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How Jewelry Designer Arpana Rayamajhi Stays Inspired

Strolls through flower shops and midday pasta and rosé? Sign us up. In collaboration with Polo Ralph Lauren.

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How Jewelry Designer Arpana Rayamajhi Stays Inspired
Meagan Wilson

Far and away the best part of working for yourself—whether that’s as the head of your own company, or the free-wheeling creative type—is making your own schedule. And because being in command of your own time completely changes your perspective, we love knowing how other people make it work for them—like Arpana Rayamajhi.

While Rayamajhi is chiefly known for her jewelry, she’s really an artist working across a handful of disciplines, which only makes her routine all the more fascinating. “Working for yourself gives you the freedom to make your day around your own time, but you have to be pretty disciplined to keep yourself motivated,” she told us. While some might have their own preconceived notions about how creative types *really* spend their days, Rayamajhi  is proof positive that it’s all about shaping your time around what matters most—with a healthy dose of that New York City grind, of course. Here’s how she does it.

 



Arpana finds it helpful to break up her day with frequent strolls “because it gives me time to think. A lot of ideas come about that way,” she explained to us. Of course, the ideal location of her Union Square Park–adjacent apartment makes that easy. “I love the West Village and its quaint little streets with quaint little shops.” And there’s no better spot for a midday brain break than the dreamy VSF—that would be the aptly named Very Special Flowers. “It’s this boutique flower shop. They’re very attentive towards the aesthetic—the flowers, color scheme, and even the foliage, the greens—it’s all considered,” Arpana described as she admired a few seasonal arrangements. “With flowers, because it’s something from nature, it becomes more about curating.”

As for the perfect look for daytime exploration? We like the sleek, polished feel of a suede shirt dress, like this whiskey-hued one from Polo Ralph Lauren, paired with their Lennox Saddle bag for a monochromatic feel. Add a pair of chocolate-y boots with gold statement buckles and a smattering of personal gold statement jewelry, as seen on Arpana. Minimal effort, maximum impact.

 

 


One of the more fascinating highlights of Arpana’s routine? Her love of late, solo lunches—and dining alone, in general. “I have a habit of taking a really long lunch break. Maybe two days out of the week I’ll eat lunch with my husband, but apart from that, I like to eat by myself.” While the act itself is simple enough, and the line of thought that makes it so strikingly old-school, it’s probably the number one thing we’ve made a mental note of to replicate in our own day-to-day. It doesn’t hurt that Arpana makes it sound incredibly appealing: “I get to process a lot of things that are going on in my mind, whether it’s something that I’ve read, or something that I’ve been thinking about relating to my work.”

And where better for the occasion than Sant Ambroeus’, the idyllic West Village restaurant? Arpana describes it as the “kind of place I could pop in, have a nice glass of rosé, a dessert with a friend and be very satisfied with just that.” Seconded. It also happens to be the perfect backdrop for the Lennox Saddle bag in black. “I could see myself wearing that anytime during the day. I could wear it out in the afternoon if I go out, or at night to dinner,” Arpana chimed in over classic spaghetti al pomodoro.

 

 


The potential for distractions gone awry in a home-slash-work space is high, but Arpana makes it work with her lofty living room office space. A cozy cool denim-on-denim ensemble (covered in a smattering of graphic patches) only helps. “I’m really, really into patches. It makes me think of when I was a teenager, only a little more sophisticated for now.” After lunch, she’ll “start working around 3 or 4,” but she’s no stranger to having to set boundaries. “The separation of work and leisure can be pretty difficult. I don’t know when to take time off! I can just stay and work for 14 hours.” But she makes it work by letting herself prioritize research and inspiration. “Creativity is a strange thing. I think you can only really be productive if you yourself are inspired. In order to do that, you kind of just go with things as they come.” Amen.

 

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