Speakers

Paola De Luca Founder, The Futurist Ltd

In partnership with Italy’s Vicenza Fair, organiser of one of the world’s leading international jewellery trade fairs, Paola co-founded TRENDVISION Jewellery + Forecasting, an independent observatory focusing on trend forecasting for the jewellery industry. Starting her career in New York in in 1989, she landed her first job as a designer for FendiJewellery and Watches.

She later collaborated with leading luxury brands, such as Salvatore Ferragamo, Harry Winston, and Swarovski.

Paola was Creative Director in New York, for Italy-based jewellery house Uno aErre, for the international market for 10 years.

In 2002, in partnership with CRU Group of London, she established TJF Group Ltd.

For a decade, TJF Group focused on research and forecasting, launching the unique “TJF Trend book”, which became the world’s first and most authoritative jewellery trends publication.

In 2012 Paola, in association with Vicenza Fair and its Managing Director, CorradoFacco, started TRENDVISION Jewellery + Forecasting. As Creative Director she leads research and design projects, educational programmes for buyers, designers and manufacturers; and coordinates think tanks and trends-focused projects, in Italy and abroad.

Paola is a professor at the European Institute of Design in Florence.

Viren Bhagat

Meet VirenBhagat – Mumbai’s most stylish and elusive jewellerymaker. His magical collections are a perfect blend of rich Indian heritage with modern European aesthetics.

Viren`s journey of jewelry making started from Lathi, a tiny village on the western coast of India, almost a century ago. Fourth-generation jewelers Viren, along with his dad and two brothers Bharat and Rajan started creating one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces that combined contemporary western styles with Indian influences. But it is his endeavors in art deco experimentation, fused with traditional motifs that captivated the sophisticated tastes of the global elite. In the late 1990s, he started doing private exhibitions with Scavia and Fred Leighton. Soon Christies beckoned and a relationship with them blossomed. Now a regular at their house, Viren seems to have come a long way.

Every year, he crafts about 50-60 masterpieces of wearable art which are sought by jewelry aficionados worldwide through global auction houses. In the U.S., his creations are only sold through auction at Christies.

Farah Khan-Ali

Farah Khan-Ali is a renowned jewellery designer and Gemologist who graduated in 1993 from the renowned Gemological Institute of America. Farah’s tales of inspiration, and craftsmanship are narrated within her bejeweled jewellery theatre, and her ‘Farah Khan fine jewellery brand”is a celebration of today’s woman who is feminine yet strong, graceful yet determined. It is about a real woman, one that is sensual in her being and confident in her existence, and a woman who is beautiful inside out.

Recipient and Winner of many Jewellery DesignAwards including the“Outstanding Women Achievers Award”by FICCI in April 2014, The Woman Entrepreneur Award of the year by the Gem & Jewellery Council of India in December 2015, and many others, this year she was featured in the Black Book of Indian Luxury among the Top 100 of Indian luxury’s most influential people.

As Farah says “ I don’t love to design, I live to design and the day I discover myself, I shall cease to exist”.

Her recent collaboration with Tanishq, India’s largest Retail Jewellery store to design and manufacture jewellery under her brand name since the last 2 years has made her a household name all across India.

Internationally the brand is spoken off in elite circles and is recognized among well -known jewellery circles. International Pop star Beyoncé and Tennis star Serena Williams have donned her creations along with many other renowned Hollywood celebrities that adorned her jewellery on the Red carpets of events such as the Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globes etc. Domestically, almost each and every Bollywood Beauty has worn a Farah Khan fine jewel.

All of Farah Khan’s pieces are manufactured in house locally in her 9200 square feet jewellery design workshop in Mumbai that employs 90 craftsmen currently thus maintaining a stringent quality control and check on each and every piece that is manufactured.

In a short span of time, the Farah Khan Fine Jewellery label has become synonymous with setting high standards for style, quality, detailing, design and elegance.

Reena Ahluwalia

Reena Ahluwalia is a Toronto-based, multiple award-winning Canadian jewelry designer and painter. She is a passionate professor, an educator, a speaker, a multi-disciplinarian artist, and a community builder. She is the winner of top national and international awards, including the coveted De Beers Diamonds International Awards, Rio Tinto Diamonds Global Design Competition and Tahitian Pearl Trophy.

