan designer featured in Swarovski’s ‘Gem Visions India’

Thursday, 18 August 2011 00:25 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

Swarovski, the benchmark global brand in the crystal industry, which is equally reputed in the area of fine and crafted gemstones, invited ODEL CEO and Founder Otara Gunewardene to design a piece of jewellery of her choice and participate in its special edition of the ‘Swarovski Gem Visions 2012’ trend book.

This special edition titled ‘Gem Visions India’ was put together with the aim of pushing the bou-ndaries of concept, form and ornament, to challenge the conventions and clichés of traditional jewellery’.

Entrepreneur and fashion icon Otara stated: “I was honoured to have received the invitation from Swarovski to be a part of this revolutionary trend and design book, and to represent Sri Lanka.”

Her final design, produced by Colombo Jewellery Stores, one of Sri Lanka’s leaders in the trade, was a 24 Carat Gold Bracelet themed ‘Incredible’.

Delicately fragile but traditionally strong, the piece was intricately set with champagne and white crystals, and inspired by ‘Beeralu’ a hand woven lace produced in the southern regions of the island. The glittering book launch was held on Sunday 7 August at the Renaissance Hotel, Mumbai and followed by a fashion show featuring Bollywood actresses and supermodels like Shriya Saran, Celina Jaitely, Urvashi Sharma, Giselle Monteiro and Tansiha Mukergee. ‘Swarovski Gem Visions’ was formulated to stimulate creativity and originality in design and manufacture, and to influence the jewellery industry.

In keeping with its thinking, select designers were thus invited to contribute with their innovative designs which would reveal new trends and directions for 2012.

The Swarovski brand was founded in 1895 by Daniel Swarovski, a Bohemian inventor and visionary who moved to the village of Wattens, Tyrol in Austria with his newly-invented machine for cutting and polishing crystal jewellery stones.

Today Swarovski has become the world’s leading producer of precision-cut crystals for fashion jewellery, branching out recently into lighting, architecture and interiors.

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