It’s just not just Bollywood actresses Rekha and Dimple Kapadia, and supermodel Naomi Campbell, who have been spotted wearing jewels by Amrapali but also the dapper looking Hollywood actor Brad Pitt. In the recent Hollywood flick Troy, Pitt flaunts gold medallion Greek jewellery designed by Amrapali.
The Warner Brothers Design Team first discovered the jewellery at London’s high-end fashion store Selfridges, and got in touch with its Jaipur-based designer duo Rajeev and Rajesh Ajmera of Amrapali. “Miss Ros Ward from the Warner Brothers visited our store in Jaipur in April and picked up some samples, including the Bonda tribal jewellery that is chunky yet light to wear. Their design team could immediately relate to the antique ethnic look that our jewels have. That’s when they placed an order with us after checking out some other places,” says Anil Ajmera, Director, Amrapali.
The Amrapali team created 12 different designs for the film including gold-plated necklaces, hairpins and earrings. “It wasn’t tough to create the particular look they had in mind. We did light jewels embedded with white stones, whereas the hairpins are all in a dull gold colour. These were all used for one part of the film,” said Ajmera.
Ajmera, who has earlier designed for Bollywood films like Jism, Paap and Pooja Bhatt’s latest untitled film, says it was a pleasure working with the Troy team. “Not only are they extremely professional in their dealings but also knew exactly what they wanted from us and what would look good with the kind of sets and costumes they had in the film,” says Ajmera.
For Amrapali, it meant not just designing for Hollywood’s take on the Greek epic but also displaying a part of India in the west that they have done with elan. So when you watch Troy, don’t forget to look out for the ethnic jewels designed by Amrapali.