She has been recognized as one of the Top 25 Masters of Jewelry Design in Canada. Along with creating jewelry, Reena is a strategy adviser and design consultant to some of the top diamond and jewelry houses worldwide. Her diamond jewelry was featured on a special edition Belgian Postage stamp to celebrate diamonds. Iconic British fashion designer, Alexander McQueen featured Reena’s award-winning diamond piece in his S/S 2000 collection debut in New York. She was invited by the Legislative Assembly of Ontario, Canada to design a diamond setting for the first two mined diamonds from the Canadian province of Ontario, set in the historic Mace of Ontario. Rio Tinto Diamonds entrusted Reena with creating an inaugural collection with the very first diamonds of the Bunder Mine, located in Madhya Pradesh, India. Reena designed a Diamond Tiara for Kate Middleton, a tribute to the British royal wedding, using Royal Asscher cut diamonds.

Ishu Datwani

IshuDatwani is the founder of Anmol Jewellers. He established this celebrated jewellery brand in 1986. His journey with jewels and gems started when he successfully pursued a course at the gemmological institute whilst in college as a student of commerce. Soon after, Ishu started soliciting business while still studying.

IshuDatwani is a first generation jeweller and made headway into the jewellery business with a firm resolve to create a brand to reckon with. He had no Godfathers or advisors: all that he had was a heart filled with hope and a determined mind set. The rest, as they say, is history.

From humble beginnings 29 years ago, today, Anmol Jewellers is counted among India's finest and most revered jewellery brands. The future is full of dazzling designs and countless creations. IshuDatwani's passion is the premier driving force behind Anmol Jewellers.

Revathi Kant

Revathi Kant is the Associate Vice President, Design, Innovation & Development, at Titan Company Ltd. She has been with Titan for the last 25 years. She started her career as a market researcher then moved on to head best headphones under $100 marketing for West Asia and African region for 10 years. After successfully leading the Titan Design Studio for 5 years, she is now relishing the challenge of taking Jewellery into the future.

Tanishq Design Studio is focused on creating differentiated products paying close attention to details & has set a benchmark in the world of jewelry, and has been widely influential in defining fashion and introducing the concept of branding in the jewelry industry over the course of its evolution with milestone collections and signature style.As the Design & Innovation head, she ensures that an innovative and creative work culture prevails in the studio. The Design Studio is a testimonial to the creative and innovative spirit of Titan Company and is a cross-disciplinary amalgam of some of the most respected and skilled designers from across the country.

Revathi spends a great deal of time on consumer research, trying to get a feel of the customers' pulse and to understand fashion trends and derive key insights. Integrating Design in business is her key area of focus.

Her special areas of interest are people and their behaviour, metaphysics, spirituality and alternate healing. This has helped her to look at things in a holistic manner and to apply it to her everyday professional life — giving her direction to come up with solutions to various problems.

SACHIN JAIN

Sachin Jain is part of Forevermark, the diamond brand from the De Beers Group of Companies. At Forevermark, Sachin effortlessly juggles between multiple responsibilities whilst directing the business affairs of the brand; having joined the company as the Head of Retail in 2010, he was swiftly promoted to Managing Director in 2011 and President in 2013.

Sachin is a passionate business driver whose clarity of vision has carried various companies through rapid and abiding growth. He has a career spanning 16 years at luxury goods and retail companies, but profoundly driven by his love for building businesses, teamwork and creating lasting relationships, Sachin considers himself an entrepreneur at heart.

Sachin likes to believe he has been fortunate to be given the opportunity to work during the formative years of iconic global brands looking to create a footprint in India. He has spearheaded the business in various industries across retail, fashion, lifestyle and luxury having worked with iconic organizations like United Colors of Bentton, Swatch Group (Tissot), Llardo before joining Forevermark.

Mithun Sacheti Co-Founder & CEO, CaratLane

Named among “The 50 Most Influential Young Indians” and a certified gemologist from the Gemological Institute of America, California (GIA) Mithun Sacheti, co-founder and CEO of CaratLane, has translated his passion for jewelry into making CaratLane India’s largest online jeweller. A certified gemologist from the Gemological Institute of America, California (GIA), TiE felicitated Mithun as the “Next-Gen Entrepreneur of the Year, 2012” and Forbes featured him on their cover in a recent issue.

