Luxebook Top100

Sunita Shekhawat Founder & Director, Sunita Shekhawat Jaipur S unita Shekhawat was born in Rajasthan, but had a cosmopolitan upbringing thanks to her father being in the air-force. Her Rajputi roots drew her back to the eponymous work of meenakari that Rajasthan is known for. She is popularly known as “the modern meenakar”. Her ancestors belonged to noble families of Rajasthan, and she brings the knowledge of the artform of polki, jadau and meenakari to her venture. With stores in New Delhi and Jaipur, the brand has a long list of loyalists for their hand-drawn object d’arts. Shekhawat is fond of the fine life, and counts “a good spa, and music” as the perfect way to wind down after being hard at work. She loves the cities known for art “Paris and Istanbul at the moment, but I love visiting museums around the world.” She believes true luxury to be unique, and luxury to be the freedom of time and choice. “Always start progressing with traditional approaches of ideation like hand- rendering. It makes one more creative and efficient.” Vandana Jagwani Creative Director of Mahesh Notandass Fine Jewellery & Founder of Vandals V andana Jagwani, an alumnus of Babson and Regents, followed her passion to launch sustainable lab-grown jewellery brand Vandals. After building Vandals in secrecy, Jagwani launched it in 2020, and combined traditional jewellery techniques with new-age capabilities of lab grown diamonds. During the pandemic, Vandals introduced a safe and innovative retail experience through a virtual reality app. Jagwani’s brand is now a celebrity hot favourite, worn by Deepika Padukone, Malaika Arora, Shilpa Shetty and Alia Bhatt. The entrepreneur leans on research from her family’s rich archive of jewellery but has reimagined a new jewellery culture. She joined the family business, Mahesh Notandass Fine Jewellery in 2015, became its Creative Director in 2017 and now handles both brands. She endeavours to be a changemaker and advises the younger generation, “You must always have a plan but be agile and open to change.” “You must always have a plan but be agile and open to change.” 38 | | 39