Mookuthi show in Visakhapatnam: Exploring the stories behind nose ornaments

Mookuthi model | Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT A nose ornament can be small enough to sit on the tip of a finger, yet its significance can extend into questions of identity, memory and self-expression. The Mookuthi Show, a travelling immersive exhibition by Chennai-based designer Sarath Selvanathan, brings this perspective to Visakhapatnam, presenting nose ornaments inspired by nine stories from South India.The idea for Mookuthi took shape in 2015, when Selvanathan first made a nose ornament for a friend. “It was the smallest piece of jewellery I made, but the only one that changed the wearer’s looks,” he says. That experience led him to consider the mookuthi as an intimate marker of identity. The pieces he creates today, he adds, carry traces of his own childhood.Mookuthi’s nine collections emerged from an unlikely beginning. In 2017, when Selvanathan approached established design schools looking for designers who could create nose ornaments, many showed very little interest in designing them. He eventually designed the pieces himself, drawing from his hometown Chennai, his influences and the architecture he grew up around.The process of turning such references into jewellery remains deliberately open-ended. “A collection at Mookuthi is an artisan’s skill, a jewellery-making technique, a story worth telling, raw materials and viability, all coming together,” he says.The collections draw from architecture and native crafts, translating larger cultural references into finely detailed ornaments. Finding artisans with the patience and skill required for the work, however, was difficult. Selvanathan recalls one young artisan who joined him in the early years, helping establish Mookuthi’s foundation. The artisan died earlier this year in a fire accident at his factory in Sowcarpet, Chennai. Selvanathan says bringing his contribution to wider attention remains important to him.The Visakhapatnam show is designed as an experience rather than a conventional jewellery display. Visitors can touch, feel and try on selected pieces and can also get their noses pierced at the venue.“The Mookuthi Show exists as an invitation to experience nose ornamenting in a new way,” says Selvanathan.For him, contemporary customers are also reshaping what the ornament can signify. A mookuthi may retain family or cultural associations, while also becoming something chosen simply because it suits the wearer’s sense of style. “We look at the nose ornament as a symbol of self expression,” he says.The Mookuthi Show, VisakhapatnamDate September 25 to 27Time: 10am to 8pmVenue: AARNA, Balaji R Square, Harbour Park Road, Pandurangapuram Published - September 25, 2026 01:02 pm IST