Romancing the Stone

Armed with this conviction, Soni translated her ideas into metal and stone, despite the fact she had no professional training in the art. Today, her settings, colours and stones, especially her distinctive mesh effect, are widely imitated. 8216;8216;People say my jewellery has a lot of dimensions. But in my mind, I am looking at usefulness and aesthetics,8217;8217; says the Mumbai-based Soni, who meets clients only by appointment.

If Soni has built up a formidable reputation 8212; her daughter Kriti has won a couple of international awards, thereby enhancing the brand name 8212; Balsavar acknowledges that she is still on the make. 8216;8216;I am doing it for myself and my friends who like my style. It8217;s something that comes very naturally to me,8217;8217; says the former Miss India. Balsavar came in for a certain amount of 8216;oh-no-not-again8217;s when she launched her jewellery line 8212; she has re-invented herself several times over in the public eye since winning the crown 8212; but for a change, the new hobby is making money.

8216;8216;Her jewellery is very versatile, sometimes serious, sometimes funky,8217;8217; gushes friend and patron, socialite Bindu Dalmia. 8216;8216;I tell her what I want and she puts everything together, and the end result is so me.8217;8217; But of course, that is what designer jewellery is all about: each piece is supposed to be customised and exclusive. Not everyone can manage it though: That is why Soni has two distinct lines, haute couture and pret, so to say. Balsavar, too, is looking at maximising the reach of her Mughal-inspired neckpieces, bangles, earrings and teekas: She is all set to open her second store within 11 months of launching her first showroom in collaboration with designer Mandira Wirk at Sainik Farms in New Delhi.

8216;8216;Signature pieces make statements, that8217;s why people go in for designer jewellery,8217;8217; explains Balsavar. Not everyone can afford them, though. To make them slightly more accessible, Saba Ali Khan, daughter of Mansur Ali Khan and Sharmila Tagore, uses a lot of semi-precious stones in her designs. 8216;8216;It8217;s not easy to convince the Indian customer, who is completely sold on gold and precious stones,8217;8217; says Khan, who is just two years in the business, and now contemplating setting up her own corner at an established jewellery store in Sunder Nagar, New Delhi.

A designer corner, in fact, is the way out for many of the new-era jewellery designers, who lack both the establishment of the old-style family goldsmiths and the retail reach of the branded jewellery segment. Kolkata8217;s Sharbari Dutta, perhaps the only jewellery designer in the country to be looking solely at men, recently tied up with a reputed jewellery outlet in the city to retail her wares. 8216;8216;Men8217;s jewellery like buttons, cufflinks, chains, bracelets available at some shops are so insipid, so dull, they don8217;t attract the young men of today,8217;8217; says Dutta, whose first forays in design were limited to extravagant kantha work on menswear. 8216;8216;My designs fill that gap in imagination and masculinity.8217;8217;

Dutta draws inspiration from completely varied sources: American-Indian warriors, Central Asian and Indian tribesmen, African warlords, what have you. Soni, on the other hand, prefers to work 8216;8216;backwards,8217;8217; as she puts it. 8216;8216;If I like a painting, I try to use it in gold. I burn it, heat it, paint it, enamel it, stamp it, whatever,8217;8217; she says. Balsavar likes to incorporate a traditional touch even in her western designs, working with stones, cut and uncut diamonds and 22-carat gold, while Khan strikes a balance by creating nature-inspired designs that can be worn with Indian attire and western outfits.

Roopa Vohra, on the other hand, is very clear that she designs jewellery with a purpose: To revive the Mughal art of Thewa, gilting glass on gold. 8216;8216;I am trying to take Thewa back to its roots by using Mughal motifs, like the ones used on rugs,8217;8217; says Vohra. 8216;8216;But I have moved away from the standard Thewa colours of red, blue and green and am mixing two 8212; say, blue and green 8212; to get eight-nine shades of the basic colours.8217;8217;

For Eighties Baby Doll actress Neelam, jewellery designing was a matter of going back to the roots 8212; her own family roots. With her entire khandaan in the gems business in Hong Kong, jewellery designing was the natural fallback when her screen career began fading away. Her debut show, focusing on 8216;affordable8217; jewellery with popular Burmese rubies, tourmalines, emeralds and peridots, and a few diamonds thrown in, created quite a stir.

Watching indulgently from the sidelines as the chatterati make a beeline for the newest designer jeweller in town are the family jewellers. 8216;8216;People are more experimental nowadays with their jewellery, and designers are actually providing an opportunity to discerning buyers,8217;8217; says Ramji Bharany, whose family owns one of the most respected jewellery stores in New Delhi. But they are not shutting shop, not by a long chance. As Khan points out, 8216;8216;Designer jewellery is not cheap. And even people who buy designer jewellery will not buy it every time they want a new piece. So the traditional jewellers will survive 8212; the consumer will have a choice between the two.8217;8217;

For Soni, though, the large jewellery houses 8216;8216;don8217;t exist.8217;8217; But she acknowledges their power: 8216;8216;My ultimate compliment came from Nirmal Zaveri, who walked up to me at a party, and said, 8216;I like what you do8217;.8217;8217;

The established jewellers, on their part, admit that designer jewellers are expanding the market, while creating awareness of fading traditions. Points out Momin Latif, who works closely with craftsmen in Jaipur and Bikaner, 8216;8216;Some of the designers are doing a very good job. These trends should benefit the workmen.8217;8217;

But obviously, not everyone is into the business for purely altruistic purposes. While none of the frontline designers deign to talk money, estimates of annual turnovers range from Rs 2 crore for Soni to 8216;8216;seven or eight figures8217;8217; for Vohra. Balsavar says she is not even looking at money. 8216;8216;Since I8217;m not in this for my livelihood, I just plough back whatever I earn into the business,8217;8217; she says.

Soni elaborates, 8216;8216;When a customer goes in for designer jewellery he loses out on a few things. One of these is cheap workmanship. And the other is a re-sale value.8217;8217; Most designers agree, though many offer to buy back the gold and precious stones.

Surprisingly though, for many big-time buyers, a designer tag does not make a piece of jewellery worth the expenditure. Many, like Manju Bharat Ram, wife of SRF head Arun Bharat Ram, believes designer jewellery to be 8216;8216;trendy but not my style at all.8217;8217; Herbal cosmetics diva Shahnaz Hussain, too, says she picks up jewellery if they are 8216;8216;unique and different, and does not go by a designer tag.8217;8217; Even Dalmia, notwithstanding her personal relationship with Balsavar, believes that traditional family jewellers will survive because they have 8216;8216;staying power and credibility.8217;8217;

Maybe the happy medium lies with Poonam Soni, who has inducted her talented daughter into the business, thereby ensuring the tradition continues. Or should that be the 8216;innovation8217; continues?

with Namrata Sharma Zakaria and Sabyasachi Bandopadhyay