Mookuthi’s Nose Ornaments Are Love Letters To Tamil Culture And Personal Histories
Growing up in Kerala during the 2000s, I rarely saw women with nose ornaments. For whatever reason, a form of jewellery quite common across India had gone out of fashion in Kerala. Perhaps it was our literary nature and the shedding of all ornamentation, or maybe it was the influx of Western ideas of beauty that we were exposed to on a daily, but for whatever reason, the Mookuthi (nose stud) had disappeared. Back then, only when we’d visit the Tamil Nadu-based side of my dad’s family would I see them. From Coimbatore to Mettupalayam, I’d keep my eyes peeled to catch glimpses of women adorned with Mookuthi — from simple gold domes to gorgeous solitaire diamonds and from simple geometric nose studs to ruby-encrusted works of art, no two were alike, and no two people wore them the same way.
Despite my fascination for them, the nose stud had remained an elusive ornament for me, despite being a self-professed jewellery lover. It is something that I love to see on other people, and hope to get for myself, but somehow I always chicken out from getting it. My pain tolerance is not the strength in question here, but rather the notions associated with the pierced nose that I still struggle to debunk. Even as an adult, I still haven’t gotten my nose pierced, because there is still a voice somewhere deeply entrenched in me, the sound of a distant aunt or a neighbour lady who disparaged the notion of a good Malayali girl of this generation getting her nose pierced.
When I was younger and expressed a fascination for nose studs, I was told that it was something worn by older women, and by the same logic, it’d make me look old too. Others blatantly told me that with my round face (read: fat), piercing my nose would not accentuate my nose, but would rather make it seem more rotund. Suffice to say, no form of adornment is devoid of negative associations and until a few years ago, I couldn’t see past the personal to see the larger cultural narrative around the nose stud — how during the last few decades it was looked down upon as a marker of traditionality and conformity. But in the last few years, there has been a shift towards embracing the duality of one’s heritage — of holding steady to traditional attire and juxtaposing it with global influences and trends. From Jhumka stacks being worn with jerseys to glass bangles with Ajrakh-printed corsets, the expression of this identity has created space for traditional ornaments to be seen in a new light. Among the brands that have made a significant mark across this bold 'new' space is Mookuthi.
A Chennai-origin brand, founded by engineer turned jewellery designer Sarath Selvanathan, Mookuthi wasn’t born out of reinvention but rather from a place of listening and reflecting, as opposed to reinvention. When talking to Homegrown regarding his work, Sarath shared what he was looked out for with Mookuthi and how memory leads their design practice, but it is also what led to building meaning. He shared how he didn’t have a piercing himself, and thereby could not know the exact emotion behind a person wearing a nose ornament. So he listened with curiosity to the ones who celebrated nose ornamentation.
“Every time someone walked in to get a piercing, or shared why they were choosing a Mookuthi, I would question them about their decision. Some conversations were light, laced with laughter; others came with a few tears. Most carried a kind of vulnerability—and it was through that vulnerability that I began to understand how intimate the nose ornament is to the person wearing it. It helped being nosey, I guess. Over time, these stories made me feel more responsible for what I was building. They shaped Mookuthi not as a brand, but as a personal space—one where memory and meaning fed each other.”
Sarath Selvanathan, Designer & Founder, Mookuthi
To learn more about Mookuthi as a brand as well as Sarath’s personal journey from being a mechanical engineer to being the founder of a niche jewellery brand, I caught up with him and discussed how his identity, and penchant for observation have helped him create a brand whose every collection is a quiet love letter to Tamil culture, even a decade after its inception.
Mookuthi began with what you call the smallest piece of jewellery—but one that changes the face entirely. Do you remember what was the first instance of this that prompted you to look at the Mookuthi in a new light? And what lingered most after making that first nose ornament? Was it the act of creation, or the quiet transformation it sparked?
Of course, I remember, fondly. I remember the exact moment and the feeling largely, that fuelled my curiosity to build Mookuthi. It was never about the jewellery, or the act of creation, as such - it all began when the jewellery adorned, not the nose, not the face but the person as a whole. It is easier to articulate this now, but back then, it was a feeling that I couldn't quite pinpoint.
It was early November 2015, when a dear friend approached me to make her a nose ornament that would replace her then-staple dainty diamond nose pin. At that time, while I was in an explorative phase in the realm of jewellery, I made a very simple nose ornament for her - nothing fancy - in fact, I wouldn’t even consider myself designing it. It was a quintessential 7-stone diamond nose ornament - a very popular pattern in the Southern part of India as earrings that had been adapted as a nose ornament.
It was that moment when my friend switched her then nose ornament to the one that I made for her—It wasn’t loud, but it was undeniable. The ornament didn’t decorate—it, in a way, revealed. It's when I realised that of all the ornaments I made, the nose ornament was the smallest yet one that drastically changed the way the wearer looked. It changed everything about her face or perhaps, everything about how she will be remembered going forward, in the memory of all the lives she’d touched.
As someone rooted in Tamil culture, your collections often feel like quiet love letters — to the kondai, to kolam patterns, and to Chettinad tiles. How has your Tamil identity shaped your visual and emotional vocabulary, and in what ways has designing Mookuthis helped you return to, or reimagine, that inheritance?
