Speaking for Bespoke

luxury brands. It is in recognition of this that Zoya,the diamond boutique chain,recently launched its

Bespoke Design Service,where jewellery designer Nisha Naik will assist patrons,have one-on-one chats with them and customise pieces for them.

In India,the concept of ‘bespoke’ is as old as the concept of luxury and almost all reasonably well-to-do families had their own family jewellers and costumiers till a few decades ago. What’s different about the new trend of customisation,says Arif Saleem Padiath,marketing and merchandising manager of Zoya,is that all aspects — from design to execution — are provided for under the same roof. “The ‘family jeweller’ was traditionally a karigar or craftsman; he wouldn’t actually design the jewellery. The customers had to get someone else to do it for them or design it themselves. Similarly,even when it comes to sourcing the gemstones,they would have to rely on another source. With Zoya’s Bespoke Design Service,we’re covering all these things in one go,” he says.

In the increasingly crowded luxury market in India,adding personal touch is becoming the biggest factor that sets individual businesses apart. “There is a new breed of

designers that has emerged. They are extremely sales driven. This inclination can clearly be seen in their collections,as they tend to be very generic,” says Jeaniine Barria,senior buyer at Ensemble,a multi-designer boutique chain that stocks unique merchandise,besides offering personal consultations with top designers. “The very survival and longevity of the luxury industry depends on it,” she adds. However,offering bespoke services in the age of mass production and quickie collections still doesn’t have the cache it deserves. Aeiman Jarwala,who created the bespoke accessories brand A.K.A. Bespoke,along with colleagues Karan Berry and Ateev Anand,says,“The Indian market for shoes and bags works largely on an export format. So breaking into that system as bespoke designers with exclusive limited collections wasn’t easy.

It has been tough making people

understand the work that goes into customised design and the price it thus deserves.”