The idea behind buying a beautiful piece of jewellery is to make heads swivel in your direction. But as you sashay in to a soiree, wearing your latest necklace, imagine the disappointment when you find two others wearing a similar piece.

Jewellery bought off the shelf will not make the cut when you are looking for something extra special to gift, either.

The solution — try personalised jewellery that lends a personal, inimitable touch. Shoppers, especially the young, are increasingly going in for such jewellery rather than settling for pre-created designs.

3-D images Take the case of Sriraj Varada who was looking for a gift for his mother. “We are a large business family of 23 people in Andhra Pradesh. My father was the head of the family and a year ago he died in an accident. I wanted to capture his memories in a personal way”, he says.

He found Augrav.com , an online jewellery store that makes 3D replicas of a person from photos. All you need are a few pictures taken at different angles to create a three dimensional image. A virtual model is then created and refined based on the buyer’s feedback.

This is ‘printed’ in a 3D printer to make a mould that is used to form a replica in gold.

“The gold pendant that I got was quite close to how my father looked in person”, says Varada.

Since wearing a pendant moulded like their dear ones might not be to everyone’s liking, some like to add a touch of fantasy to it. For instance, a child might be animated as a fairy or a mermaid.

“Our buyers are typically young folks looking for gifts to celebrate special occasions such as birthdays”, says Vivek Krishna, Founder, Augrav.com .

Besides 3-D images, you can also have your fingerprint embossed on jewellery. If you would rather stick with photos, you can now engrave them in gold.

Recall old movies where a long-lost child is identified, thanks to a locket that has the baby’s photo in it?

Well, the twist now is that the photo can be laser printed on a gold pendant.

You can get this done by sharing a picture that you want printed. A software tool creates a model of how the pendant will look like. You can alter the shape, design and size until you are satisfied with the appearance.

After your approval, it usually takes just a week to get your picture pendant.

“This is a popular gift for Valentine’s day. Some buyers also engrave names, initials or a message”, says Siddharth Kapoor, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Product Management at CaratLane, an online jeweller.

Create new designs But memories need not be in pictures alone and can be in a jewellery design.

For instance, you might have fond memories of gazing at your grandma’s ruby pendant as you lay with your head on her lap, listening to your favourite story.

Recreating that ruby pendant is easy enough now with the personal jewellery creation tools at your disposal.

“Jewellery is something very individual and has a sentimental value attached to it. Customisation adds that touch of emotion and perfection. That is why I wanted my own design”, says Anita Kishore, a business consultant who crafted her own jewellery through Bluestone, an online jeweller.

To do this, you start by sharing the design you have in mind through photos or drawings.

A virtual model is created based on your inputs and the jeweller updates you at every stage by sharing the images.

This helps you and your family and friends to visualise the design and suggest changes. You are free to do as many iterations as you wish until you are satisfied. You get to talk to the jewel designer directly and get feedback on what is doable to arrive at the final design.

Customising designs Also, thanks to a model being created, it is easy to predict how many pieces of diamond or other precious stones will be needed and how much gold will be used in the design.

What if you like a bracelet with two snakes inter-twined with each other, but would prefer to have the eyes of the snakes replaced with sapphires instead of diamonds? This can be quite easily managed online as jewellers can let you play with the building blocks — gold type, stone size, cut and colour — to create a piece.

“Customers can choose a design, pick 14, 18 or 24 carat gold, change diamond quality and customise the type of stone such as ruby, emerald and sapphire” says Gaurav Singh Kushwaha, Founder of BlueStone.com .

You can also try combinations of various chain and pendant designs and personalise it by adding initials to create unique jewellery.

And thanks to quick visual feedback on how it looks, you feel confident trying these variations before placing the order.

“I wanted to change the type of gold and the size and clarity of the diamond in the jewellery. It was very straightforward to do”, says Laltendu Mishra, a CaratLane customer.

Good service So what does making custom jewellery cost you?

The best part is that the design process is absolutely free and you are charged for the material and making charges.

And what if, after all the trouble taken, you don’t like the end product for some reason and want to return it?

Jewellers say they can take back the jewel within the normal return period, which is typically 30 days.

Related Topics