Bazaar Loves: Alighieri Jewellery

by Harper's Bazaar ArabiaOctober 13, 2015September 12, 2021

Divine inspiration for a London-based jewellery brand that makes beautiful costume pieces around the poetic ethos that nothing is perfect…

As it name alludes, Alighieri — a new, striking and quite contemporary accessories brand — is actually inspired by words written in the Middle Ages; Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy poetry specifically; widely considered to the greatest literary work in the Italian language.

Each piece created corresponds to one of the poet’s one hundred poems, encounters with mythical creatures, scraggy landscapes, and terrifying demons included.

“Inspired by his odyssey, I imagined these characters in gold, wrapped around my neck, and weaving their way through my fingers, as I read,” describes London-based designer Rosh Mahtani, who studied French and Italian at Oxford University. Upon graduating in 2012, Rosh was inspired to create what she describes as‘modern heirlooms’, battered and bruised looking handmade pieces each uniquely beautiful in its own way, born from the literature she had studied: Dante in particular.

Working day jobs in luxury retail and publishing whilst honing her jewellery-making skills by night, Rosh finally launched the line last year, credibly presenting a label firmly rooted in literature and travel — telling a story of whirlwind adventures, creatures and landscapes ready to explore, and it wasn’t long before heavyweight e-commerce retailers such as Avenue 32 and Farfetch sat up and took notice. Her latest collection revealed this season, Chasing Clouds, is inspired by Dante’s poem of the same name:

She’s running after something, who knows what.

At times she’s alive and full of wonder, other times

she’s pensive, lost in the dark wood.

The clouds are constantly changing. At times they

abound in firey reds and purples of all types; at others

they turn inward in menacing charcoals, covering the

blues and unveiling the rain.

The clouds are constantly changing.

At times they seem tangible: in reach as they are in

sight. Other times they are but wisps that threaten to

dissipate if she gets too close.

But still, she goes on, chasing clouds.

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