Pankhuri Shah, Marketing Head – Retail, BR Designs Pvt. Ltd., Surat, shares her views on global trends, the latest collections emerging from their manufacturing unit, and her experience at IIJS Virtual.
What according to you are the design directions as we emerge gradually from the pandemic?
Being in quarantine has been a blessing in disguise as it made us collectively realise the power of hope. This is the dominant direction in our new collections. We have created delicate jewellery, personalised charms, hamsa hands and the eternal symbol of hope, the evil eye. To elevate the dreary months of the lockdown, I have added a lot of warm toned enamels to the jewellery. The spirit of breaking out has been beautifully captured in the dancing diamond collection that we have made. For brides, we saw a strong trend of fusion jewellery laced with pearls, diamonds rubies, sapphires and tourmalines coupled with a dash of meenakari.
How was the experience at the first IIJS Virtual Show? Did you meet new buyers? If so, from where?
The IIJS Virtual platform truly gave us the opportunity to go global; we met a lot of new buyers both nationally and internationally representing the different genres of jewellery. We feel this would not have been possible if we had a physical booth; we could harness the benefits of IIJS in the virtual format.
What are your expectations from the second edition of the show?
We always have great expectations from IIJS – be it virtual or physical. This year, too, we are coming up with new, trendsetting designer jewellery, and we are hoping to have a great show!
What’s the theme of the new lines for this edition?
The theme for the new lines of collection for this edition is wearable and affordable designer jewellery. We have focussed on earrings and rings as we feel that they would be the most suited with the postpandemic attire. On the bridal jewellery front, we have taken the fusion route – a combination of Indian and Victorian styles, ensuring that the gold weight of the jewellery piece is remains in check, and focussing on the look. The collection in rose gold with enamelling provides maximum value to our bridal clients as the jewellery is modular.
You have used a lot of coloured stones and pearls along with diamonds this time on. Is that a global trend?
I personally believe that coloured stones and pearls are always in vogue. The trend this year is how they are being used as design elements to accentuate the beauty of a piece. For instance, classics like baroque pearl drop earrings with a trendy twist in gemsetting will never go out of style.
We export to the USA, Europe, the Middle East, China, Hong Kong and Australia. We saw a spike in demand for gemstudded delicate rings, earrings, stackable necklaces, etc.
BR Designs is famous for diamond jewellery. Is the departure to coloured gemstone jewellery deliberate?
Well to be honest, at BR Designs our philosophy is that ‘material is immaterial’, and so we believe in crafting perfect, fine and unrivalled fine jewellery for all categories. We focus a lot on fusion, and we make designer products starting from nose pins, piercings, earrings to high-end fine bridal necklaces, chandelier earrings as well as cocktail rings. We design and manufacture products for B2C, B2B, e-commerce as well as export markets. Being in the industry for more than 3 decades and winning numerous awards have made it possible to deliver across all categories.