Jewellery major Trendsmith has lined up the Mind’s Eye range of Jewellery collection, which is aimed at the Valentine’s Day market.

Priced in the range of Rs 15,000 and Rs 1 lakh, the collection is designed by visually impaired women from Utkarsh, a unit of the National Association of Blind (NAB).

Utkarsh assists visually impaired women by providing training and work opportunities.

“The idea was to do something for the Valentine’s Day that really had a heart. What the Mind’s Eye can see nobody can see,” says Samrat Zaveri, managing director, Trendsmith. Trendsmith is a company from the house of TBZ-Nirmal Zaveri.

Designs from 17 women from Utkarsh have been picked up and expanded upon to create 60 pieces of diamond-studded jewellery which include necklaces. bracelets, earrings, rings and pendants.

“Our focus has always been to give our customers something new. Instead of having the usual heart-shaped trinkets, we have developed some beautiful and abstract designs,” adds Dharmesh Sodah, president, Trendsmith.

Trendsmith aims at creating a platform for existing jewellery manufacturers. It assists designers in brand creation. But why did the store decide to associate itself with the visually impaired?

“We were aware that the women at Utkarsh were making rakhis and ethnic trinkets. Four years ago we did something similar for traditional wedding jewellery range when we sold 90 per cent of their designs. We decided to take this further, give them a creative outlet and set a fashion trend at the same time. The vision of these designers is evident from their designs,” says Zaveri.

“We were told to think of happy designs,” says Shaheen Shaikh of NAB.

Hazra Ghamelia, a visually impaired from NAB, said: “I sketched what I observed through my hands.

The women were given themes like love and relationship for designing the jewellery.

Trendsmith’s in-house designers selected 60 designs out of 300 sketches to translate into predominantly diamond jewellery.

NAB has been gifted a cheque of Rs 50,000 by Trendsmith, besides a five per cent addendum on every item sold.

Ela Mehta, NAB’s chairperson, committee for advancement of the status of blind women, says: “The first step to progress is self-confidence and the belief in one’s abilities. So far our women have been making rakhis and torans. Trendsmith has provided our women an exciting opportunity to be a part of the fashion jewellery stream. We now hope to follow this up with a rakhi collection in metal later this year.”