The Hindu Business Line : Carbon's chemistry

Branded fashion jewellery is a small category. The brand in this segment strives more on the product than the brand name itself, unlike in the luxury brand category, which sells through endorsement.

The Carbon Accessories store in Atria Mall, Mumbai

Invest in jewellery, store it in the bank vault and forget it. Take it out years later, dust it, wear it for that most awaited wedding in the family ... and then put it back in the vault again. Well, not any more. You may have seen your grandma, mom or aunt follow this routine, but all this is slowly changing.

Jewellery is coming out of the safe confines of the `locker' into the wardrobes of everyday living. It sure has become a robust fashion statement.

Riding on this new-age sentiment is fashion jewellery brand Carbon Accessories, which began its affair with the woman's pricey obsession in 1996. At a time when jewellery, especially gold, was still bought for investment, Carbon Accessories stood out with its unique offerings. It felt mere gold was boring; in came jewellery in a blend of precious materials - diamond, titanium, platinum, silicone rubber, steel and even sandalwood.

Carbon brought in a certain aspirational quality to its jewellery, although it claims to be "affordable luxury" with prices averaging Rs 15,000 and climbing all the way up to half a lakh. It may not be a Cartier or Tiffany's but there is a certain amount of snob value attached to it. Explains Mahesh Rao, Managing Director, Carbon Accessories: "We are into making jewellery that is a wardrobe statement and not a vault statement. We make jewellery not for commodity's sake. Carbon is a lifestyle brand, it's an impulse buy."

But any aspirational product has a limited market. A fact Rao is aware of. Although he is not quite sure if he has made the right choice, he is happy with the gamble he made. Resisting temptation to go the mass-market way, Carbon Accessories firmly stood its ground. And now it plans to make the most of the retail upsurge the country is facing today. "The retail wave will change business dimensions in value and volume terms. But branded fashion jewellery is a small category. The brand in this segment thrives more on the product than the brand name itself, unlike in the luxury brand category, which sells through endorsement. For example, a Rolex is valuable no matter how the product looks," says Rao.

Carbon's strengths are its products, experimentation and technology integral parts of its product development, be it the Entrapment collection that blends sandalwood with gold or its Midas touch-inspired Insignia collection using sapphire crystals vapourised with gold to create a thumb impression on the ornament. Geisha, Black Widow (inspired from a female spider) and Cocoon are some of its other creations.

It's all about making the "product speak to you." "We just don't merely sell a pendant, earrings or cuff links sets. We adopt international trends and situations and bring life into our offerings," says Rao.

Jewellery is Carbon's key flagship category, contributing almost 80 per cent of its sales. Recently, the brand enlarged this portfolio to include leather bags, tiepins, cuff links and soon wants to get into writing instruments. Although men's accessories forms a minuscule part of its product range, Carbon wants to address the man aggressively in the days to come.

Rao is optimistic that its products will continue to generate interest among Indian consumers. "The concept has caught on. Our brand imagery will continue, we just need to be in more places. Distribution is a question we have to answer."

Today, Carbon has six exclusive boutiques in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore and Hyderabad and is present in 98 multi-brand outlets. It hopes to ramp up to 40 exclusive stores in 18 months in new places such as Ludhiana, Kolkata, Pune and NCR. "Even a place like Guwahati can feed a brand like Carbon - it's very much a lifestyle city," says Rao.

For the last three years, Carbon has been associated with the Lakme Fashion Week as the category sponsor. "If Carbon has to understand fashion, it has to be associated with such a platform. We also tied up with Italian designer Sanchita Ajjampur to understand fashion as a business," says Rao. Apart from such platforms that lend themselves to what the brand stands for, Rao believes the store is also a place where one can focus on brand building. "Brand building is an intangible subject and has to be done through the experiential method."

Each of Carbon's stores has a story to tell in terms of their look and feel. In Hyderabad, it's all about lateral indifference while in Delhi (Shipra mall) it's the yin-yang concept. In the Atria mall in Mumbai, Carbon has recreated the feel of the city in just 350 sq ft - with skyscrapers, encroachments and a mix of new and old Mumbai.

Even as Carbon looks to adorn the cityscape of India, its ultimate ambition is to be an international brand. Says Rao: "One day you will find Carbon in the world. There is an opportunity for every Indian brand in the world today."

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