Jewellery Designing as a Career
Jewellery designing has come out of the closet: It is no longer a cloistered trade carried out by semi-literate goldsmiths in family vaults, passed down like a well-kept secret from generation to generation. Instead, thanks to the advances in technology, it has landed on the drawing board with some firms even using computer-aided designs to create exquisite pieces in virtual reality.
Along with the technological finesse has come a paradigm shift: Jewellery is no longer purchased with only the intrinsic value of gold in mind. The working woman wants trendy and functional trinkets, which can be worn at office, at home and on outings. Says Manikchand, who has been associated with his family jewellery business for two decades, The needs of the working women have largely influenced the worldwide trend in jewellery. On the one hand, a working woman wants to make a fashion statement and, on the other hand, she wants trinkets for regular wear. That in turn has spawned a lifestyle industry and demand for jewellery designers.
There are several institutes offering long-term, short-term and distance learning courses in jewellery designing. Here, the students not only hone their designing skills, but also learn to use a jewelers tools and pick up rudimentary skills like casting, stone cutting, engraving and polishing. They also learn special skills like electroplating, metal colouring, anodising, enamelling, stone setting and silversmithing.
Says B.K. Narula, the man behind the Jewellery Design & Technology Institute, Noida, Despite the technological changes, I stay wedded to the belief that a good designer is one who grasps the fundamentals of manufacturing. Most designers begin their careers as apprentices in jewellery showrooms or in their family businesses; the duration of apprenticeship may depend on their line of specialisation and the nature of appointment.At the entry level, the apprentices are only designing products for the mass market but later they graduate to customised jewellery. Once they have evolved their inimitable style, some like Naina Balsavar Ahmed, former Miss Femina, start their own retail business. Naina, who often falls in love with most of her own creations, operates from an upmarket store in Delhi. Her pieces can cost anything between Rs 600 and a couple of lakhs.
