30 August,2009 07:23 AM IST | | Ayesha Nair
INDIAN mythology inspired clothing has been a big hit with the Western world with quite a few of them sporting Ganesh and Durga motif tee shirts. Now, a Swiss writing instrument-maker, as part of their limited edition collection have included Lord Shiva inspired pens. This comes after the success of their Buddha and Ganesh collections. And the price, $15,402 (Rs 7.5 lakh) for fountain pens and $14,060 (over Rs 6 lakh) for roller pens, are clearly not a deterrent.
Via an email interview, the company's spokesperson says, "The Limited Editions are part of the Artiste Collection, drawing their inspiration from strongly symbolic themes such as culture and divinities. After Buddha and Ganesh, this creation completes the Divinities theme, paying homage to the Hindu God, Shiva. It is just the logical continuity; 108 fountain pens and 55 roller pens to pay an exceptional tribute to the rituals and spirituality of India."
The Shiva collection, part of the Artiste Collection is produced entirely by hand with 800 solid silver and gilded decorations, an 18 carat gold nib, 0.04 carats brilliant cut diamond and semi-precious stone. The Divinities theme collections have been put together after great amounts of research and consultation with experts. The man responsible is jeweler and artist Edouard Jud. The spokesperson says, "Edouard Jud is very receptive to this kind of thematic designing which is extremely rich in the details." And the details do stand out. Unscrew the cap and right below the nib, are trishul motifs while on the body of the pen is the Shivling, and also designs of Shiva doing the tandav and meditating.
