Vivek Ramabhadran: The conscious jewellery creator An ex-McKinsey, Ramabhadran feels that when it comes to jewellery, we ascribe meaning to the presence of materials like gold, silver as opposed to what goes into making them.

Jewellery and creativity goes hand in hand, but what if sustainability is blended along with it. Vivek Ramabhadran-led Aulerth does just that-making jewellery with minimal mining footprint by using metals from recycling yards. It was during the pandemic that Ramabhadran hit upon the idea. "While we are obsessive about gold jewellery, I came to know that it has a massive dark side to it. When I researched this space, I found that one single gold ring can potentially create a staggering 20-tons of mining waste," says Ramabhadran who is inspired by brands like All Birds, Patagonia and Gucci for committing to their story.

An ex-McKinsey, Ramabhadran feels that when it comes to jewellery, we ascribe meaning to the presence of materials like gold, silver as opposed to what goes into making them. "It
needs to change. It's extremely criminal to the environment. The recycled metals we use in our jewellery come from industries like automobiles, construction and musical instruments, etc. The stones we use are also mining free. Thankfully, there is a growing group of people who are interested in seeing jewellery more as a design-led offering. I noticed this trend during my stint with Swarovski and working with designers," says Ramabhadran.

For brands into sustainable products, Ramabhadran's advice is to do full research and take constant feedback. "People will not buy a product just because it's sustainable. You have to create other reasons for people to participate in the brand. It's important to get yourself in front of them to get direct feedback."

Aulerth's clientele includes women between 25 and 55 years, who are design and quality discerning. "We have got attention from NRIs group as well. We employ creativity and design as a very very critical tool. We believe we can deliver something which is something very high on craftsmanship and design."

The startup has fashion designers like Suneet Varma, JJ Valaya and online jewellery brand Tribe Amrapali as its partners. It is looking at opening offline stores and roping in a few more designers too.

FACTSHEET
Amount of external funding received: $1.1 million
No. of people employed: 8
Year of Inception: 2021
Key customers: HNIs, NRIs