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Damini Patel's late Grandmother, Maniben A Patel had a great influence on her final major project. Her Grandmother's name is the meaning of a precious and significant diamond in India - the perfect inspiration for Damini's luxury statement jewellery collection the D'Manii collection.

27th June 2018
FashionFashion management

Damini Patel's late Grandmother, Maniben A Patel had a great influence on her final major project. Her Grandmother's name is the meaning of a precious and significant diamond in India - the perfect inspiration for Damini's luxury statement jewellery collection the D'Manii collection.

Damini's collection focuses on contemporary handcrafted designs, blending traditional and modern art from India and the UK. We caught up with the BA (Hons) Fashion Management with Marketing student to find out more about the brand, and her hopes for the future.  

Damini Patel's jewellery collection

Tell us a bit more about your final project

My final major project was developing, designing and producing a Spring/Summer 2019 fashion jewellery collection that is influenced heavily by Eastern countries. In India, jewellery has a traditional and aesthetic value, hence why jewellery makers implement uniqueness through intricate designs and art. Combining all these factors together, the concept of my jewellery collection was to simplify Indian jeweller trends and mix it with trends in the UK to produce a contemporary collection that blends the traditional and modern art of both regions. This led to the creation of my own luxury statement jewellery brand called D’Manii Collection.

Contemporary designs, handcrafted with the highest quality metals and materials were key factors I wanted to implement in order to create a product that people will actually want to buy and pay for. For my first marketing campaign, I collaborated with a friend who created her own protest t-shirt brand which helped me bring diversity and personality to my brand. The idea to collaborate gave my jewellery brand a larger unique selling point as there aren’t many other jewellery brands that have done the same.

What have you enjoyed most about your time at Solent?

The variety of things that I’ve had the opportunity to do and learn during my time at Solent has been brilliant. My course was very varied so we learnt all the different aspects of the fashion industry from marketing and management, PR, financing, promotion and communication and so much more. Earlier this year I also had the opportunity to visit the British Conference of Undergraduate Research and present some of my work there which was absolutely brilliant.

Damini Patel's jewellery collection

What’s next for you?

Currently I’m focusing on D’Manii Collection and launching it as a proper business in the market as it was so well received when I first launched it. Developing my business during my final major project has made me realise I want to actually have my own business and be my own boss. However, I’m still looking for a marketing position, whether it's an entry level/graduate job or as an internship, whilst I work on officially launching D’Manii Collection. I think it would be great to still gain industry experience as there are a wide variety of skills and knowledge I have that I would love to apply and use within the industry and possibly even expand my knowledge.

Please share any advice you have for other students?

My one piece of advice for other students would be to just have fun and take advantage of all the opportunities that are given to you during your time at university, because it can be very beneficial in the future.