- Arjun Kapoor wraps Imtiaz Ali’s ‘O Saathi Re’, flaunts new look for next film
- PM Modi to join Shri Ram College of Commerce centenary celebrations today
- US military provides humanitarian aid to Nepal flash flood victims
- Trump targets dominant meatpackers, eases beef imports
- Gold rates today in Delhi, Mumbai, and Kolkata slashes , check the prices on 5 September 2026
- 26 killed in two separate attacks in Sudan's South Kordofan
- Aamir Khan’s brother Faissal Khan lauded for Janmashtami wishes despite being Muslim, says ‘respect for all religions’
- Indian, Nepalese tunnel teams push deeper into flash flood-hit Chilime hydropower project
The Architecture of Intimacy: Jewellery That Lives with You
In Short
Explore the architecture of intimacy through jewellery designed to become part of everyday life, blending personal expression, timeless craftsmanship, emotion, and modern elegance.
Share :
In a serene studio where ideas flow freely across disciplines, the creative work of Minna defies classification. An architect by training but fascinated by jewellery as an artistic expression, Minna bridges the worlds of design in ways that are both personal and far-reaching.
Minna Elizabeth, the Chief Creative Director of POYEMS, subtly turns the discussion around. To this designer from Kerala, a necklace is no mere accessory; it is a design solution, a connection between creativity and the personal space of the human body. This is the essence of her design philosophy. Jewellery to Minna ceases to be just decoration and assumes greater depth when it embraces meaning.
It becomes something more than just a decorative item when it conveys a deeper message. There is a story, a design statement, and a point of view in every piece of jewellery she creates. Art, according to Minna, is necessarily subjective in nature, each person perceiving it in their unique manner. Similarly, jewellery becomes more than a decorative item when it tells a story, evokes memories or stirs emotions.
“From my perspective, the base stays the same – it’s just presented using a different medium. Architecture allowed me to start by researching, creating a mood board, putting the context in place, developing concepts and designing them into shapes. When designing jewellery, it is pretty much the same thing. Scale changes, but not the way of thinking. Design interventions at the junction of architecture and jewellery happen through transforming ideas, stories, cultures, or emotions into shapes,” notes Minna.
A Blueprint of the Designing Mind
It was not through contact with jewellery that introduced her to the realm of gold and precious stones but rather through the expansive drafting boards of an architectural firm. She comes from a background in the language of buildings, which continues to influence everything she designs after five years of study.
In architecture, nothing is left to happenstance. The building is more than the sum total of its parts; rather, it is an experience built up through a dialogue of light and shade, scale, and context. In the move from architecture to jewellery design, that same way of thinking informed her approach to design, making her see through the idea that jewellery is decorative.
"My architectural background influenced my approach to design," she said. "It trained me to begin by doing research, referencing, analysing context and developing concepts before form."
That background has extended not only to what she creates but also to how she designs the wider visual language around it, be it in campaign, presentation, or even communication and packaging.
Gold as a Narrative Device
For her, gold is not merely a medium. It is a narrative device.
Having grown up in Kerala where gold represents great cultural and personal importance, she finds it fascinating to explore the elements other than just gold which are contained within the metal. And jewellery becomes the medium through which this can be accomplished.
“It is more about me using gold as a narrative tool rather than just replicating its forms,” she states. “I am interested in understanding its essence and recreating it in an updated form.”
This is when her creations rise above mere adornment. With proportion, clarity, and reinvention, the culture-bound memories receive a fresh interpretation.
Jewellery as Intimate Art
"As jewellery is experienced intimately and directly," Minna says, "it involves storytelling, which is intrinsic to the identity of the wearer. In that sense, perhaps, it might be said that jewellery is the most intimate form in which one can engage with art."
By wearing her jewellery, one does not merely adorn oneself with an article. By wearing her jewellery, one carries forward Minna’s philosophy of creation, her roots in Kerala, and her conviction of authored designs. The satisfaction lies in being able to wear something unique, and something which has been designed with a lot of consideration for even the slightest curve in the metal around the collar bone.
Memories to Come
Amid the age of fast consumption and sensory overdrive, Minna offers a different point of view. While her main concern lies in authorship rather than trend and emotional value rather than impulse.
It’s not enough to grab attention momentarily; what she strives to achieve is lasting impact. Minna dreams of creating pieces of jewellery, which will eventually be found decades from now in a dusty velvet box, yet still possess some kind of significance.
“I want people to think of my pieces as an object of pride,” she admits. “An object of pride in owning something valuable, something meaningful. I want my pieces to be cherished and passed along.”
Amid the whirlwind of innovation, this statement comes as a breath of fresh air. Because once we start noticing the gold resting against our skin, we’ll realize that we carry art wherever we go.
And through Minna’s eyes, art is not only something we stand before and admire. Sometimes, it is something we live with.
