An exquisite art- jewellery making

Preetha Shankar

Fashion jewellery, consisting of trinkets and baubles are all the rage among the masses of women because they are cheaper, colourful and more customized as compared to precious metal jewellery. And now, there are a number of women entrepreneurs who have attuned to the trend and have turned the art form of jewellery making into a profession.

Varshini S, a college student runs the online-based Switch On store selling funky jewellery. This 20-year old found an opportunity in turning her love for jewellery into a profession, “Initially, I started making jewellery for myself and used to gift them to my friends. When I knew that people started liking my designs, and through good support from family and friends, I thought I should explore more, and thus I started Switch On.” Pooja uses Facebook as the platform for her business and sells customized jewellery, from funky glass bottle charm necklaces to Monster Lock Charms and seems to have a major customer base among the younger population. On the popularity of the art form in Chennai, she says, “I think it is very popular now and it is because everybody likes to dress up and wear something or the other that goes with their outfit. This could mean a simple chain, a ring or any elaborate ones and hence, there are a lot of options to work on.”

Kaagitham, run by Janani Balasubramanian is a 2-month old online handmade jewellery store on Facebook. Janani has always had an interest in the intricacies of the jewellery making art, “My interest in the art dates back to my college days when I had taken a course for Kundan jewellery. I started Kaagitham after stalling my previous job, where I took a break from working and saw a lot of blogs and videos on jewellery making. I started by making paper jewellery and giving it to friends. With demand, people started ordering from abroad like those in U.S and Dubai and I created a Facebook page.” Kaagitham specializes in selling paper, polymer clay and crochet jewellery. On obtaining resources for the jewellery making, she says, “Quilled paper is easy to get. But the quality and shades of colours are difficult to obtain because of the consistency. I used to order online, but colour matching became problematic. Polymer clay is expensive in India, as here you get it in blocks and only in 7-8 colours.” Though she is based in Bangalore, she says her customer base is mostly in Chennai. Janani feels that there is scope for jewellery making to thrive as a business in Chennai, “A few advantages to making jewellery is that they can be custom-made, and when you make huge paper jewellery, it is weightless yet sturdy in feel, and it is not expensive. But good marketing and word of mouth will only help in carrying it forward.”

Kavitha Balakrishnan has a vision, and it is for women to take up jewellery making as she sees them as being very able. Her pet project, MYIDentity for Women serves this very vision, where she seeks to train women and provide a platform for entrepreneurship where they can sell their products. Kavitha, a former IT person from Bangalore, has been trained in professional silver jewellery making in Mumbai, and also trains women in making paper, clay polymer and terracotta jewellery. She says, “Any woman with creativity and passion can dabble in jewellery making.” She has been training women with an entrepreneurial streak for five years now, by conducting classes during the weekend and through workshops. She says, “Jewellery making is pretty popular in Chennai. Currently, I am conducting a workshop on terracotta jewellery and I see a great turnout. The youngest student I have is a 12-year old girl!” She says that age is no bar when it comes to learning this art, and even 65-year old women are interested. Musing on the scope of jewellery making in the city, she says, “There are no women who become silver smiths and gold smiths here. Silver jewellery making actually is lucrative and can be done from home. Women have great scope in jewellery designing, but the problem lies in effective marketing. Hence, MYID aims at providing a platform for women entrepreneurs who train under me to showcase their business.”  

With such passion for jewellery making, one fact that has come to light is that age is no bar for entrepreneurship, and it is a worthwhile business to take up. As Pooja put it, “Anything done with passion is sure to have a major scope. The more you explore, more the ideas you get.”