My name is Sasha Jattansingh and I am the Owner and Designer at Gaia Couture. I have been learning and making jewellery for over 5 years – beaded, wire wrapping, metal smithing, natural jewellery etc. I especially love that jewellery is beautiful and functional at the same time. I think one of the best compliments for a designer is when someone buys and wears your design and incorporates it into their own personal style. I finally decided to just be brave and launch my own line of handmade jewellery.
In my other life, I am an environmental management and sustainable development practitioner with over 8 years’ experience in Trinidad and Tobago. I definitely wanted to merge my two passions of environmental sustainability and jewellery making and that is how Gaia Couture evolved into what it is now. I get asked why the name Gaia Couture? Gaia is a play on my middle name Gaitri and the ancient Greek goddess of the Earth and Couture because when I think of couture I think of luxury, custom-made and innovative designs which push the boundaries of what fashion is and can be.
Our underlying philosophy is to integrate sustainability with everyday elegance through our handmade, contemporary and unique jewellery pieces. Gaia Couture’s tag line is inspired by nature, supporting sustainability and creating every day elegance.
Gaia Couture is inspired by nature – the colours, textures, shapes and motifs are all inspired by the beautiful natural environment. I am blessed to live in the Caribbean where there is so much natural beauty around me and this inspires me to create jewellery pieces.
Gaia Couture seeks to create and maintain conversation about sustainability with our audience – about environmental issues and solutions, about policies, projects and people which support environmental sustainability in Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean via this blog and our Facebook and Instagram. I strive to incorporate non-traditional materials into my designs like materials we would consider as waste – like PET bottles, discarded paper, seeds etc. These ‘waste’ materials have low value on their own but repurpose them and pair them with semi-precious stones, metals, leather and you can transform them into something beautiful and of higher value – economic, sentimental, aesthetic etc
I am launching Gaia Couture with my first collection called 'Reef Rhapsody'. This collection is inspired by the beautiful, delicate and resilient coral reef. Trinidad and Tobago is lucky to have coral reefs – the most famous of them being the Buccoo Reef. The colours, shapes and textures of the different pieces evoke the experience of being underwater within a coral reef and admiring the colourful and unique biodiversity living within the reef ecosystem. The materials I used are gold/silver plated wire, pearls and other semi-precious stones and plastic bottles. Yes plastic bottles like water bottles, soft drink bottles which contribute to marine pollution and is detrimental to coral reefs. I hand cut, shaped and painted these bottles into the various motifs that you see here. I hope through this collection, people are more aware of the unique environmental asset that we have in our coral reefs and the need for more stringent conservation activities. I also want people to start thinking about waste - and how we can rethink our current consumption patterns and rethink our current waste management practices.
Gaia Couture really is about creating a conversation and sharing ideas and practices about sustainability through jewellery. I will be at artisan markets and select shops soon and I will keep you updated about Gaia Couture via social media. Connect with Gaia Couture on Facebook, Instagram or via email at gaiacouture.tt@gmail.com and I look forward to more great things to come for Gaia Couture!
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