“There is a part of me in every piece of my label”
Jewelry designer and sustainability advocate, Roma Narsinghani opens up about her sustainable jewelry company, the struggles she overcomes, and her advice for young designers.
In the fashion world, sustainable designs have become an increasingly popular topic. Reformation and Patagonia are just two examples of American clothing brands that have built their companies taking into consideration both the consumer and the environment; although, clothing isn’t the only way to wear sustainable fashion. Recently, designers have been exploring new ways to manufacture sustainable jewelry. Roma Narsinghani is a jewelry designer whose company primarily focuses on reclaimed brass. She launched her company when she debuted a few of her pieces during the Indian Fashion Week in New Delhi. Since then, she has been selected as one of the six super talents by Vogue Talent & Vogue Italia; won the Sustainable design award by Fad International and Helsinki Fashion Week; won the Portfolio Review, and many other awards.
Her work consists of hair buns, barrettes, brooches, cuffs, bobby pins, bindis, and traditional jewelry such as earrings, necklaces, bracelets, and rings. With each design, she describes them as being “bold and striking or whimsical and quirky.” During the interview, she talks about her experience being a sustainable designer, the struggles she comes across, her future plans, and some advice she has for young designers.
Born in Kuwait, in a highly consumerist society, known for its luxury, shopping, and abundance, Roma would often use many plastic products, giving less thought at the time about the waste part of it. Her journey changed when she moved to Milan. In Milan, she noticed that there were five different types of garbage bins, whereas, in Kuwait, there weren’t even two! This new perspective allowed her to gravitate more towards making conscious choices.
Having learned much about cultural trends through her fashion journey, she realized that there can be a difference in the consumer mindset. Fashion brands tend to follow trends, often leading to fast fashion. This causes companies to mass produce clothing in developing countries because it is less expensive, and also in many cases where the workers are mistreated and paid less. Aware of these complexities, Roma made a personal choice to create a sustainable brand using brass as she had been inclined toward wear something recycled.
“It is about not scaring people away and taking a step in the right direction by experimenting to stop using plastic.”
She would often create jewelry for herself when traveling or for her daily wear. Roma describes how her inspiration for jewelry design came from going through her mother’s closet before her wedding day when she found an old hairband and gave it a new life. She believes that “in order to enjoy creating, you have to become a part of the brand, and a part of me is in every piece of my label.” She always tries to use reclaimed brass because it is a metal that is always recycled. To develop the material, she works with a recycling agency in Mumbai which takes recyclable materials from her company, recycles the brass (from door handles and the like) and returns them in the form of bricks and sheets in order to construct each piece of jewelry.
Back in 2018, when she won the sustainable design award, Roma used a different technique in the jewelry collection. When creating bindis, she would use the leftover scrap materials from other pieces to reduce the amount of waste. By using reclaimed brass, Roma became known as one of the few companies to adopt this new idea. She admits that in the fashion industry, it can be difficult to become eco-friendly and have a business that continues to thrive off of that concept.
“As a young brand, it can be difficult to go zero waste in the beginning; it has to be a slow step by step process.”
Roma has faced many challenges since founding her sustainable company. One challenge was finding an agency willing to recycle brass in India. Most recycling companies work with e-waste (electronic waste), so they are less interested in a small jewelry brand. “Living in Mumbai and having a brass jewelry brand where metal and humidity mix never works well” states Roma as another challenge. To address this issue, she had often used multiple plastic bags to protect the jewelry and ship it safely. Packaging has been one of the biggest hurdles because of the use of bubble wrap to keep the products protected. “As a young brand, it can be difficult to go zero waste in the beginning; it has to be a slow step by step process.” As an alternative, Roma is now moving into using milk fiber pouches instead of plastic in her packaging.
Although her business is based on reclaimed brass, it has become difficult to continue working with the recycling agency as such agencies have cut back on working with small companies because they don’t generate as much waste. Roma’s company only generates 20-25kg of waste per year whereas the recycling agencies require a minimum of 100kg to engage in business. In order to adjust, “I am moving into working with copper because it is ancestral and focusing on how to be mindful of copper as recycled metal. Also, we are moving to work with silver as the next best step.” Often companies must acclimate to the current conditions in order to keep their business alive. Roma is going to continue to use the rest of her reclaimed brass on hand and then move into copper and silver.
“Anyone who wants to start a conscious brand must input their sustainable ideas in the beginning”
In terms of the COVID-19 pandemic, Roma explains ways in which she has modified her business into an online format. One way was to “integrate and experiment with all our samples online before we go into the studio. By using a digital platform, I can now save brass and put it towards actual products.” In terms of visual marketing, she would often create look books and do campaign shoots increasing the amount of travel and paper produced throughout the process. By going digital, “we can use 3D renders and models reducing the amount of CO2 and waste output.” The impact on the environment is much lesser because there is less waste and emissions from materials, props, traveling, and much more. The fashion industry can adopt online methods across all platforms to become more eco-friendly and sustainable.
Roma’s experience in the fashion industry and having created her own business, is definitely something young designers can learn from. As an advice, she strongly emphasizes that “anyone who wants to start a conscious brand must input their sustainable ideas in the beginning.” She admits that, with her business immediately taking off, she did not define a plan early on and ended up using more plastic than she would have wanted in the beginning. Therefore, it took much longer to become more sustainable. Roma is unhesitant to share with everyone her missteps to ensure those starting out to avoid them. She gently points out, “be sure to instill your values and goals in the beginning and take baby steps. The idea of being sustainable can scare people which is not the right idea. If any brand is making a decision it should be to move and have zero waste as the final destination. Do it slowly but do it well and have the right strategy to continue.”
“Consciousness has to start at home”
Being sustainable can be a challenge so it is important to have a plan, as Roma states. Every young designer can learn a lot from her experience. Towards the end of the interview, she talks about the importance of meditation at this stage of her path: “I believe the idea is that if I am balanced, it is really important to maintain and move towards a sense of collective consciousness. There is a lot of clutter going on with technology, I feel our minds are running more than they need to”. As often featured in her designs, Roma believes that Dragonfly is her spirit animal, because it is “transparent and complex” just like her.
