Chubalemla Kichu

Chubalemla Kichu of Khensa village established Berem Jewellery in the year 2017 from her bedroom following an illness that led her to miss out on her college exams and stopped her from getting the college degree she was aiming for.

But she didn’t allow her spirit to die down there. In fact, her desire to do something and help support her single mother and two siblings ignited her passion towards starting Berem Jewellery.
Taking the inspiration from the Ao naga word, ‘Berem’ meaning ‘gem’, as was suggested by her Odi Tsukti Longkumer, she launched her Berem business online.

According to her, the main reason she went ahead with the name was because it was easy for people to remember and also, she believed that when her products are made available outside the state, the name itself will represent Nagaland.

Berem started small at first with encouragement from friends and family who were her first clients and in 2017, as the business expanded, Berem began selling online and now has clients across the state of Nagaland.

Berem also stands out because of her ability to keep prices low and affordable and keeping it within everyone’s reach. After a brief lull in business during the pandemic, Berem is now back and running like before.

Mokokchung Times had a chit-chat with Alem, and here’s how it went.

MTimes: What’s the process of your work like? Do you first design and then craft it? How do you keep yourself updated with what your customers needs?

Alem: I don’t sketch a particular design it’s just, with whatever beads I have, I arrange them and try to put the colours together according to their sizes and colours in a way that it will suit just anyone.

My designs are usually not too fancy as I love keeping it simple. Most of the time I use brass metal which I hand-forge and make them flat so that I can make any design and hang the beads around according to the customer’s liking.

MTimes: Tell us about your favorite experience with a customer
Alem: There are many customers who have bought my handmade jewellery and so, I do have many amazing experiences. But I really love it when my own customer puts their efforts in sharing my work to their circle of friends or gushes about my designs and passes on compliments and so on. Such small gestures really overwhelm me. So, yes, my customers are my biggest inspirations.

I am also very grateful that they continue to buy from me every time I put out a new design. So, I’m just really humbled that despite having many jewellery designers in the town, they still choose to buy from me and that really serves as a motivation for me.

MTimes: How do you want women to feel when wearing your jewellery?
Alem: I want them to feel confident. I make my jewelry with utmost love and care, and make sure that the designs are simple and match with every outfit; so, I want them to wear it with confidence.

MTimes: What was your biggest fear when starting Berem?
Alem: My biggest fear was how the reaction of our society would be because usually in our society, it was often seen like business was for men; at least that was the notion I grew up with but to my surprise, our society became my biggest support system. I received and am still receiving enormous love and support not only from women but even from men who continues to share my profile in different platforms so that more people would know about my works.

Another fear I had was that, I was scared my business would fail because I didn’t know a thing about business as no one taught me and the fact that there won’t be enough materials available in our town was another factor. But slowly,  I’m learning and to my surprise, it’s getting better each day.

MTimes: From where do you draw inspirations for your designs?
Alem: I should say inspiration comes from many things. It maybe from a woman I just saw or a cloth that was hanging on the market. Also, whenever I meet people, I look at their facial structure and try to figure out which design will suit them. Sometimes, whenever I go for shopping, I check on the clothes and according to the colours on the cloth, I combine the color of my beads.

MTimes: What qualities do you look for in the perfect piece of jewellery?
Alem: I usually use brass because the metals are very important when it comes to jewellery for you have people who are allergic to some metals. So, I make sure to test the metal myself before turning it into a piece of jewellery.

MTimes: What is your future plan with Berem?
Alem: My future plan would be to open a store where I can give trainings to our youths; that way, my works will bring an impact to our society which has been so helpful to me.

MTimes: A message for our readers.
Alem: I just want to say that we are all gifted with something or the other in a very unique way. It’s just that one should be open to any feedback and suggestions, only then we will sail the boat of success.

There are many talented youths even in our town. It’s either we are too lazy or thinks that the work we are offered are either too small or something we can’t do.
I just want to say that, no work is small or hard. Once we are determined, through hard and smart work, everything will be successful.