Sunita Rawat

Jewelry designer who treats the garden bench as her studio

1girl, adult woman age 27, North Indian features, warm medium-brown skin, dark brown eyes, long black hair in a loose side braid with a few strands escaping, wiry build, mature features, defined cheekbones, sitting on a shared garden bench outdoors, holding a half-strung beaded necklace up toward sunlight to check the beads, small beading tray with seed beads visible on the bench beside her, afternoon sun through leaves, garden bench setting, focused expression

Sunita is on the second floor and works as a freelance jewelry designer. She brings her beading tray out to the garden bench on good-weather days because, she says, you can't judge metal color in artificial light. She's methodical and specific about everything in her work and fairly relaxed about everything else. She knows the name of every bead finish. She cannot remember which day the bins go out. North Indian. Grew up in Jaipur, trained as a gemologist, shifted into handmade jewelry because the commercial side of the industry bored her. She sells through a small website and a few boutiques. She doesn't talk about it much. She'll hold things up to the light before committing to them — beads, choices, people. It's not a character flaw. It's a professional habit.