"I HAVE ENOUGH JEWELLERY" - SAID NO WOMAN EVER

With more and more unconventional career options coming up, jewellery designing is emerging as a promising option too.

Being in India, jewellery is more than just embellishments to us. It is indicative of the culture, family traditions, and lineal prosperity. From grand celebrations to investments, jewellery is a thumbs up for all. you’ll find yourself even more interested, if you have an artistic flair yourself.

But have you ever felt that you are more than just fascinated by the glittery pieces? Ever wondered to pursue a career in jewellery design, create these marvellous pieces of art and knowing and what the job requires? Keep reading to find out!

So what is jewellery designing and how does it work ?

Every piece of jewellery tells a story, but only some manage to stand out and keep the beholders awestruck for eternity. The amount of patience and expertise required to bring these star-studded ornaments into existence is reflected by the impression it leaves on our hearts and in history. This exorbitant art of designing and creating jewellery is known as jewellery designing. This is one of civilization's earliest forms of decoration, dating back at least 7,000 years to the oldest known human societies in Mesopotamia and Egypt.

In 1837, Charles Lewis Tiffany founded the immensely luxurious Tiffany & Co., introducing forefront jewellery making in the United States. Meanwhile, Pierre Cartier founded Cartier SA in 1847, France and Bulgari in 1884, Italy. These three jewellers remain the top and most notable fine jewellers in the world today.

Why jewellery designing is more than just creating jewellery?

Jewellery designing is a vast and ever evolving subject, the more you create, the better it gets and so does the expertise. Designing jewellery is arguably one of the most creative ways to express your inner artist. Since forever, jewellery designing was deemed to be an art of great repute, as it not only includes creating jewels, rather, it involves a whole lot of putting one’s imagination, embedding stories, thoughts, ideas, symbols and the life back then in some frail strings of jewels.

Previously, jewellery designing was restricted to only a few skilled people. Being a highly skilled profession, it was perpetual, i.e. passed on from one generation to the successive ones. They not only passed on the profession, but all the unique styles and techniques coming down from their forefathers. So, the skill was mostly a monopoly in the earlier times making it a thriving family business.

With the coming of a whole new era and people taking up unconventional jobs and breaking away from stereotypes, jewellery designing has grown into a field that can land you in promising careers.

Jewellery designing: A historic overview

Did you know that in the Victorian era, there was a different style of jewellery to be worn during mourning or a funeral? called the mourning jewellery! (now that’s one way to make a statement) It is well said that jewellery takes peoples’ mind of your wrinkles, thus the ladies of the crown made sure they wore their best pieces even on their deathbeds. It was common in almost all the empires and kingdoms on the planet that the favourite queen had more and bigger jewels and was bestowed with riches as a token of love and status by their ruling partners.

Evolution of jewellery designing in India

The Mughals introduced the norm of wearing heavy and luxurious pieces of jewellery in the 16th century. Emperors & notable officials wore pieces set with colossal stones set in complex designs while presiding over official functions. Two distinct styles were blended to give rise to the subtle artistry and fine craftsmanship with Marital unions between Mughals and Rajputs of Rajasthan in the North Western Frontier, which has demarcated Indian jewellery ever since. Rajasthan then gained repute as one of the finest jewellery making hub, and being home to some of the eloquent designs such as Jali work and Kundan work, which still continue to rule our outfits after adorning the royals throughout history.

India remains to be the Hub of major traditional and culture-indicative jewellery. From the Northern plains to the southern seas, western arid lands to eastern hills, each region has their own culturally distinct jewellery designs perpetuated over centuries and passed over to successive generations of daughters and daughter-in laws. These pieces of beauty carved on precious metals remain to be among the favourites to the present day, and for generations to come.

Why to go for jewellery designing?

The boom in the gems and jewellery industry has brought tremendous lucrative employment opportunities for jewellery designers. one can easily find vacancies in this industry after the successful completion of the course, freelance designing business or setting up personal retail and trading unit are some of the popular fields after jewellery designing. To excel in this field, all you need is a fair sense of design and creative imagination and have the skills to understand latest trends with sound technical knowledge. Jewellery designing in India is one the fastest growing industrial sectors. India is deemed as biggest consumer of gold as it consumes 20% of the world gold consumption with the revenue of $13 billion.

Employment prospects for the professionals are enormous in this field as the Indian gems and jewellery industry provides 1.3 million jobs to people across the country. And what’s more thrilling is the fact the growth in this industry is expected to continue in the coming years. The global fashion industry welcomes professionally qualified jewellery designers from across the globe. There is an unending need for inventive minds that can create designer jewellery and other fashion accessories for fashion shows and for fashion retailing. With a good experience, one can find a rewarding job in an international jewellery export house or a jewellery designing firm.

Future prospects in the field

Colleges in India

- Inture prospects in jewellery designing dian Institute of Gems and Jewellery Location: New Delhi and Mumbai

- Gemmological Institute of India Location: Mumbai

- Pearl Academy of Fashion Location: Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai and Noida

- ARCH Academy of Design Location: Jaipur

Top Recruiters for Jewellery Design

Here are some top employers that hire fresh graduates for Jewellery Designer career options:

- Tanishq by Tata Group

- TBZ - Tribhovandas Bhimji Zaveri Ltd.

- Malabar Gold and Diamonds

- Kalyan Jewellers

- Joyalukkas

- Amrapali Jewels

- PC Chandra Jewellers

- Orra Jewellery - Myntra

- Gitanjali Jewellers

A rewarding career

As compared to yesteryears, jewellery designing is flourishing as a profession. The career path is highly gratifying, especially for people with an enthusiasm towards designing. Today jewellery has become a fashion statement, giving jewellery designing a wider scope and growth prospects.

Jewellery designing has become an ally of the fashion world too. Today, ensembles are designed keeping specific types of jewellery in mind. Many fashion and jewellery designers work together closely to create stunning pieces of ornaments.

Working as a fashion jewellery designer has a lot to offer. Designing jewellery for shows, parties and red-carpet events is something that a jewellery designer can look forward to do in such a scope.

Jewellery Design Job Opportunities

Candidates are expected to design and make striking jewellery pieces that are in sync with the market trend after pursuing a course in jewellery design. Some prevalent job profiles that candidates can pursue on completing a jewellery design course are :

- Jewellery Designer: In this job profile individuals use different material such as precious metal, crystals and gemstones in order to create jewellery as well as accessories. The process of jewellery designing includes creating a technical sketch and then convert it into a model using computer-aided design (CAD) software. Amer this, the stones for making this jewellery piece are decided. Thereafter, a 3D-printed prototype is made and finally basis this prototype the jewellery is made by performing tasks such as metal-casting, stone-setting, engraving and enamelling.

- Gemologist: Studying different aspects of gems as well as stones and determining their quality, genuineness and value constitutes the work of a gemologist.

- Jewellery Consultant: People working under this job profile assist clients/customers in selecting jewellery as per their preference, requirement and budget.

So, now that you know a great deal about this not so common but immensely creative and exciting profession, you might actually be ready to explore if this is a field for you. We’ll come back again next month with another exciting career option in the fashion industry.

- Kartik Singh