(From top) Kajol sits pretty with models at the launch of Asmi’s new collection at the Oberoi Hotel; Siddartha Tytler flanked by Gauri (left) and Nainika Karan at Elevate; Shalini Reys, Jaya Jaitley and Jolly Rohatgi (left to right) at Dilli Haat

If Karan Johar kickstarted the trend of chatting with celebrities over a cup of coffee, diamond jewellery brand Asmi, recently followed suit. Lately, it had actress Kajol launching its latest range of jewellery over a hot cuppa at the Oberoi Hotel in Delhi. The new collection comprises 14 designs all carefully selected by Kajol herself. As Asmi’s new face, she unveiled the collection along with DTC’s India marketing director, Cherie Tandon Saldanha.

“There is an achiever in every woman. This brand is a unique reflection of a woman’s spirit, attitude and inner strength,” said Kajol, who came with daughter Nysa. Dressed in an all-white trouser suit topped with a pair of glinting solitaires, Kajol, who was in the city to shoot for her new film (Kunal Kohli’s Fanaa in which she stars opposite Aamir Khan), answered a volley of questions put to her by emcee and actress Divya Palat in good humour. “With my first pay cheque I bought a pair of solitaires,” reminisced Kajol when asked about her first brush with diamonds. And who would be an Asmi woman besides herself? “Definitely my great grandmother who has this amazing pair of diamonds.”

Warming up to winter

Clubwear is all about being hip and happening and designer Siddartha Tytler’s latest winter collection, which he showcased at Delhi’s rocking nightclub Elevate recently, was just all that and more. The silhouettes, structured with hints of drapes were embellished with Rajasthani mirrors and golden embroidery. The bottoms comprised mostly flirty and structured knee-length skirts for women and fitted pants for men.

Designer Nandita Basu who was present for the event found Tytler’s black and white line particularly intriguing. Socialite Devi Cherian and husband, media man Dilip Cherian, designer sisters Gauri and Nainika Karan were also spotted at the do.

Winning them over

What’s the best way to educate children about the ancient Indian crafts and lives of artisans’ children? You write a set of adventure books, which have youthful protagonists and catchy illustrations so that childen addicted to Harry Potter are lured into reading these books that introduce the crafts from the different parts of India. Four books by four different authors were released last week by Justice (Rtd) Leila Seth at Delhi’s Dilli Haat as as part of a four-day programme celebrating Children’s Day. The Dastkari Haath Samiti backed the project with support from UNESCO.

The books have been written by people with years of experience in the field of crafts including Jaya Jaitly, Shalini Reys, Bulbul Sharma and Jolly Rohatgi. The books have been published by Penguin India.

Also, on display at the event was a range of handcrafted and hand-painted products like pull toys, wall decorations, pencil boxes, slates, jigsaw puzzles and brightly coloured wooden animals. “The idea of the project was to highlight the lives of craftsmen’s children so that other children living in urban areas or abroad would appreciate their lives and give them dignity,” said social and political activist Jaitly.

Falling in line

She’s an architect and also a leading design and art columnist. And a Page Three presence. So naturally, when Nisha Jamwal turned her hand to fashion design, it was bound to draw the celebrities. The architect-turned-designer recently launched her label, ‘Nisha JamWal’, at Ogaan in Mumbai recently with a preview of an exclusive line, Kissing Underwater, that she has created for the store. The Nisha JamWal label has been produced and promoted by Viren Shah of Roopam store fame. Shah intends to take the label international.

Jamwal, who says she likes to create collections that work for women of all ages and sizes, has produced Indian clothes with a twist for the Ogaan line. So she has juxtaposed rich brocades with chiffons and georgettes, and fashioned traditionally embroidered cholis with denim backs, and zardosi and zari jackets for jeans.

The exclusive preview saw the likes of Queenie Dhody, Devika Bhojwani, Dolly Thakore, Pooja Bedi in a Jamwal outfit, Chaya Momaya, Esther Daswani, film director David Dhawan with wife Lally, artist Sunik Padwal and restaurateur Sabina Chopra.

Anita Dube with some of her photographs from the exhibition at the Ruia bungalow

Shots of success

It was an unusual setting ? the lawns of the beautiful Ruia bungalow at posh Napean Sea Road ? and an even more unusual exhibition. So you had swarms of eyes staring out from a pair of hands and a series of images about a character called Noor Mohammed. They were the result of Delhi-based photographer Anita Dube’s desire to “bridge the gap between art and life”. The works were exhibited by Aditya Ruia’s Bombay Art Gallery.

The exhibition included a video installation and digital images from the installation, as well as a series of black and white images. The video installation in particular sought to portray the nine ‘rasas’ through a character called Noor Mohammed, who transforms from an amiable and affable man into a hardliner.

Discussing the fine points of the installation and the images were artists like Sunil Gawde, Bose Krishnamachari and Anand Joshi. Also seen were socialites like Geetu Hinduja as well as a number of local architects and interior designers.

Photographs by Jagan Negi, Rupinder Sharma and Gajanan Dudhalkar