The Hindu Business Line : Designer dreams

The gap between Indian jewellery and that produced in other countries has shrunk considerably due to the trained design talent that exists in the country today.

FROM an artist's drawing board to the glitzy jewellery store is a winding and creative journey that all jewellery collections undergo. And it is this fascinating journey that has earned India a distinct reputation in the international gem and jewellery market.

If gem and jewellery exports from the SEEPZ Special Economic Zone are growing at a brisk rate, then one factor that's been driving this growth is the creative inputs that the gem and jewellery units in the zone have been providing. In recent years, the units have imbibed the latest technology, especially the CAD programme, to give shape to these inputs.

Indeed, one of the greatest changes that have taken is in the field of jewellery designing. Over the years, the gap between jewellery from India and that produced in other leading jewellery marketing centres has shrunk considerably, especially due to the trained design talent that exists in India today.

One of the major advantages that the jewellery units at SEEPZ had was that they entered the market at a time when rapid technological changes were taking place on the manufacturing front. Says Mr T.P. Gopalakrishnan, Executive Secretary of the SEEPZ Gems and Jewellery Manufacturers Association: "It thus was easy for these units to start with the latest machinery. For example, deployment of basic CAD technology has revolutionised designing and CAM technology is now being extensively used for model making. These have facilitated not only greater designing freedom, but also precision in model making."

For some large companies, the use of high-end machines has produced encouraging results. For example, with a two-image building prototype machines, some of these companies are now able to produce new designs every month.

Similarly, with the technology advancement, it is now possible to plate jewellery in a range of four to five colours. Invisible settings, which were once the speciality of Bangkok, have now been mastered by SEEPZ craftsmen, and almost every factory here has some production using this highly-skilled setting. In fact, some of the units at SEEPZ have also diversified into manufacturing platinum jewellery for international markets and, industry analysts feel India is likely to emerge as a major player in this market in the next couple of years. Says Mr Prem Kothari, President of Fine Jewellery India Ltd: "We have introduced the new concept of designing jewellery in liquid base; ours is one of only four or five companies in India that uses this about Rs 90-lakh facility for designing."

Fine Jewellery, which produces the Nirvana range of collections, creates some 150 designs a month. "Of course, not all designs are transformed into jewellery. Designing is a vigorous and creative exercise. Besides creating a new design, one should ensure that the design produces the maximum reflection in a diamond to sharpen its sparkle," he points out.

Another unit in the zone, Gemplus, has also earned a reputation in the market for its creative designs. The company, which is one of five or six companies to use Rs 1.5-crore CAM machines for designing, has brought out innovative and creative products, such as a ring-cum-pendant item (it can be worn as a ring or a pendant) and diamond set in polymer. "The main objective of creative designing is to ensure that the diamond gives the best sparkle with the highest total internal reflection," says Mr Sameer H. Shah, Executive Chairman of Gemplus.

Another significant development has been the introduction of the `Hearts and Arrows' pattern by some units at the SEEPZ Special Economic Zone. Designers say all the facets of the hearts and arrows diamond, like the upper girdle, lower girdle and star must be aligned precisely 180 degrees opposite each other, for otherwise the pattern would be incomplete and look distorted.

"To gain this optimum reflection and refraction of light, the cutter must be willing to sacrifice expensive rough diamond material, losing significant percentage of costly rough stone to yield a smaller diamond of superior beauty. This pattern generates light return of an average of 98 per cent, as against 80 per cent generated by an average hearts-and-arrows pattern," says Mr Manhar Bansali, Chairman of Cupid Diamond, one of the first companies in India to bring out such a pattern.

With the units at SEEPZ being increasingly flooded with orders from different countries, more innovative and creative designs are likely to emerge from the zone, enhancing the sparkle of Indian jewellery in the global market.

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