I was born in a conservative Maharashtrian family and was brought up in a humble city called Malegaon. My parents preached and practiced “simple living high thinking”. They brought me up with love and ingrained in me the values like integrity, hard work and honesty. I studied in a vernacular medium school until I was in college; I started learning English only after I landed in Mumbai for a job with a digital advertising agency. I worked with companies like O&M, Tata communications and InsideView (Hyderabad) to name a few.
I worked for almost 10 years in the advertising field. During this time, my mind always dwelled on craft, making craft myself and doing it full time. As a child I would spend hours drawing, often wondering, if my drawings, doodles would ever take a real form. A little offbeat thought for a child, I must say.
My grandfather liked offbeat things as well; he used to collect shells, rudrakshas and trinkets from Sadhus, who were his friends. When he passed away, my grandmother gave me a small box, by then most of his stuff was already distributed. But that small box is my prized possession. A box of offbeat baubles was my heirloom and is my beloved treasure-trove.
I was never in for Gold, the white, shiny, oxidized; any form of silver attracted me. Especially I found the tribal jewelry fascinating. I once worked on a project with TISS (Tata Institute of Social Sciences) in Madhya Pradesh, where I got the opportunity to work closely with the local tribe. Their livelihood, lifestyle, ornaments, everything was based on and inspired by nature.
I learnt a lot during that project and it proved to be a milestone in the conception of Moha. Every part of the “Mahua” tree was utilized by the tribe and the tree was just like the Kalpavriksha (a tree that grants wishes) for them. Needless to say that the name Moha is inspired from the Mahua tree and the tribe.
In 2013, we (My husband, son and I) moved to Goa to pursue a different lifestyle. To me it was an opportunity to explore something I had been contemplating all these years. Something related to craft, but exactly what? Deciding to venture into designing and making silver jewelry was an epiphany.
I was on the lookout for silver jewelry for my personal usage and even after ransacking many places in Goa, I was not satisfied. I almost said aloud in the Godfather style “I will create a design you can´t refuse”. The idea was appreciated and supported by my family and “Moha by Geetanjali” was born.
