NIALAYA

On Jannik’s first trip to India, he meets a local shaman who asks to read his palm. The Shaman sits peacefully on a blanket handmade of purple silk. The once smooth purple fabric is now worn from decades of usage. Stains and red dust cover parts of a once beautiful golden French lily woven into the silk.



The Shaman’s eyes are calm, honest and piercing, emerald green. He wears a simple white cotton cloth wrapped around his body. The white and green stand in sharp contrast to his dark skin. Jannik, being used to massive contact with vendors and people trying to sell him anything and everything in the streets of India, excuses himself, turns the Shaman’s offer down and walks on.



One week later, Jannik meets the same Shaman with the emerald eyes again sitting on the purple silk blanket. The Shaman requests to read his palm once more, and for some undefined reason Jannik decides to give the man a few minutes of his time.



The Shaman looks thoroughly into Jannik’s palm for a few minutes. He does so in complete silence. Then he closes Jannik’s palm, looks up and speaks: ‘’For a long time, you have been focused on the end gain. The result. It has given you many experiences and great knowledge. But also confusion and pain. Now it’s time for you to change your focus and path. You are your own master. You make your own future. Therefore discipline yourself as a horse-dealer trains a thoroughbred.‘’



The Shaman takes out a small leather bag and hands it to Jannik. Inside is a tiny diamond.



‘’This is your birthstone. It has great powers. Use it wisely. Now farewell.’’



A couple of days later, Jannik returns to find the Shaman. But he has left his usual spot and is nowhere in sight. Jannik asks the neighbors if they know where he is, but they only know that the Shaman goes by the name ‘Nialaya’. For the rest of his stay in India, Jannik visits this spot every day without any luck. Nialaya is gone.



This meeting with the Indian shaman became a signifier in Jannik’s life, and he still keeps the leather bag with his birthstone close to him wherever he goes. It reminds him of how important it is to create something beautiful and meaningful in life.



That is why Jannik decided to name his jewels after the Shaman Nialaya.Mens Womens