Diamonds are more than just a girl’s best friend. For Isha Deb, these sparkling gems are a muse, a symbol of luxury and celebration. With over a decade of experience as a renowned jewellery artist, Isha has carved out a niche by specialising exclusive couture diamond jewellery.
As the Founder of Isha Deb Designs, a studio that offers bespoke, concept-to-creation pieces for top manufacturers and retailers.
A gold medallist from NIFT (2013), with a degree in Fashion and Lifestyle Accessories, Isha has honed her ability to identify customer needs and refine her services. Her novel designs have garnered recognition in prestigious competitions, including the ongoing Wada Awards (2024), IGI Expressions (2022), the Malaysian International Jewellery Design Awards (2021), and the Artisan Awards (2018).
In an interview with Solitaire International, she shares her decision to take the unconventional route by founding a design house dedicated exclusively to couture diamond collections.
Are you a first gen jewellery designer? What influenced you to enter this field?
I am the first in my family to pursue jewellery design as a profession. From young age, I was fascinated with the idea of jewellery. I remember doodling jewellery designs on photographs of people. Over time, the idea of becoming a designer became much more obvious, and I decided to become a jewellery designer, where I could balance my passion for art with my love for jewellery.
What sparked your interest in designing diamond jewellery?
For me, diamonds are timeless and a reflection of milestones, memories, and celebrations. Designing everlasting products for people’s life moments has been a key motivator for me.
Can you share the inspiration behind starting a design house specifically for diamond jewellery manufacturers?
I found a white space in the industry where there were no services offering creative design solutions for multiple businesses in couture diamond jewellery. That’s what gave me the idea of starting my own design house, focused exclusively on providing high couture, one-of-a-kind design concepts to jewellery manufacturers and retailers.
What made you take this offbeat path when you could have yourself started a jewellery design house?
True to my heart, I always wanted to create a brand of my own. But over time I realised that designing has always been my true calling. That’s something I live for. So, I decided to start a venture where I could use my skills and learnings to make a distinctive mark in the diamond jewellery industry. Thus, I established Isha Deb Designs, the first of its kind to studio to provide creative and one-off designs in couture diamond jewellery.
Tell us more about your design service firm, its functions and how receptive has the industry been in using these services?
Before going into the outcomes, I always invest a lot of time in understanding the client’s thought process and how they envision the design. This is a time-consuming exercise, and often the visualisation of designs reflects the personality of the brand’s founders. Once I gather the inputs, designing becomes a lot easier; visualising and creating has been my bread and butter for a long time.
In the initial 6 months, it took time to convince people on the importance of investing capital in designs. But once they saw the results and the impact on sales, repeat business started to follow, making it relatively easier after that phase.
I engage in the concept-to-creation process for the commissioned collections. Usually, the deliverables consist of two aspects: The collection deck that depicts a superlative illustration of each product, and the complete identity details of the collection that can be used for brand’s marketing communications. The second phase is the manufacturing of the designs.
How do you integrate client feedback into your design process while maintaining your creative vision?
There has to be a fine balance between the visualisation of the client, my design language and the overall design balance. Discussions revolve around these three pillars, and often, sharing multiple options helps in maintaining the balance. My clients are also aware that regardless of the vision if a design is not aesthetically pleasing, I do not proceed with it.
How do you ensure your design services align with the evolving trends in the diamond jewellery industry?
A lot of effort and time goes into researching and understanding fashion trends across the globe. Thanks to Internet, it’s easier to track developments in real time and stay updated. However, I challenge myself to design jewellery that I have never attempted before. This part helps me remain innovative and think creatively.
What role does technology play in your design process, and how do you see it evolving in the future?
Most designing is done digitally these days, and soon, everything will be digitalised.
Sometimes, I feel a sense of loss that the thrill of sketching on paper with coloured pencils or gouache colours might disappear. On the other hand, change is inevitable, and we need to accept it.
One technology that I feel will impact our industry, especially designers, is the increasing use of AI. With text-to-image and text-to-video conversions available at the click of a button, I foresee that soon a bulk of adaptation work will be handled by AI.
As designers, we must master this technology, but also stay a step ahead in our creations to differentiate ourselves from the tech.
How have your impressions of the design aesthetics in the Indian jewellery industry changed since you first entered the field?
When I started over 10 years ago, people played safe and opted for classic designs, refraining from experimenting.
But in the last couple of years, especially after Covid, the exposure of social media has dramatically changed the preferences of people. Nowadays, they are more open to designer products, one-of-a-kind statement jewellery. People are willing to opt for stylish and trendy diamond jewellery, which again provides me the right platform to design diamond jewellery with a strong narrative.
Any career highs that you may wish to share?
I come from a family with a service background, where entrepreneurship is not heard of, and having a stable job is considered the best option. Establishing Isha Deb Designs and running it profitably for the past two-and-a-half years has been my biggest career high!
But what I consider an achievement is receiving approval from end consumers, and having manufacturers return with more design orders.
If the stars align, one day I hope to start my own boutique to showcase my stories through unique diamond jewellery creations.