Take One: Kriti Kharbanda on her days as a jewellery designer
20/07/2018
I was one of those students who was really good at academics but always inclined towards creativity. So, when I turned 16, unlike many of my friends who went to study fashion designing at the JD Institute of Fashion Technology in Bangalore, I decided to dabble in something fun and exciting.
When I came across a brochure for jewellery designing, I went to mom and told her this was the stream I wanted to pursue.
She was slightly shocked initially, but she’s always been very supportive and soon I was doing a diploma course in jewellery designing while simultaneously pursuing a commerce degree at the Sri Bhagawan Mahaveer Jain College in Bangalore.
I was soon hooked and making jewellery from material available at home, like beads from my mother’s necklaces or from baubles which had fallen off from her outfits. I even made environment-friendly pieces from paper. For my first assignment in college, I was asked to find my muse in the moon. I have always liked this semi-precious stone called amethyst and decided to use it to capture the different stages in a lunar eclipse. It was a beautiful experiment but expensive because at the time I didn’t really know how to make jewellery professionally and had spent a lot of money unnecessarily on extra material which came to nought. But the consolation is that I did really well in the course and was top of my class.
I’d bunk college to sit at home and make jewellery though I rarely wore it myself. It left my mom exasperated. She’d urge me to behave like a normal teenager and hang out with my friends. But I remained focussed and soon started interning with a big jewellery brand, assisting the main designer. It was a two-month internship that went on for six. Getting permission from my commerce college to continue was a task, but I took my parents into confidence and they finally relented.
It made my days long and difficult. I’d leave home everyday at 7.30 am, travel 14 km to the factory where the designers worked and only wrap up around 7 pm. After that I’d sit with my college books.
But after six months I realised that while I was an excellent designer, I could not work under someone. I’d argue over not getting an increment while on a stipend and eventually quit.
But I plan to get back to jewellery designing someday. Hopefully, by then, I’ll have enough money to start my own brand. For now, I don’t even have pictures of the pieces I designed. I lost my phone and that part of my life now is a blank slate.
Before that, at the age of 15, I had become a visual merchandiser, working for a few stores in Bangalore. I would dress up the mannequins and display the products on the window in a way that they would catch the eye from the street. My first profit from that venture was Rs 8000. From a really young age, I have been an independent girl, wanting to make my own money and not live off my parents. I was the youngest entrepreneur in my college, awarded the Young Student Entrepreneur Award by Canara Bank. It was a proud moment for my parents, more so when a small snippet of me appeared in the main section of The Times of India. That motivated me to not just chase my dreams but also work towards making a name for myself.
I was modelling from the age of three. I earned Rs 500 for my first commercial, an ice cream ad. It was a big amount back then. At 14, I modelled for a lifestyle store and got paid Rs 18,000 with which I bought myself a Nokia 7610, the most happening phone at the time.
After quitting the jewellery designing job, I went back to college to finish my studies and figure my life out from there. But while doing so I continued modelling.
Telugu director Raj Pippalla spotted me on a billboard in Chennai. His producers reached out to me and offered me a role in their upcoming film.
Initially, I thought they were joking, but when I met them in Hyderabad I realised they were very serious. I made my acting debut in 2009 at the age of 19. Boni, was an action-drama featuring Sumanth Kumar. Since then, I’ve never looked back. I’m really happy right now shooting for Housefull 4 in London.
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