Coming from a family of 5 generations of jewellers, Mithun recognizes that the shopping habits of Indian women were changing rapidly and believes that jewellery should be for everyday use and not for lockers. His vision of selling solitaires and diamond jewellery over the Internet was shared by Srinivasa Gopalan whose tech wizardry gave wings to the dream. Together, they started CaratLane.com in 2007 and the site went live in 2008. Today Caratlane has 14 stores across the country and a virtual try-on app which is a step ahead in experiencing jewellery.

At CaratLane, Mithun oversees business strategy and is a taskmaster for design innovation and quality of execution. Today, he is charting the course that he believes will liberate jewellery buying and wearing for Indian women by giving them the power to find and choose jewellery for themselves and buy it either online or through an at-home experience or by walking into a CaratLane showroom.

Gautam Banerjee

In the world of jewellery designing, Gautam Banerjee is synonymous with innovative & unconventional creations. Born in Calcutta, this young designer has come through a long way to achieve this distinction in the field of jewellery designing & has been pursuing this art since the last two decades. Gautam believes in the purest form of designs merging both the traditional as well as the occidental styles. His works reflect upon an aesthetic sense of beauty & the most distinct aspect undoubtedly is the authenticity of his designs. Laying the foundation for his reputation as a designer with a difference, Gautam launched his own jewellery label Sumona Jewels Pvt. Ltd. in Mumbai. Sumona Jewels wishes to open a chain of boutiques across the globe enriching the aspirations of the discerning clientele who desire to possess the ultimate in jewellery. However the main emphasis is on the production of designer jewellery wherein every design is unique & crafted exquisitely by Gautam himself. Each piece is manufactured under strict quality control & boasts of excellent craftsmanship. He works in diamonds, colored precious & semi precious stones. Yellow & white gold are chiefly used by him although he loves to experiment with wood, silver, copper & terracotta. He combines traditional skills with innovative designs & one can see a very subtle incorporation of ancient Victorian, Art Nouveau, & Art Deco designs.

With a view to make this industry realize the importance of designers & at the same time to nurture young talents, passionate about his art that he is, he chose to impart his knowledge to others. He now runs his own designing institute – G.B’s Academy of Jewellery Designing. Apart from various centres in Mumbai, classes are also conducted at Surat. Gautam also enjoys the privilege of being a guest lecturer at the S.N.D.T. University’s Jasani Department of Jewellery Designing in Mumbai.

Apart from being a jewellery designer par excellence, Gautam is also a self taught painter. His collection of ninety paintings titled ‘Roots’, where he experimented with splashes of colours, was exhibited in Nehru Centre Art Gallery. His work earned him rave reviews & was well appreciated.

Gautam beieves that every design is an art form & no art form can ever be complete. But his quest for perfection in his art continues & so does his passion to innovate & achieve the impossible.

Laksh Pahuja

Laksh Pahuja was born in Mumbai and is now a name synonymous with unusual jewelry. His designs have been recognized globally and have adorned the beautiful Ladies including Ms. Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova, Aishwarya Rai, Malaika Arora, Bipasha Basu, Pooja Bedi etc. Trained at the prestigious Gemological Institute of America, Gemological Institute of India, Harrow College of Art England, Laksh knows how to put to use his innate ability combining it with his qualification and formal training to create what are known as work of genius in the jewelry world today. Well versed with international trends, He blends his own style and gives each masterpiece its distinct uniqueness even Khaleej Times (Dubai), Jewelry International (London), Afternoon (Mumbai), Bombay Times, DNA Mumbai, Danik Bhaskar, Indian Express Group and numerous others agree on his remarkable collection.

Laksh exuberates creativity and an undying enthusiasm to excel, innovate, and create something that is truly a stunning success. He designs creations in plain gold, cubic zirconia diamonds, studded creations and a lot more.

Laksh’s every creation is truly a magnum opus and has his signature on it. It is a creation, never seen, never heard, never conceived of Laksh draws his Inspiration from nature and creates jewels that leaves you amazed time and time again. His motto has been to craft “unique jewelry” and “unusual pieces”, something that is “one of a kind” and stands out from the contemporary Jewelry crafted today. Laksh has been known to reinvent and innovate with the changing trends in the jewelry industry. He is quick to grasp and understand his client’s requirements and generate breath-taking jewelry that surpasses his client’s expectations. He blends traditional timeless

Themes with contemporary style to create outstanding pieces of ornamentation.

