There is a gradual movement in the jewellery industry towards multi-brand retail. Top brands are exploring new opportunities to expand their label in and outside their country of origin, even if it means having a dedicated space within another jewellery or lifestyle store. Ruani Jewellery Collective, founded by Varuna D Jani, is a big step in this direction.
Shop-in-shops are a great way to tap new clients without the heavy investment of launching your own brick-and-mortar store.
Launched in October 2021, it is the first multi-designer store dedicated to fine jewellery in Mumbai founded by jewellery designer Varuna D Jani and jewellery industry veteran Divyesh Shah.
The store is a statement, transporting you to a bejewelled wonderland. The lighting and décor are theatrical with the sole aim of shining the spotlight on the unique jewellery by top designers from India and the world.
A self-taught designer and the daughter of Ramchand Popley of Popley Diamond & Gold Plaza Pvt. Ltd, Jani has carved a niche for herself in the jewellery industry. In 2021, she decided to go above and beyond her own brand and launched the House of Varuna D Jani which Ruani Jewellery Collective is a part of.
Varuna talks about her new venture and on pioneering the spirit of collective collaboration.
How did you decide to launch a multi-designer boutique dedicated to fine jewellery?
I have been a part of the jewellery industry for more than a decade. I know that brands need distribution for expansion. In India, jewellery is still a commodity, and you cannot charge a premium. As an independent designer if you don’t have a premium or a large turnover, it gets very difficult to sustain a business.
Moreover, there is no common platform for jewellery designers in India. I thought that if nobody is giving us an opportunity, let’s make an opportunity for ourselves. I had created the goodwill that was required for starting a multi-designer platform by running my own brand for the last 12 years.
So, I moved from Varuna D Jani to the House of Varuna D Jani. Ruani falls under this new venture. We have several designers. There are pieces from all kinds of genres under one roof – Indian and international. Our aim to is to educate and offer curated jewellery designs.
How has the response been so far?
We opened on 7th October 2021 with a big buzz. Slowly and steadily, people are coming to us. They are fascinated with the different genres of jewellery available at the showroom because each designer has a signature style which you won’t see in other stores. It is more about celebrating design. Most of our products are in the Rs. 1 lakh to Rs. 8 lakh price bracket. We also have pieces above Rs. 8 lakh.
We cater to different price points and have something for every customer — classic pieces, showstopper jewellery, gem-laden lines or diamond and gold collections. Our designers’ jewellery styles don’t overlap.
We are a total of 14 designers. We have Anabella Chan from London, Marie Mas from Paris, and Mike Joseph from Bangkok on the international front. We have on board Sonal Sawansukha and Tallin from Jaipur, Suhani Pittie from Hyderabad, Aditi Amin from Ahmedabad, Latika Khanna from Delhi, Sankesh Surana from Bengaluru, Chhaya Jain and Shachee from Mumbai, and our in-house stylist Trisha apart from myself.
Do you plan to add more designers to the collective this year?
We are looking at a pop-up format so that we can have a rotation of designers every six months.
Do you think shop-in-shop retail is the way forward for the industry?
I think collective is the new way. We are moving away from competition among women to collaboration. I always believe that if one woman rises, every woman will rise. Collective is the call of the hour. We need to change this bias of competition to collective effort.
I believe in the self-reliance movement, and I am dedicated to women empowerment. I have founded the Very Own Wish (VOW) Foundation so that a certain amount of money from jewellery sales from the Collective will go towards woman empowerment. I am in the process of tying-up with NGOs to facilitate skill development of less fortunate women. Another angle we are looking at is retail labs with jewellery designers under one roof. We will reveal more details in April around Akshaya Tritiya.