India's Race To Getting Into The Nuances Of Jewellery Making And Securing A Shining Spot Among Global Luxe Brands
Craftsmanship and technique are India’s strong suits when it comes to jewellery, so much so that it can be considered one of the best in the world. Getting into the nuances of design, innovation, and storytelling is what we need to secure our much-awaited spot in the global luxe market.
Luxury and storytelling are closely tied together. From its palaces to monuments, India is a country brimming with stories. We also have a rich history of arts and handicrafts, with techniques and designs that have been passed down to generations of people. Now, though there is a big segment of jewellery retail in India ranging from Joyalukkas to Tanishq, the jewellery sector is largely scattered in terms of building an experience outside of the product and building value around the art, an aspect on which luxury thrives. Then again, an untapped market if anything is a golden opportunity to make it big and shimmering.
Brand Identity: The Golden Ticket To Luxury Market
For a luxury brand quality is supreme. Each cut and each swipe of polish has to be pure perfection for a piece to be considered luxury. Exclusivity is another important aspect, as luxury brands are slower than their mass-produced counterparts. This procedure gives high value to craftsmanship, and creativity, making innovation viable and even lucrative for the artisans. Innovation becomes a turning point in history, bringing us to our third aspect: storytelling. Storytelling is central to luxury and supremely to jewels because for time immemorial jewellery has been associated with a deep emotional meaning from the expression of love to a valued heirloom passed down to generations. But with the dawn of the modern era of capsule wardrobes and modular jewellery, value-based and meaningful jewellery has become more important than ever before.
The Moment They See Us They Know It’s Us (Niching Up)
India has a remarkable past and present when it comes to technique in jewellery. Each region in India has its own remarkable form of artistry in jewellery. From handmade to machine-made, the stage is set for the most remarkable modern and traditional techniques. But when it comes to design, promotion, and weaving narratives around the designs and their legacy we lag behind. Now, building a narrative isn’t just focused on the product itself or the marketing campaign. Consider Tiffany’s signature ‘little blue box’, or Cartier’s '70s Love bracelet that can only be opened by one’s lover with a special screwdriver, a brand tradition popular to date among the likes of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The enchantment here is not just the quality, but the unique idea that screams, “It’s them,” the moment you see it. Also, there’s no chance of stealing such a USP, because they did it first and possibly nobody would do it better than them for decades.
Creating A Legacy
Take one look at popular quotes around diamonds, and De Beers' ‘Diamonds are forever,’ is perhaps the most popular one. It has been quoted and requoted a zillion times. De Beers single-handedly forged the universally accepted idea of diamonds as a promise of forever love. Or if we go back a little more, the Italian luxe jewellery brand BVLGARI is known for its Italian excellence and exquisite craftsmanship that honours its Roman roots with each motif, a practice that strongly ties the brand with its legacy of silversmithing. The Bulgari generations have formed a unique style of using vibrant colours, balanced volumes, and designs that appeal to the modern era while staying true to their heritage. So even if you look at a piece from a distance you can say it’s BVLGARI. The brand’s Serpenti 75 jewellery and the campaign celebrating its metamorphosis are exemplary of the brand’s way of crafting aspirational designs. The brand’s official website also gives a discover heritage option which gives you the ‘Infinite Tales’ behind the collection, an ode to design that is an ‘emblem of eternal rebirth and bold metamorphosis.’
Building Incentives For Designers And Artisans
Before brands like BVLGARI or Cartier made a place for themselves in the luxe jewellery market, there were people, artisans and designers behind the brands who were given an incentive and opportunity to build something that had never been seen before. The appealing history was written over the years, but it came into being because of a combination of creativity, technique and opportunity. In the Indian context, all else is set, and so is the market. Reliance partnering with Tiffany and Co. to launch its eCommerce platform in the market is proof enough. The need here is to give jewellery artisans the leverage to create slow luxe jewellery, while also paying them worth their art’s while.
The Central Question Of Sourcing
As climate change and ethics have become a central point of discussion in the fashion and jewellery industry, customers are spending an increased amount of time doing their research about the sourcing of the gems and metals, as well as the working conditions of people involved in the process of bringing a jewel from the mine to a jewellery box, so they can invest in the right piece. Jewellery being a hard luxury is a big purchase and a conscious luxury shopper would like to be proud of what they would wear and pass down as an heirloom piece. Although India’s ethical jewellery market is growing with Senco Gold becoming a part of the Responsible Jewellery Council, there’s a lot of scope to grow the ethical jewellery market to align with the goal of building a luxury jewellery brand in India.
Building India’s Global Luxe Jewellery Brand
Independent India might be young, but our legacy is thousands of years old. Although India has several luxury fashion brands foraying into jewellery, we are yet to accomplish the level of global luxe jewellery. The need of the hour is to get into the nuances of design and innovation and put monumental effort into telling the story that is waiting to be told, the story which can make India a shining spot on the map of global luxe jewellery.