Kapil Hetamsari

Laksh Pahuja was born in Mumbai and is now a name synonymous with unusual jewelry. His designs have been recognized globally and have adorned the beautiful Ladies including Ms. Universe 2005 Natalie Glebova, Aishwarya Rai, Malaika Arora, Bipasha Basu, Pooja Bedi etc. Trained at the prestigious Gemological Institute of America, Gemological Institute of India, Harrow College of Art England, Laksh knows how to put to use his innate ability combining it with his qualification and formal training to create what are known as work of genius in the jewelry world today. Well versed with international trends, He blends his own style and gives each masterpiece its distinct uniqueness even Khaleej Times (Dubai), Jewelry International (London), Afternoon (Mumbai), Bombay Times, DNA Mumbai, Danik Bhaskar, Indian Express Group and numerous others agree on his remarkable collection.

Laksh exuberates creativity and an undying enthusiasm to excel, innovate, and create something that is truly a stunning success. He designs creations in plain gold, cubic zirconia diamonds, studded creations and a lot more.

Laksh’s every creation is truly a magnum opus and has his signature on it. It is a creation, never seen, never heard, never conceived of Laksh draws his Inspiration from nature and creates jewels that leaves you amazed time and time again. His motto has been to craft “unique jewelry” and “unusual pieces”, something that is “one of a kind” and stands out from the contemporary Jewelry crafted today. Laksh has been known to reinvent and innovate with the changing trends in the jewelry industry. He is quick to grasp and understand his client’s requirements and generate breath-taking jewelry that surpasses his client’s expectations. He blends traditional timeless

Themes with contemporary style to create outstanding pieces of ornamentation.

Manreet Deol

Manifest Design’s Co-founder and Creative Director, ManreetDeol is a product designer whose love for jewelry took hold in early childhood while she fashioned pieces out of seeds and recycled bits of wire for her friends!After an expansive career in New York and New Delhi, designing for several luxury tabletop companies, Manreet now lives and works in the charming French Colonial town of Pondicherry in south India.

Established in the fall of 2013, Manifest Design is the dream project of siblings Manreet&SamraatDeol that has been many years in the making.They set out to create a company that would make authentic meaningful Design that was committed to revitalizing the traditional metalsmithing traditions of India through the creation of their contemporary Accessories.

“Everyday Wearable Art’ is the guiding style mantra behind these gorgeous handmade ornaments whose inspirations are varied and eccentric.Manifest Design creates timeless pieces that are thoughtfully handcrafted and possess a soul that transcends style and cultural boundaries.

PALLAVI DUDEJA FOLEY

Creative visionary is a word synonymous with Pallavi, one of India’s leading jewellery designers, who is known for her innovation of avant-garde jewellery pieces. She graduated as an accessories designer from the National Institute of Fashion Technology in New Delhi in 2000, and then worked for nine and a half years for Tanishq. Today, she creates her hand-crafted sculptural jewels, in rich 18 carat gold, in her studio and boutique in Bangalore. Apart from having her own jewellery boutique, she also works as a design consultant to many Indian and International jewellery brands.

Pallavi’s foray into jewellery design is much like an artist’s journey, which is how she looks at it. One look at each of her designs tells us that her mind travels a road of rediscovery to use traditional Indian jewellery making techniques very differently while pushing the envelope of design.

She was awarded as “The Best Designer”, instituted by the South India Jewellery Show (SIJS-South India jewellery show) 2011. She was recently called the Elsa Peretti of the new generation in the recent edition of Harper’s Bazaar, where World Gold Council had picked the Hottest talents to know. Not only this but in September 2011, she was on the cover page of India today, as ‘a game changer’, where she was a part of the 35 young achievers who broke the rules and made a difference.

Some of the most well known names in Bollywood have worn her jewels and sashayed the ramp in her jewellery, making way for new trends. She showcases her collections at the Lakme Fashion weeks and IIJW shows, which are looked forward to by the media and the industry, for avantgard new trend directions.

Vaishali Banerjee, Country Manager, Platinum Guild International, India

Since its inception of Platinum Guild International in 2000, Vaishali has spearheaded the Indian operations for Platinum Guild International with the mandate of developing the platinum jewellery market in India.

Prior to Platinum Guild, Vaishali has worked with leading advertising and marketing companies in India. She has had the opportunity to lead brands across diverse categories and countries within the Indian Sub Continent and the Middle East.

