Blue lotus and parrots… Kochi designers on how they created the Kerala-themed look for actor Keerthy Suresh’s wedding

When actor Keerthy Suresh was planning her wedding and brainstorming the ‘looks’ and trousseau with her stylists, Kochi-based bridal wear designer Tiya Neil Karikkassery’s name popped up. And as the team was ideating one of the outfits, jewellery came up for discussion. And if Tiya was designing the garment, who else but her mother, Asha Sebastian Mattathil, to make the gold jewellery? 

To the uninitiated, Asha is probably one of Kerala’s first independent jewellery designers. The mother-daughter duo’s work for a look for the actor’s Goa wedding has come in for a lot of praise.

Keerthy Suresh during her wedding festivities 
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

This is not the first time either of them is designing for a celebrity. Asha has designed for Mammootty’s daughter’s marriage as also for Rajinikanth’s eldest daughter and for one of the functions related to racing car driver Narain Karthikeyan’s wedding functions.  

A cheerful Asha dressed in a cream and green ombre kurta and trousers, flaunts her matching green heels as she poses for the photographs, insisting that the footwear should show. Her enthusiasm belies the 30-odd years she has been designing jewellery. She, of course, refuses to mention her age. Might not be good for the business, she jokes. “Folks will think my designs are not in keeping with the times!” 

Asha Sebastian Mattathil with her daughter, and designer, Tiya Neil Karikkassery at her jewellery studio MOD
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THULASI KAKKAT

We are at MOD Signature Jewellery, her designer jewellery store in Panampilly Nagar. The first floor houses Tiya’s bridal design studio, T&M Signature. The glass doors are high security, the kind that needs cards to be swiped for the door to open. Asha leads me into an inner chamber, a bridal lounge, which has all manner of neckpieces, dominated by a wingback chair. One corner is an elevated glass walled nook, a trial room of sorts for brides. 

Kerala as inspiration

A shop assistant brings a jewellery display mannequin on which sits the necklace Keerthy wore with the Kerala-inspired ensemble that Tiya designed. She veered clear of typical Kerala motifs such as Kathakali. Instead picked elements such as a parrot, fish, plantains, coconut palms, a tharavadu (homestead), kalaripayattu, the snake boat, caparisoned elephants, and chenda (a percussion instrument). 

The Kerala motif necklace
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THULASI KAKKAT

“We kept to the white and gold, but interpreted it differently,” Tiya says. There is a sprinkling of motifs on the ensemble pavada-davani, commonly known as the half sari or two-piece sari. The skirt is layered, with scalloped gold edges. The davani is the colour of gold, which accentuated the Kerala theme. Asha credits Tiya for the suggestions for the jewellery.

“She wanted the neelathamara (blue lotus) and the parrots, for instance.” Though Tiya holds a degree in jewellery design, she prefers designing bridal garments. The designs were finalised in July for the December wedding. Tiya also designed the kurta Anthony wore with his mundu, to match what Keerthy was wearing. Other celebrity brides Tiya has designed for include actors Bhama and Amala Paul among others.  

The motifs on the necklace, the statement piece of the look, are the blue lotus, parrots and lotus leaves set with blue and green stones. Punctuating the motifs are King George gold sovereigns known as pavan; tassels made of clusters of gold beads hang from the lower part of the neckpiece. “The tassels would move with the person wearing it. I thought it would be a nice detail to add,” says Asha. 

Keerthy’s brief was that she wanted something ‘simple’ and traditional. “But then I told her, ‘there is nothing that I can bring into a traditional piece. You don’t need me for that.’ We then discussed how we could go about designing the jewellery. Keerthy was clear about what she wanted and was a pleasure to work with,” Asha adds.

The elakkathali designed for Keerthy Suresh
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THULASI KAKKAT

When Keerthy mentioned the traditional elakkathali, Asha gave it a contemporary twist without marring the beauty of the original. Elakkathali is a typical piece of Kerala jewellery, a choker which has leaves of gold hanging from it, which do a shimmering ‘dance’ when the neck moves. Asha’s take is muted, not flashy with detailing on the leaves. A pair of jhumkas that can be worn with both neckpieces, a bangle and ring completed the look. Asha also designed Keerthy’s emerald wedding ring (for the white wedding) and earstuds, and cocktail danglers for the after party. 

Perceptive designing

Asha prides her perception or rather her ability to understand what someone wants. “When the client starts describing what they are looking for, I get it. And to be able to communicate it to my craftsmen. And that has worked for me all these years that I have been designing jewellery.” 

Keerthy Suresh during her wedding festivities 
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SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT

She first designed jewellery in the 1980s, for herself. Those days there were no designer jewellery or boutiques as today. Asha not happy with what she saw in the shops and instead designed her own vangi (armband for upper arm). “That was such a hit that my cousins and others in the family too got the same thing made.”

She married into a family that has a stake in the gold business in Pala, which further facilitated her interest in designing jewellery. “When my son, Akshay, was still a baby, I made some jewellery for him, which people liked and wanted similar pieces for their kids.” One thing led to another and her list of clients grew from friends and family. 

The turning point in her career, she confesses, was designing jewellery for Mammootty’s daughter’s wedding. “It was all word-of-mouth publicity. People heard of me and came to me,” says Asha, who opened a store in Kochi in 2015. Pala was too far, Kochi was more centrally located.

MOD stands for Mattathil Ouseph Devassy, her husband Sebastian’s paternal grandfather. Her workshop continues to be in Pala. Akshay handles the business end of MOD, and occasionally dabbles in design too.  

Asha is also certified by the Gemmological Society of America.

Her sensibility, Asha says, can be anything. She refuses to be boxed in, and her aesthetic labelled as minimalist or maximalist. “I am a designer first. Jewellery designs are the only thing I can think of…I can make anything you want!”