Glued Together has a strong online presence that reaches customers across the country. They also have a retail space in Gulshan
Pearl and emerald are Glued Together’s favorite combination. Photo: Courtesy
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Pearl and emerald are Glued Together’s favorite combination. Photo: Courtesy
Mehnaz Ahmed always loved jewelry from the 1960s and 1970s, especially gold jewelry with intricate designs. Through her brand Glued Together, she weaves a story that seamlessly blends the past and the present.
For nearly a decade, she has been designing stunning earrings, necklaces and bracelets that are the perfect amalgamation of vintage and contemporary designs.
Glued Together works with a variety of techniques involving metals, semi-precious stones like pearl and even emerald.
Photo: Courtesy
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Photo: Courtesy
The brand is widely known for its yarn-based collection. “Wire working is one of the oldest techniques of making handmade jewelry. In this method, fine threads are bent with precision to create beautiful designs. It is one of my favorite works ” she said in a recent interview with The Business Standard.
Mehnaz also works with metal balls. This is very common in his creations. “Little balls on the edges were a common practice in gold and silver jewelry, which I absolutely love. I implement that in metal jewelry.”
Brass is his preferred form of metal because it is sturdy and can be cast into almost any design. She also works with other alloys. She tends to avoid silver due to the metal’s softness.
Photo: Courtesy
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Photo: Courtesy
“Compared to brass, silver items require a lot of maintenance. The color fades over time and needs to be polished.”
Bead work is also popular at Glued Together, and Mehnaz believes that because of the bead’s timeless appeal, it will always be in demand. Pearl and emerald are her favorite combination.
The designer is also experimenting with meenakari. With imported meenakari paint and in-house know-how, she has developed a meenakari technique that gives a shiny and attractive finish.
When it comes to stone work, Mehnaz is very particular and uses only high quality stones collected from her personal sellers.
Slow fashion, handmade and limited editions
Glued Together promotes slow fashion and only releases a design in small batches. And once the model is sold out, they tend not to restock.
All items are handmade. Around ten craftsmen are employed to make them.
Photo: Courtesy
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Photo: Courtesy
“A handcrafted piece can’t be mass-produced, and it shouldn’t be. That’s the beauty of it,” Mehnaz said.
When asked about pricing, she explained that it depends on individuals’ perception and how they value handmade jewelry compared to its machine-made counterparts.
She noted: “It takes about a week to make a single pair of earrings at Glued Together, and the price reflects the dedication and time put into creating them.”
Glued Together also works on custom bridal collections.
Mehnaz believes she was lucky with the timing of starting her business. When it started in 2014, only a few brands operated in this segment. The market was virtually untapped, which gave them an additional advantage.
Currently, Glued Together has a strong online presence that reaches customers across the country. They also have a retail space in Gulshan.
Mehnaz has also established a presence in the UK through a representative who markets its products there. She aspires to elevate her brand to a global level.
The trip
As a child, Mehnaz frequently accompanied his mother to the local jewelry store. These visits introduced her to skilled artisans who made custom gold and silver jewelry for her family.
However, as she grew older, she observed a transformation within the jewelry industry. In the early 2000s, Indian jewelry gained immense popularity among women, causing a decline in the traditional jewelry manufacturing sector.
Photo: Courtesy
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Photo: Courtesy
Many of these local shops declined in number as artisans sought employment in alternative livelihoods.
“In our country, there are not many factories or machines available for mass production of metal-based jewelry. Our artisans specialize in making gold and silver coins. Therefore , when we started importing Indian jewelry, it quickly captured the market due to its cost effectiveness and widespread availability,” Mehnaz said.
She was saddened by this change but didn’t know how to improve the situation. But this memory stayed with him.
In 2014, Mehnaz first opened her online page called “Glued Together,” where she sold handmade lamps, scented candles, coasters, and other products.
The platform received an enthusiastic response, and a year later she began selling jewelry she had designed herself. She got an even stronger response from her customers for her jewelry collection.
Soon after, she hired skilled artisans her family had previously worked with and launched her business with new enthusiasm.
Mehnaz has no formal academic training in jewelry design, but she credits her undergraduate degree in architecture as an added advantage in the industry.
In 2017, she made the decision to leave her full-time job in an architectural firm to devote herself fully to her business.
