Thewa Art: The highest award winning art form in Rajasthan

The art of Thewa Jewellery has come out to be one of the most loved and treasured art forms in the royal jewelry trends. Thewa is a special art of jewellery making that uses the delicate work of gold on multicolor glass material. This beautiful art form had evolved back in Pratapgarh district of Rajasthan. Thewa Art jewellery is a perfect blend of Indian heritage where royalty meets tradition and culture meets trends. The word ‘Thewa’ is derived from the local dialect of the region which usually means ‘setting’. The art of making Thewa jewellery is a very detailed and intricate process that involves handcrafting over a month by skilled artisans. The making of this jewellery involves the beating of gold pieces into very thin sheets and then setting them into the glass or mirror objects.

With a vision of preserving the year-old art form, Nathu Raj Soni ji had invented the process and it had been successfully inherited by their future generations. Many members from this family have been awarded by UNESCO, National & State Government. One of the most alluring works of thewa art could be found in Metropolitan Museum in New York which was made by Shri Mathura Lal Raj Soni Ji, with the addition this Thewa Art Pratapgarh has its presence in Geological Museum in London and this alluring thewa jewelry graces the beauty of ‘Queen of England’ also. This art holds its place in various museums including The Victoria & Albert etc.

This tradition of original Thewa Jewellery has been then followed by Padmashree award winner late Shri Mahesh Raj Soni Ji. The government of India recognized the effort and talent of Shri Mahesh Raj Soni ji to keep the royal traditional art alive in India and honored him with the title of ‘Padmashree; in 2015. Shri Mahesh Raj Soni has always been working on new designs and believed in uniqueness to bring a flavor of newness in the traditional look. Shri Mahesh Raj Soni ji had conducted various exhibitions to display his artwork in South Africa and Sri Lanka in the year 2012 and 2011 respectively.

With a vision of providing Indian artisans a single platform to showcase their arts, Shri Mahesh Raj Soni has founded Thewa store. He aimed to support and provide a single destination for the promotion of Indian handicrafts and handlooms. Due to his enormous efforts and countless contributions in the field of art, he has been featured in the Limca Book of World Records in its 2011 edition. The vision of sustaining the Thewa Kala of Pratapgarh, Rajasthan is now led by his sons through Thewa Store. 

The original Thewa Art jewellery is a perfect blend of Indian heritage where royalty meets tradition. The reflection of royalty could be sensed in the jewellery of Thewa as the major themes used in the creation of designs are the hunting scene with elephants, deer, and lions, Maharana Pratap riding the horse, Krishna with gopis, peacocks, flowers, or royal weddings. The uniqueness of Thewa lies in the beauty of its handcrafted-work, all the designer pieces are woven by hand and no use of modern machinery is used in making the jewellery. Though the jewellery concept is a historic one but the use of different colors and patterns make it a blend of antique-modernization jewellery.