Studio Love Letter is ready for a 9-to-5

In 2020 while the world was under lockdown, Anmol Vaswani, then in Goa, found herself picking beads in every shade of the rainbow and stringing them together as pieces of jewellery.

When friends and acquaintances began replying to her Instagram stories to ask where she got her candy-like accessories from, she realised she was on to something: making grown-up friendship bracelets and necklaces. She started a separate Instagram account as orders started pouring in. “There was no website. It was just photos and captions saying ‘DM to order’, as all Instagram shops have,” she recalls.

One of her beaded necklaces—a coral-red piece accented with white and cyan stripes, to be exact—found its way to New York, to be worn by fashion influencer Leandra Medine Cohen. And pretty soon, on every stylish neck and wrist—whether on a beach in Goa or Maldives—was a Love Letter bauble.

Now, on the cusp of her brand’s fourth anniversary, Vaswani, who has since married and moved to Gurugram, has launched Essentials: a new segment of everyday jewellery crafted in sterling silver. “I started Love Letter when I was 26. I’m 30 now. My personal life has evolved, which I think is reflected in my design process. I feel like my customer has also grown up with me a little bit in the last four years,” she explains.

Why Essentials? It’s because the typical Love Letter girl—whose Instagram is full of sunny beach days on far-flung islands—also has a desk job in the city. Practical huggie hoops, necklaces with medallions and amulets, link bracelets and rings with “careful sprinkles” of enamel—the new collection is as suitable for the office as it is for cocktails. While the designs are clean, minimalist, and unfussy, they do have what Vaswani calls a “touch of Love Letter” in them. Certain elements, such as the cleverly crafted carabiner lock that customers love, pearls (a brand signature), and that playful cornicello made of red coral, have been retained.

Since the beginning, Love Letter’s core collections have featured recycled plastic and glass beads, and ethically sourced freshwater pearls. For the Essentials line, Vaswani chose 925 silver over brass (a far cheaper alternative that many contemporary jewellery brands opt for). Apart from its hypoallergenic properties, she picked it to ensure it was something her customers would care for. “Naturally, everybody takes care of silver because it’s a precious metal. And we have a repair and maintenance policy, so if you see that the silver has tarnished, we’ll give it a clean and send it back. It’s as good as the first day they got it and you’ve just extended its life for another three years.”

Will Love Letter ever make fine jewellery? “It would be a really fun thing to explore,” says Vaswani. “I haven’t baked this idea at all, so I’m literally saying this on a whim, but it’s not off the table.”