I grew up around jewelry because of my parents wholesale business selling antique style jewelry and have been lucky enough to absorb a lot of trade knowledge over the years and sell at shows like JCK, Miami Beach Antique Show, and JA NYC. I started taking handmade jewlery courses in 2020, and over the last few years have made many of my favorite pieces with my own hands, and shared them under the name im frantic hbu.
As a GIA certified gemologist, I gained a lot of scientific and industry knowledge of gemstones, and even after all the stones I encountered, the ones that brought me the most joy were the ones I dug out of the sand myself.
In my handmade jewelry, I included many bezel set beach stones which are smooth and polished by the ocean; Once set into silver, they look just as beautiful as any cut and polished gemstone you can buy. Mixing these beach pebbles you can find for free in nature with stones we usually prescribe as “valuable” is my way of making sense of the excessive, and at times elitist, jewelry industry that I am now a part of. It is also my desperate attempt to remain connected to the ocean that I came to love, and carry it around with me wherever I go and share it with others.
After my graduation from GIA's jewelry design and CAD engineering course, I moved back to my hometown Delhi in 2024 and created Ai Bo Kaate for my CAD and handmade fine jewlery.
Ai Bo Kaate features gold and silver jewelry made slowly and in small batches, with a huge focus on ethical production, a low carbon footprint, and utilizing recycled metals.
The jewlery in under this brand is nature inspired, in appreciation of flora and fauna, and is designed to last forever.
Ai Bo Kaate is an exclamation used while kite flying, specifically when one kite cuts anothers string. The phrase makes me nostalgic about growing up in Old Delhi, and that is why I decided to name my jewelry, which I also associate with home, after it.