Quiet love letters — that's such a beautiful way to describe our work — thank you — might steal this line. Honestly, I’d shy away from claiming rootedness to Tamil, or South Indian culture, largely — I know very little about it. The more I dig into it, the more I realise how little I actually know. I'm perhaps just gifted with familiarity as a tool to explore more into the nuances of the said culture and I've been playing with it, by reinterpreting it.
The visual and emotional vocabulary that growing up in the South has left me with is perhaps comfort to someone who is not a trained designer. I just took to my comfort to design or re-imagine and build the aesthetics of Mookuthi.
The nose ornament is a deeply instinctive object — often worn without questioning, passed from mother to daughter, chosen in silence. How do you design for something that carries so much unsaid feeling?
I don’t think I can claim to design for something that emotionally heavy. The meaning isn’t built by me — it’s built by the wearer. By the mother, the daughter, or simply by someone who’s lived a life full of feeling. A person is remembered for what they’ve done, what they’ve stood for, and how they made others feel. And when a nose ornament becomes a way to hold that memory — to pass it from one person to another — it’s incredibly moving. All those intangible strengths, all that quiet power, somehow find a form in this small piece of jewellery.
My role in this aspect is very limited. I can only be honest in the way I craft, the way I obsess over the smallest detail. But the meaning isn't for me to build. That’s personal. And I don’t think I can — or should —take credit for that.
Focusing on just one form—the nose ornament—can seem limiting to some. But in your work, it feels like a quiet study in endless variation. Has working within this singular frame expanded your imagination in unexpected ways?
It truly has. I think when you start fixing certain variables — like scale or category — you begin to unlock unexpected possibilities elsewhere. With fewer decisions to make on one front, you find yourself digging deeper into others. That’s exactly what happened with Mookuthi.
By choosing to work only within the form of the nose ornament, I’ve been able to explore material, technique, and storytelling in ways I might never have otherwise. It’s a small canvas, yes — but that smallness pushes us towards sharper thinking and more deliberate choices. You start to notice the subtleties. You play with proportion, rethink texture, and question convention.
And in some ways, the constraint itself becomes a kind of provocation. You’re constantly asking: what haven’t we tried yet? What if we reimagined this? That’s the space we’ve been playing in — and it’s far from limiting. If anything, it keeps the mind in motion.
Your path from mechanical engineering to jewellery design feels like a shift from logic to emotion, from structure to spirit. How do you see those two worlds—of precision and feeling—meeting in your work?
Honestly, I’ve lived quite a checkered life — moving from one world to another, often just chasing what felt joyful at the time. I loved mechanical engineering. I loved the logic, the math, the precision of it. Machines, systems, technology, processes - they fascinate me. I used to think I was an introvert, who only enjoyed talking to machines.
But once I took to a corporate engineering job, something shifted. I realised I enjoyed people. I found myself endlessly curious about people — their emotions, their stories, their decisions. Love, also had its part to play. It made me realise how vast and layered the human experience is. Slowly, people became more fascinating than machines.
Looking back, it almost feels like Mookuthi was built to house both these parts of me. It allows for the precision of engineering — the rigour, the discipline, the systems—and the emotional resonance of storytelling, memory, and meaning. Even the act of designing a nose ornament sits at this intersection: it requires an obsessive eye for proportion and structure, but it also has to feel deeply human.
In a way, it’s not just about designing jewellery — it’s also about building a brand experience that understands human behaviour. That knows how people feel, choose, and remember. So yes, I do see both worlds meeting— quietly, almost invisibly, but very much present in everything we make.
Over the years, how have people responded to wearing a Mookuthi? Have there been moments where a customer's story or reflection made you pause, or reminded you why this form matters?
Absolutely. The way people have taken to Mookuthi —and the stories they’ve shared in the process — have played a big role in shaping my own journey with the nose ornament. Some of the stories are so deeply personal, so emotionally resonant, that they’ve made me realise this humble embellishment is more than a piece of jewellery.
And when that kind of meaning is being placed onto something you’ve made, you can’t take it lightly. You can’t just design and release something casually. This made us build intent in every step — from how we choose a story, how we interpret it, how we craft the piece, to how we finally offer it to the wearer. Each decision carries responsibility.
There have been many moments where a customer’s reflection has made us pause — sometimes for a few minutes, sometimes for much longer. Those stories remind me, again and again, that this form matters. Not because of what we make, but because of what people bring to it.
The Mookuthi Show and Beyond
At home in Chennai, Mookuthi has their studio where one can make appointments to try out their pieces in person and take your pick. The brand has also been travelling across the nation — organising their experiential events and working with select folks from their expansive community in each city, to help customers have a special experience to find the perfect Mookuthi that is just right for them. The Mookuthi Show is coming to Mumbai on July 25, after a stopover in Hyderabad from July 18-20.
If you decide to check it out, make sure to register on their website as they follow an appointment format even for their showcases.
You can learn more about the brand and follow them here.
If you enjoyed reading this, here's more from Homegrown:
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Step Inside India's First Heritage Museum Dedicated To The Indian Craft Of Meenakari
