OUR STORY
Providing a platform for women artisans in India
Our goal is two-fold: one to provide a platform for women artisans in India and secondly to help rejuvenate traditional arts. We’ve always wanted to innovate and create quintessential jewelry that takes Indian workmanship with a touch of urban flair and a story to tell! Our jewelry is designed in NYC, and is 22k gold plated and handmade. We strive to ensure that our materials are responsibly sourced and some of our earrings are even made of sustainable materials like clay, wood, silk, etc. As a women-only run firm, we stand in solidarity with skilled and marginalized women.
BRAND INSPIRATION
The inspiration for our collection is tribal, women and history from India's glorious past. Deep appreciation for Indian handicrafts and longstanding desire for design something that’s unique and long lasting. Most of the jewelry you buy in fast fashion brands don’t last long these days. We wanted to go back to the old day charm of creating something slowly and get back to the basics of jewelry making. We want to give our clients something that tells a story of our past and can be passed down generations.
MEET THE FOUNDER
“Turning adversity into opportunity”
Maalicious was born as a pet project conceived at my home in New York while mending a broken heart caused by a miscarriage in my 36th week of pregnancy. As they say I took my broken heart and turned it into art and this kept me going during those dark times.
I partnered with differently-abled students studying jewelry in Mysore, India, on my visit to India a few weeks later. And eventually worked with various women artisans to integrate various Indian art forms into our jewelry. A lot of research, learning, sweat and blood later, we've grown into what Maalicious is today. We have had some amazing moments in the last few years including being featured in British Vogue, Harper's BAZAAR Thailand and more. We have showcased our jewelry in New York fashion week and Paris fashion week in 2020.
Its been a long and arduous journey, my heart is filled with gratitude, especially towards the artisans without whom I couldn't have pulled this off. I have tried to give each one of you something special while holding the values of quality, labor rights and sustainability paramount. I hope you will enjoy what we have curated for you.
With love,
Poonam Thimmaiah
MEET OUR ARTISTS
Shruti Mascarenhas
"My first memory is that of the smell of clay in my grandmother's kitchen when I was just 10. I asked and learnt that the mud pot that my grandmother and mom cooked in, emitter the different flavors in the curries I always relished. I was mesmerized and found it extremely cool that one could make your own pots to help people cook and share their culinary expertise in. Trying to make them, however, was way more difficult a task than I imagined it would be."
Shruti studied fine arts and was accepted into the top school, MSU, in Vadodars, Gujarat. She majored in Sculpture and minored in Pottery. She also pursued my BFA and then MFA, with a specialization in Ceramics. This particular interest of mine has kept things exciting and enjoyable for me till date.
For Maalicious, she creates beautiful hand painted clay pieces like the portraits of Victoria , vintage and Amrita Shergill in her own studio in Goa, India.
Nirmitee
Nirmitee started my business 'Handmade Love' in 2016. It started as a simple hobby, making small gifts for her friends. But over the last 3 years she has been able to find and develop her style.
For the last year or so she has focused more on creating unique collectibles from different fandoms, Harry Potter being the main subject."This is my passion which I turned into a business. This independence has empowered me beyond imagination."
For Maalicious, she creates polymer clay pieces like the Parrot.
Soniya Aravind
Soniya believes in silver linings, in seeing beauty in the unexpected, in finding strength in pain. "I had regular anxiety attacks, and I escaped them by forcing myself to watch tutorial videos of miniature clay work. What started as a aimless distraction, soon got me wanting to actually try my hand at polymer clay sculpting. After several attempts, I successfuly burnt my first set of creations :) The next set of charms I baked got my college classmates excited, and some of them even bought a few and encouraged me to sell my creations online."
She recently decided to make a profession out of her passion and registered her company. "Every woman deserves to be financially independent as it breaks the timeless cliche that a woman has to be ‘provided’ for."
Soniya makes most of our polymer clay pieces like the Drokpas and is thrilled to be sharing her journey and work with you through Maalicious.
Tanu Kala
As a kid Tanu always admired her father working with gemstones and creating beautiful designs as a Jewelry designer. She then did basic and advanced courses in Jewelry designing but later decided to take up teaching as her profession. She taught for ten years and enjoyed the adventures with her students.
"The drive to possess my own jewellry studio kept me interested in my passion. After designing and manufacturing jewelry as part time for a year, I decided to work towards my career as a jewelry designer"
Tanu is a integral part of Maalicious and works on all our metal and gemstone designs.
OUR PRODUCTS
Innovation is at the heart of everything we do!
01
Sustainable materials
We have created jewelry with hand painted clay centerpieces, made by our artisan Shruti in Goa, who traditionally makes clay pots.
02
Customizable jewelry
we are able to take a picture from our customers and put it in our earrings.
03
Giving back
A large part of our proceeds go back to our women artisans.