Jewellery - By design

NIRAV MODI
Luxury today boasts of an Italian or French stamp; there has rarely been an Asian perspective on luxury. I hope to change that with my jewellery, which has diamonds sourced from all over the world, but every piece is made in a workshop in Bombay," says Nirav Modi of his formula for success.

"We are opening eight new stores this year, 30 in all by 2017, and a 100 stores worldwide by 2025," he adds. With the launch of a boutique this year at MGM Macau, one of Asia's most prestigious integrated casino resorts, the man has made the diseeminating of luxury a personal mission statement. He began with a bang in 2010, by becoming the first Indian jeweller to be featured on the cover of the Sotheby's and Christie's auction catalogues. As benchmarks go, it was probably the Gold Standard.

Fiercely possessive of his brand, he micro-manages every detail, from designing to production and visual merchandising. "We want to do things that have not only been never done before but those that are unimaginable," he says. If his patented diamond cuts and Embrace collection, jewellery that stretches like elastic, are anything to go by, he may have a point. It's not just the quality, but the experience that, he feels, distinguishes the best from the rest. All his four boutiques-in London, Macau, Delhi and Mumbai-remain open all seven days of the week.

Raised in Antwerp, the diamond capital of the world, Modi decided to move to India in 1990, when the country had just started manufacturing jewellery for export. He, however, was involved only in diamond manufacturing at the time. Designing came to him much later, quite by chance, at the behest of a friend whom he bumped into at a dinner. The rest, as they say, is history.

So what defines a fine piece of jewellery in the Nirav Modi parlance? The finest of diamonds, distinctive aesthetic, exquisite craftsmanship and minimal metal. It also has to be beautiful and comfortable. Earrings that stretch earlobes, necklaces that choke or bracelets that hamper wrist movement are anathema to his brand.

Available at Nirav Modi, D-33, Defence Colony

GEM PALACE
The mark of an icon is its ability to buck the calendar's expiry date. Gem Palace can lay claim to this-it has been immortalising fine jewellery for over a century-and-a-half.

The jewellery house that traces its roots to the gemstone cutters of the Mughal court now has Indian-inspired Art Deco collections in platinum with an emphasis on the finest precious stones. "We have moved away from extremely heavy jewellery towards fine, intricate pieces where the stone takes centrestage," says Siddharth Kasliwal, the late Munnu Kasliwal's son and ninth generation of the House of Kasliwals. His uncle, Sanjay Kasliwal, elaborates on the aesthetic evolution of the brand: "Our current collections combine white gold with faceted diamonds and semi-precious stones set in 22 carat gold."

While Siddharth has a by-appointment-only salon on the first floor of their flagship store on Mirza Ismail Road in Jaipur, Sanjay works out of the ground floor of the property with elder brother Sudhir and son Samir. The cousins, however, jointly source gems and refer to archival designs for inspiration.

Gem Palace entered European aristocratic circles thanks to the erstwhile Maharani Gayatri Devi's foreign sojourns in the 1940s. Its creations were introduced to the US through an exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, in 2001 where all 60 pieces sold out. Later, exhibitions at Somerset House in London (2006) and the Kennedy Center in Washington DC consolidated its reputation.

Available at The Gem Palace, 348, M.I. Road, Jaipur

AMRAPALI
When time stood still is not just the name of the debut collection that couturier Anamika Khanna and heritage jewellery house Amrapali have come up with, but a design language embodying resplendent bijouterie for the bold Indian consumer. "I'm happy to say that we have reinvented ourselves," says Tarang Arora, 35, creative director and CEO, Amrapali Jewels.

If timeless is one way to describe the Amrapali aesthetic, international is another. With Hollywood A-listers Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, Emma Roberts, Sandra Bullock and Megan Fox as its clients, Amrapali boasts of a remarkable celebrity following. This fairly young brand (founded in 1978) started its roots in the bylanes of the Chameliwala bazaar in Jaipur. Famed for translating a tribal aesthetic into a fashion imperative, the brand is all set to open India's first museum dedicated solely to tribal jewellery in Jaipur this year. Today, 50 per cent of the country's silver exports are from Rajasthan, and Amrapali enjoys a share of the pie.Two friends trading in handicrafts-Rajeev Arora and Rajesh Almira-stumbled on a relatively neglected niche of jewellery, that of tribal women who wear a lot of silver. That was in 1980 when they were following a lead from a fellow trader on the sudden demand for garnet, a semi-precious stone cut in Jaipur. Their avant garde designs have since then translated into fine jewellery. The brand garnered international recognition in 2002, when they were invited to Selfridges for a special promotion-"23-and-a-half days of Bollywood". Although the contract was meant only for 23 days, a full 14 years on, they are still at Selfridges. They were the first Indian brand to be invited to Harrods to be part of their fine jewellery room, in 2011. "We are the point of difference in the fine jewellery market around the world that represents India very strongly," says Arora.

Available at Amrapali, 39/39A, Khan Market, New Delhi

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