Renu Oberoi On Her Creative Process And How Gemstones Lead Her Jewellery Designs

From the covers of magazines to the Cannes Film Festival red carpet, Renu Oberoi has left her dazzling mark through her bespoke jewellery designs. Adorned by the likes of Bollywood powerhouses such as Alia Bhatt, Sonam Kapoor and Jacqueline Fernandez, her creations proudly highlight the traditional opulence of India combined with her signature contemporary flair.

In March 2024, the jewellery designer was hosted by Studio Mèlange in Singapore, where she presented her latest high jewellery pieces set with an array of rubies, sapphires, emeralds and diamonds in collaboration with couturier Gaurav Gupta for his most recent haute couture collection that debuted in Paris earlier this year.

Harper’s BAZAAR Singapore caught up with Oberoi to dive deeper into this partnership with Gupta, as well as find out more about her design process, her favourite creations and the next chapter for her eponymous label.

Tell us more about your collaboration with Gaurav Gupta.

Gaurav has been looking to collaborate with a jewellery designer from our country and because his style is so unique and so flamboyant, he could not find the right partner. A mutual friend brought us together and we felt a lot of synergy between the brands.

Gaurav’s outfits are so extravagant that the jewellery needs to be simple but also make a statement. My designs are not intricate, they’re gemstone-centric. So if I have a large gemstone, I like to play around with more linear and straight lines.

Indian designers use extremely intricate embroideries and they involve multiple materials and techniques. I’ve always felt that with any Indian traditional designer, for example, Gaurav Gupta, the jewellery must be simple but very stylish.

Related article: Couturier Gaurav Gupta On His Creative Journey So Far

How do gemstones inspire your designs?

My brand isn’t collection-based. When I see a gemstone, I know exactly what to do with it. I choose gemstones because the colours feel vibrant and happy, and this makes me happy. I lean towards green like emeralds as it symbolises growth and prosperity.

I also love rubies and it’s always so fun to receive a package of yellow or blue sapphires; gemstones just speak to me. I’ve started doing a little more all-diamonds silhouettes and it’s only because of the demand from customers. But if I had my way, there would not be a single diamond piece in mind.

I do take inspiration from floral patterns because I love everything in nature. We also take a lot of inspiration from Indian architecture such as rugs with different weavings but we sort of blend them to make the pieces very modern. These references are usually something only I will know—a layperson would not be able to tell where the motif is from.

Related article: Everything You Need To Know About Lab-Grown Diamonds

Do you have a favourite creation?

It’s so hard to choose, every piece is so special to me and unfortunately, I don’t have those pieces here. We made four pieces with tassels and floral patterns specifically for the Cannes Film Festival.

One of them was long ear cuffs, worn by content creator Farhana Bodi, which were one of the quickest pieces I’ve ever designed. I literally sketched it out in two to three minutes but it took four months to manufacture it. The ear cuffs had tassels of large diamonds that were almost floating and flowing all the way down like shoulder dusters.

Related article: How To Rock Your Finest Jewellery With Everyday Staples

Compared to the time it took for you to sketch a design, the manufacturing process seems very long. Why is that?

Designing a piece can take a couple of months, even just to get the placement of the gemstones, the diamonds and things like that. It’s a technical process and I remember one of my designers had trouble placing one diamond—it was just not falling into place.

I think she must have spent a couple of days trying different sizes of diamonds but she was just not happy with it. It took us eight days to fit that one diamond in this slot so that it would not cause an imbalance to the rest of the stones because everything was set and ready.

What can we expect from Renu Oberoi Luxury Jewellery in 2024?

I’m working on a collection inspired by the Victorian era of Queen Elizabeth I with a modern twist. Gaurav and I are discussing a larger collaboration—a prêt collection for his next Paris show and a presentation of a few of my pieces at Couture Week, and I’m doing India Couture Week too.

So that’s the collection I’m working on. Think three-tiered earrings, pearl necklaces, scalloped designs and we’re going to do all of it in all emeralds and diamonds, which is supremely exciting but it’s still a work in progress.