jewellery designer sunita shekhawat speaks about her latest bijou bijou collection enhanced with plique jour an enamelling technique that brings a hint of oldworld charm in contemporary contourslong known for her meenakari jewellery creations across the couture and bridal segments jaipurbased jewellery designer sunita shekhawats departure from the usual signature enamelling technique comes as a surprise her latest bijou bijou collection adopts the plique jour french for letting in daylight enamelling in her contemporary 18karat gold creations enhanced with gemstones such as kunzite turquoise fire opal coral and motherofpearl to name a few a pair of gemset butterfly earrings feturing pliqueajour enamelled wings from the bijou bijou collectionfloral earrings set with corals emeralds and diamonds with enamelled leaves from the bijou bijou collectionsimply put plique jour is a vitreous enamelling technique used on stained glass and jewellery whereby light shines through the inherent translucency the technique popularly used during the art nouveau period in the late 19th and early 20th centuries requires mastery to enamel curves in a piece of jewellerysunita shekhawat talks about her labour of lovetell us about the sudden interest in the plique jour techniquei have grown up travelling the length and breadth of india thanks to my father who served in the indian air force this exposed me to different cultures and arts i have always been open to exploring different styles for creating my collections inspiration can come from anywherea floral necklace adorned with emeralds opals diamonds and enamelled leaves from the bijou bijou collectionenamelled bracelet with coral diamonds and emeralds from the bijou bijou collectionyou are famous for lines enhanced with jaipur meenakari work was it difficult for your artisans to master this form of enamellingyes our meenakari karigars have been working on the plique jour technique for the past two years they have beautified the diaphanous enamelling technique with colours and patterns of our traditional ones in an exceptional way plique jour is fragile because of technical complexities we need to revive such arts or else it can easily be lost in the pages of historybijou bijou is our effort to help letting the light in by continuing to invest in broadening our horizons and those of our karigars by seeking new learnings even as we stay rooted in our beloved jaipur the collection captures the splendour of jaipurs colonial heritagethe turquoise and tanzanite 18karat gold bracelet is highlighted with pliqueajour enamelling and diamondswhat are the main motifs used in bijou bijouthe choice of motifs is an intriguing blend of art nouveau and art deco influences gentle undulating swirls that transform into stylised botanical shapes offset with stark geometrical patterns for instance the butterfly a classic and much loved form of expression in plique jour flaunts its enamelled wings against a sharp silhouette articulated with a pink ruby body bijou bijou consists of earrings bracelets pendants and rings that can be your standout daily wear pieces and help you make a strong statement i believe jewellery is always about selfexpressionwhat are the main factors that you strive to achieve