Fashion
Diamonds are diamonds, they’re different ...
By Nikhil Bhagat

THE "jewellery revolution" launched by the Indian Gold Council in early 1997 is beginning to yield results. For once, the market is responding to modern designs, certain indicators of trends are showing up and above all, gold purchases are booming.

In a recession-hit economy, this would seem unusual. But then, the modern Indian woman is no longer going in for the age-old appeal of yellow gold. Nor is she influenced by the bewitching spell of traditional craftsmanship like kundan work on ornaments.

What has caught on instead is the diamond-structured white gold jewellery. Preference for such pieces is cutting across all age groups, if Valentine’s Day sales and the recent marriage season provided any indication.

Rosy Paul, whose painstakingly designed necklace, Saga of Love has proved a sure winner this season says: "Structured designs studded with diamonds is the latest trend with the contemporary Indian jewellery enthusiasts today".

The "romantic and free-willed spirit" of Goa beaches, she said, inspired her necklace design. It happened one night on a vacation to the seaside resort when the strong currents merging and pushing the soft, slow moving waves caught her attention.

"To me, it was the flow between two elements, a coming together," said Rosy, explaining that the arrays of diamonds on either side of the 18-carat white gold necklace depict two individuals joined by a chord

Among other hot designs of the season are Puja Bhargava’s Fanfare, an interconvertible neckpiece-pendant-brooch, and Raring To Go, a brooch-cum-pendant set in a combination of yellow and white gold.

Significantly, the attitude of jewellers and artisans has undergone a major change in keeping with the designers’ focus on diamonds. Goldsmiths trained in creating intricate designs on the metal have quickly adapted to working around the encrusted stones.

"You’ll be surprised to know that most of the present generation of jewellers and artisans are trained gemologists who understand designing in totality," says Rosy. "It hasn’t taken them long to adjust to diamond-studded stuff."

Puja echoes: "We’ve had artisans juggling with the same motifs since the forties. Anybody would imagine that they would require a certain kind oturningf to orient themselves to handle diamonds all of a sudden. But that has not been the case."

Kanai Das, an elderly goldsmith from Murshidabad (most artisans working in design studios and upmarket jewellers hail from West Bengal), reveals that diamond studded jewellery has reduced their work and increased their output. "Our income has gone up," he points out . And when there is a monetary incentive, there is no craft an artisan will not readily pick up. After all, it requires some minor adjustments in the craft. And the most important fact is that our creativity is not restricted."

Designers like Rosy and Puja concede that design elements are often borrowed from the master craftsman who has the final say in the execution of a piece. Traditional motifs are thus wedded into modern concepts to produce contemporary designs.

Besides, the designers are able to keep a track of trends in clothes. Rosy boasts of a certain clothes designer "piggy-backing on the popularity of Saga of Love" to produce a highly successful line in white silks.

"However, to see diamond-studded jewellery as accessories to specific clothes designs is a bit premature in India," she adds. "The cost factor has to be taken into account. You can accessorise with shoes, hats, belts or bags, but diamonds are diamonds. They are different."

They outlast clothes, forever! (MF)