Reena Ahluwalia The Intrepid Voyager

I am a curiosity junkie!” exclaims Reena Ahluwalia, award-winning Canadian jewellery designer describing herself. “Travelling informs my design decisions and deepens my design thinking. Including the life experiences and cultural cues gained during my sojourns help expand my vision and keep it fresh. Sensing the world from my nomadic mind’s perspective brings a free spirit of enquiry and exploration – and that shows up in my cutting edge designs.”

A first generation jeweller, Reena credits a large part of her success to the industry itself, even as she thinks it’s a blessing to have been able to chart her own trail. “Throughout my career, I have been fortunate to have worked with, and been mentored by, the best diamantaires in the industry. Now I count them as my most trusted confidantes. I have worked very hard to earn their trust through my work, skills and the value my creativity brings to a project. As far as my work ethic is concerned, it’s an amalgamation of persistence, patience, the desire to stay inventive and lead through design and of course an unbridled passion for my craft.“

Reena’s hard work and perseverance of more than 15 years has paid rich dividends – awards and accolades have been aplenty. Some of her achievements are nothing short of extraordinary - iconic British fashion designer, Alexander McQueen featured Reena’s award-winning piece in his Spring/Summer 2000 collection debut in New York. Her 101 carat diamond jewel ‘Bel Canto’ was a finalist at the HRD Awards 2007, a competition organised by the Antwerp World Diamond Center. The same piece won her another rare honour – it was featured and released as a special edition postagestamp entitled “Antverpia 2010,” by the Belgian Postal Service to highlight Antwerp as a celebrated diamond centre - an exceptional and highly coveted honour, given that only a handful of jewellery pieces is ever featured on postage stamps.

In February 2009, Reena made history again – she was invited by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and De Beers Canada to design a diamond setting for the _ rst two mined diamonds from the Canadian province of Ontario. These diamonds have been set in the historic Mace of Ontario, a sceptre-like object that held a symbolic place in the regalia of the British Parliament during the 14th century. The Mace of Ontario was last refurbished over 100 years ago to recognise the ascension of King Edward VII to the throne when Queen Victoria died in 1901. As part of Canadian history, Reena Ahluwalia’s name has been recorded in the Ontario’s Legislature’s archives and will forever be remembered along with the Mace’s long history. Speaking about this eponymous design, Reena explains, “The base of the diamond mount has a quatrefoil shape with its equal sections representing symmetry and balance. The spiralling form of the design secures the rough diamond that signi_ es the diamond mine and natural riches of Ontario. It leads up to the polished square Ideal-cut diamond that rises above and represents the valueadded processes that promise prosperity. This design represents growth, continual change and evolution. My ultimate design challenge consisted of determining a persuasive _ nal design that not only worked in visual and symbolic symmetry with the existing historic Mace, but one that could stand the test of time.”

World-renowned and globally recognised, Reena’s jewellery pieces are the stuff dreams are made of. Her jewellery has been variously described as _ amboyant, luxurious, edgy and thought-provoking. Naturally, the inspiration for such incredible pieces has to be suitably unusual too – “Diverse in_ uences and experiences inspire me! They can come from anywhere; they stay in my head and over time become an occupation of my mind. Fluidity of the natural world, geometry in things I see around, cultural cues that I take from my travels, art, architecture, machinery, poetry in words, fashion or history -- these assorted ideas collide and interconnect and expand into my work,” says Reena, who has been successful in exploring different extremes in form, effortlessly moving from extravagant and exaggerated to small and understated.

Innovation and experimentation is integral to her work. “Complete involvement with materials and processes is a vital part of my work ethic. Diamonds are my absolute favourites. I am a complete diamond aficionado – rough, polished, colourless, coloured, large or small – they all excite me. Other than diamonds, I love the colour and texture that various gemstones provide. It’s exciting to explore and work with unusual materials. For example, I am working with ultra durable ceramic right now. I had experimented with ceramics in the mid-‘90s, so it’s really fun to get back to it, now that there has been much technological advancement.”

While a rich tapestry of influences guides her design aesthetic, Reena’s formative years were in India, where she was born and grew up. Her affair with jewellery began early: “I’m a hands-on person and connected with materials at an early age. Growing up in India was amazing – I was surrounded by vastness in symbolism, concepts of ornamentation/ornamented body, and an incredibly inspiring mosaic of textures, exploding colours and contrasts. One of my earliest jewellery memories is of seeing women road-workers breaking stones for a road construction, a fairly common sight. These women were wearing gleaming jewellery from head to toes, undeterred by the asphalt, coal-tar fumes and dust. It was exciting to discover that jewellery in India was highly symbolic, had its own language, and communicated from wearer to viewer. You could tell which region these beautiful women came from, just by looking at their jewellery, among many other things. Many such instances would later lead me towards jewellery making as a profession,” she reminisces about her beginning as a designer.

For all the recognition, Reena prefers to remain under the radar and let her work do the talking. However, the kind of jewellery she creates inevitably keeps leading her back into the limelight. A case in point would be the recent collaboration with high-end luxury brand Royal Asscher. Speaking about the association with Royal Asscher, Reena says, “When Lita Asscher, President of Royal Asscher of America and a 6th generation Asscher, and I met for the first time we instantly connected over our passion to produce extraordinary fashion forward, innovative jewellery where diamonds could be used for social development. After much deliberation, we decided to use the Stars of Africa collection and initiative as our platform to connect our passions and make them a reality. As you know, Royal Asscher has a legendary history of innovation and an unblemished ethical record in the world of diamonds. As a jewellery designer, there is no greater motivation for me than to be able to contribute to positive social change through my art and the ideas it spreads. I was privileged when Lita presented me with this opportunity to be a part of Royal Asscher’s commitment and vision for the Stars of Africa Initiative, an African focused fundraising program.”

The Stars of Africa collection was launched in 2009 with half-globe rings with floating diamonds. In 2010, the innovation was taken a step further and full-globe floating diamond pendants and earrings were introduced. Fast forward to 2011, and recently the ‘Shining Stars’ collection inspired by the day and night of the African Savannah and its animal magnetism was introduced. “The great thing about our new Shining Stars collection is that we have used plated sterling silver and ceramics as two additional materials, achieving a very desirable starting retail price point of $1950. All this while our focus has remained on Africa and you can see that in our design narrative. We believe that consistency is key to making a tangible difference. Both the Stars of Africa and Shining Stars collections benefit Royal Asscher’s Stars of Africa Initiative. These unique designs stand as a symbol of vibrant beauty of the African continent and its people,” Reena explains.

Amongst the whirlwind of activity, Reena also makes time for teaching jewellery at the George Brown College in Toronto and c o n t r i b u t e s extensively to campaigns for the WGC, PGI and De Beers. She has also been associated with highly reputed institutes in India - Jewellery Design and Technology Institute and the National Institute of Fashion Technology - in various capacities including as Vice Principal and Visiting Professor. And what if this ambassador of the arts was not a jeweller? “I would have been an archaeologist because I love the sense of discovery!” says the inveterate explorer and unstoppable trendsetter.