Vaishali comes with a strong experience of market orientation, audience analysis and an understanding of the lifestyle, beauty, luxury categories in India and a passion for jewellery. Under her leadership, PGI India delivers the overall marketing, advertising, trade and business development strategies and programmes to grow the Indian platinum jewellery market.

Vaishali holds a Masters in Economics and a specialization in Advertising and Marketing. She enjoys spending time with her friends and families. An inveterate traveler she enjoys films, theatre and jazz.

Shimul Mehta Vyas

Shimul Mehta Vyas is a design educator involved in the field of design research, practice and training. She has specialized in Accessory Design from the Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T), New York and has been a faculty member at India’s premier design institute, the National of (NID) for the past 20 years. Besides her role as senior faculty, Shimul is currently heading NID’s Outreach Programmes which engages with the craft and social sector in India and abroad. She has been instrumental in establishing the Lifestyle Accessory Design department at NID in 2002 which also deals with Jewellery Design as one of the important areas of the discipline.

Shimul has extensively engaged with the Indian jewellery industry for over a decade now. She has worked closely with the Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council and has spearheaded several important projects undertaken by NID under the aegis of GJEPC.

Shimul has immense faith in the power of design and the way design can help in elevating the Indian jewellery sector to the next level. Her areas of professional interest are craft design, design of fashion and space accessories, research on traditional jewellery, creative material explorations, consumer research and trend mapping.

ANIL BHARWANI

ANIL S. BHARWANI , partner of Seth Sunderdas& Sons, Mumbai, prefers to let his work do the talking. He is known for his colourful, high-end collections. Bharwani invests a lot of time and patience in researching the techniques and textures to make distinctive handcrafted jewellery. Over the years, hehas developed a typical identity, a defined character that is seen in every piece that he makes. Every single piece is a collection in itself – it is theme-based. I like to always follow his heart. Generally, he seeks inspiration from Art Nouveau or Art Deco forms, but also gets drawn to unusual stones with rare colours to create one-off pieces. Bharwani’s handcrafted pieces have a distinct identity and require patience, research, impeccable craftsmanship to breathe life into them. Apart from the classic rubies, emeralds, Bharwani veers towards tanzanite, pearls, coral, blue topaz, citrine and amethysts in his luxurious and exclusive jewellery creations.

Anaita Shroff Adajania

Anaita Shroff Adajania is an Indian fashion stylist and costume designer. She is the Fashion Director for Vogue India magazine.She started her career as assistant fashion editor with Elle magazine, upon its Indian launch in 1996. Subsequently, she worked with L'Officiel India, before becoming the fashion director at Vogue India.

The owner of the Style Cell company, Adajania has been noted for her design work on several Bollywood films including Dhoom 2, Being Cyrus, Everybody Says I'm Fine!, Love AajKal and Cocktail.She has notably styled all three films in the Dhoom series, starting with Dhoom (2004) where she worked with John Abraham and EshaDeol's look, followed by Dhoom 2 (2006) wherein she worked with Aishwarya Rai Bachchan, Hrithik Roshan and BipashaBasu, then in 2013 edition of the franchise Dhoom 3, she styled Katrina Kaif.

Her designs have also been featured in magazines including Vogue, L'Officiel, Elle and Rolling Stone. Shroff also currently styles actress Deepika Padukone exclusively for all of her events.

Rudrajit Bose

Rudrajit Bose is a Designer, Strategist and Educator who led one of the earliest trend forecasting cell initiatives set up by the GJEPC in 2004. An alumnus of NIFT and the Gemological Institute of America (Carlsbad), Rudrajitis amanaging partner in an award winning multi-disciplinary design firm Atelier Anonyme(www.anonyme.in) active in the design fields of Architecture,Jewelley, Graphics,IT and exhibitions.He has been the recipient of several National and International jewellery design awards and has more than a decade’s experience as a Foundation Design Instructor at the NIFT and the Pearl Academy.

Atelier Anonyme operates across myriad design fields and scales,from jewellery to the urban planning of universities, furniture, graphics,website design & retail / residential interiors.

Their work spans the Architecture and Design Management of the 286 acre Shiv Nadar University (2013-20),design and executionof the IIJS show (2004-16),Graphic design for the United Nations Climate Initiative and their Corporate and Govt. clients includeBacardi International,HCL,Mahindra Investments& Nehru Memorial Trustamong others.