What Goes Into A Single Era Piece: Time, Hands & Heart

And no, it’s not here to accessorise the algorithm.

And no, it’s not content. It’s craft.

If you’ve just discovered Era Stories, welcome. You’re not here by accident. And neither is the jewellery.

Because at Era Stories, a piece doesn’t begin at the bench. It begins in memory. In that quiet flicker between design and desire.
A childhood heirloom. A mother’s voice. A city’s architecture. A poem. A bruise. A moonlit sketch.
This is where it all starts. Before the enamel. Before the gold. Before the catalogue.

But let’s talk about what really goes into a single piece, the kind that ends up on your neck, your hands, your stories.

It All Starts With a Feeling, Not a Forecast

We don’t “ideate collections” on demand. We don’t chase what’s hot.
Instead, we ask: What’s personal? What’s timeless? What’s worth preserving?
That becomes our north star.

A motif from a zamdani sari, a Mughal-era miniature, a temple pillar in Bishnupur.
We dive into archives, books, craft journals, museum reference - we study, absorb, document.
And then we forget just enough to create something new.

Because at Era, we don’t copy heritage. We translate it. Into relevance. Into resonance. 

Design Isn’t a Mood board, It’s a Dialogue.

Once the idea takes root, we sketch. And sketch again. And again.

Design development isn’t romantic. It’s rigorous.

Our design team sits with form, weight, movement. We talk about wearability. Modular options. Balance.

We test metal types, explore finish variations, do paper mocks, and yes - sometimes the trash pile is taller than the sketch pile.

We debate a lot. Should this crescent curve inwards? Is this choker soft enough to sit on a collarbone but firm enough to hold shape?

Nothing gets made unless it answers three things:

Is it rooted? Is it wearable? And is it gently disruptive?

Forever Rose: When Origami Met Ornament.

Some pieces come easy. This one didn’t.

The Forever Rose Earrings were born out of a month-long design duel - countless folds, forms, and digital prototypes before the final bloom revealed itself. Inspired by paper origami, the rose isn’t just a motif. It's a form-led sculpture. Every petal, every leaf follows a deliberate geometry, cut and arranged to echo the tension between precision and poetry.

But this isn’t a flat sketch brought to life. The curve of the earring is engineered to follow the natural ergonomics of the ear hugging the lobe, climbing gently along the helix, like a vine that knows where it belongs. Three-dimensionality wasn’t just an aesthetic choice, it was a structural challenge. One that took over seven days of prototyping to resolve in CAD alone.

The leaves? They aren’t afterthoughts. Their angular planes are designed to catch light. To reflect. To shimmer as you move. Because at Era, we don’t just design for stillness, we design for life in motion.

Bideshini Hoop: A Sculpture You Can Wear

This one is a sculpted story that took its own sweet time.

I still remember the first sketch of this one. A woman standing tall - her posture full of poise, her body wrapped in a drape that didn’t quite feel Indian, but somehow didn’t feel foreign either. That was the starting point.

The idea was simple: to capture the meeting point of cultures. But the making? Not even close.

Sculptures don't like to bend. And turning a full-bodied figure into a circular form that hugs the ear without losing grace or detail, took days. I must’ve redrawn her 30 times. Maybe more. It was the tilt of the neck one day, the curve of the hip the next. It took us time to get her right.

Where Hands Do the Talking…

You see the finished piece. What you don’t see?
The workshop, in a small village near Jaipur, where most of our artisans live and work.
Many of them come from Bengal. They’ve been working with metal for decades, not trained by textbooks, but by time, by legacy, by lineage. Their hands know what no machine ever will.

The Bideshini Hoop, like most of our pieces, begins with a sketch. But the real magic begins when wax turns to cast. We use the lost-wax casting process, an ancient technique that allows for intricate form, the kind that carries expression, even in miniature. It’s slow, sensitive work.
The kind that demands stillness, skill, and a deep respect for metal.

Once cast, the piece moves to finishing. That’s where the real labour of love happens.
Filing, smoothing, polishing all by hand. Over and over again. “Eta toh bhalo holo na,” says an artisans when the drop doesn’t fall just right. He’s not told to redo it. He just knows.

We mostly work with brass as our base. It’s sturdy, sustainable, and generous in its strength.
And then comes the plating. Each piece is finished with a layer of 18K gold or silver, depending on its tone, sealed with a polish that resists wear but never hides texture.

What You Hold Isn’t Just a Product - It’s a Process.

A piece takes anywhere between 20 to 100 hours, sometimes more.
When the world is obsessed with quick drops, AI-made jewellery, and Pinterest regurgitation, Era still believes in process. In form, in function, and in intention.

When you wear an Era piece, you’re not just wearing jewellery.
You’re wearing a story. You’re wearing the rhythm of a designer's obsession, a team’s collective madness, and an artisan's quiet genius.

You’re wearing India. Follow us on our socials to see how we’ve styled these timeless pieces and get inspired to style your own!
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