The two-day Jewellery Design Workshop organised by The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC) and being conducted by Paola De Luca, world renowned jewellery trend forecaster and founder of The Futurist Ltd., being held on October 10-11, 2019, in Mumbai got underway today with an engrossing introductory session covering Curating and Merchandising; and Stories and Storytelling.

The Workshop will carry on to discuss varied related topics such as Visual Brand Identity, Omni-Channel Merchandising, Visual Merchandising, Product Merchandising, Curating for Styling & Editorial, and Brand Journey & Merchandising. On the second day – October 11, 2019 – Kaabia Grewal, Co-Founder, Outhouse Jewellery will also share the story of her brand’s journey.

The audience comprised a set of young persons from students, to  designers employed in large companies, to independent designers to young designer-entrepreneurs. 

Paola’s vibrant talk replete with significant observations and examples on and about the topic was supported with illustrative visuals and video interviews with two international experts imparting their own knowledge and sharing their insights. 

Paola interspersed her talk with audience interaction as well, calling forward participants to ask questions and share experiences. One such was with Sankesh Surana, who has a studio with the same name in Bangalore. Sankesh went on to ask and clarify his mind on real questions before him as he is in the process of developing his brand.  Paola patiently answered all his queries giving her expert opinion on packaging, brand building and merchandising issues. But it was Sankesh’s comments at the end of his interaction that threw the greatest light on how important these sessions are for young and upcoming designers and entrepreneurs. As he thanked Paola, Sankesh said that it was the first workshop conducted by Paola that he had attended that had proved to be the take off point for him. With the knowledge gained and the direction received at the workshop, he found his designs became more popular, he was being invited by brands to create designs for them and his studio took off to the extent that he is now planning to set up another one.

Other participants also reacted enthusiastically and positively about the benefits of attending the workshop and the contribution it makes to their own growth as designers.

The Jewellery Design Workshop is yet another activity started by the GJEPC to give the country’s jewellery industry a design push in order that the India centre becomes the preferred source for design led jewellery – a design hub.

Earlier, Dolly Chowdhary, Director PM&BD of the GJEPC had said in her welcome note: “GJEPC in its constant endeavour to upgrade and upskill jewellery manufacturing from India has been organising a series of design initiatives throughout the year.”

She added: “In order to impart focused training on various aspects of design and trends, GJEPC has initiated the design workshop series, with this being Module 2 with a dedicated focus on creating a distinct identity.”