Adiva began with a wall — and with the Gond painters of Madhya Pradesh who fill those walls with animals, forests, and spirits drawn in restless dots and lines.
The Gond are one of the largest tribal communities in India. Their painting tradition, practiced for well over a millennium in oral and mural form, is not decorative wallpaper: each motif carries meaning about land, ancestry, and the unseen world. When we named the collection Adiva, the brief was simple — translate that visual language into metal without flattening it into costume jewellery.
What Gond drawing looks like in silver
Gond artists build form from dots, dashes, and continuous contour lines. Animals are filled with pattern rather than shaded; trees become lattices; the negative space hums as loudly as the subject.
On metal, that becomes:
- Hand-etched dot fields on pieces like the Adiva Forest Ring — each punch of the tool is visible if you look closely
- Spiral grooves on the Spiral Khanak Ring, a motif Gond artists use for the soul's ongoing journey
- Coin and currency forms that sit between tribal ornament and everyday Indian memory — see the Adiva 25P–50P Ring and Twenty-Five Paise Earring
Sterling silver 925 holds fine line work better than softer alloys; oxidised brass gives the warmer, earthier read of older tribal ornaments. Finishes are hand-applied, so no two Forest Rings are identical — that variation is the point, not a defect.
Why the forest keeps showing up
Central Indian Gond country is forest country. Trees, birds, fish, and tigers recur in mural work as kin, not scenery. The Adiva pieces borrow that: the Adiva Fish Ring is scaled like a carved relief; the Adiva Phool Ring layers petals the way a painting layers pattern inside a flower outline.
Wearing them is a small way to carry that ecology into daily life — a ring that looks like it was found in leaf litter rather than stamped in a factory.
From studio to your hands
Ruhi (NIFT-trained, based in Ahmedabad) draws each motif, then works with artisan communities who execute the etching, casting, and finishing using techniques passed through generations. You can read more about that collaboration on our About page, or browse the full Adiva collection.
Styling Adiva without going full costume
- Let one textured piece lead — stack quieter bands beside the Adiva Anahad Ring, not three etched statement rings at once
- Pair oxidised neckwear like the Adiva Tribal Choker with plain black or ivory so the pattern reads
- Coin motifs (Adiva Coin Bracelet) sit well with both denim and handloom cotton
Heritage jewellery fails when it becomes a uniform. Gond art was always alive and adaptive — keep that spirit in how you wear it.
Questions about fit, finish, or the story behind a specific motif? Contact the studio — we answer piece-by-piece.