Talking Metal
Introduction: More women are moving towards affordable ready-to-wear jewellery, traditional antiques are taking a back seat. 22 carat gold is fast diminishing as it is getting converted to 18 carat gold, to cater to the ever growing fashion conscious market. While silver is popular with the manufacturers because it is easy to test a design, gold is succumbing to modern trends and platinum is holding its ground… Mitali Jariwala, a GIA Diamond Graduate, talks to Puja Goyal for BVT and discusses trends in metal.
Source: Vijay Times, BVT LifeStyle - 4.
Copyright © 2005 Puja Goyal.
Trends in Silver…
Silver as a concept was not looked into as a trend; but now it is picking up. Earlier the trend was that of traditional gold jewellery and now it's all about diamonds. More over 18 carat gold has entered the market in full swing because it is essential that diamonds are set in 18 carat…
Why Silver is more popular in terms of Designing?
Silver is widely used by manufacturers to experiment with design. Silver is way cheaper than gold and designs come in at a much lower cost compared to the same design in gold. What the manufacturers does is; try the design out in silver and then get it made in gold and diamonds. Branding is a concept that has come into India only for the past three years, not too long ago, that has helped silver make a good entry.
Platinum and Gold:
Platinum is much rarer metal than gold, and that’s why it is much more expensive than gold. Lets compare white gold and platinum; if you make a ring in white gold, (white gold is nothing but yellow gold dipped in the colour white), the colour does start coming off after some time, but it can be re-polished. With platinum the colour does not come out, and in terms of long term perspective, platinum is a better bet. The concept of Hallmarking has also been introduced to test the authenticity of metal nowadays which is a good thing…
Metal Trends:
Handmade jewellery has a large market outside India because the craftsmen available here are exceptional. A lot of machine made jewellery is exported from Mumbai, because the labour is cheaper here. Traditional jewellery still has its own place. Unfortunately, antiques are becoming obsolete. Nowadays every piece is 18 carat, and the 22 and 21 carats are disappearing. If you melt an 18 carat then there is hardly anything in it to buy back from so looking at the long term perspective it is good that in south, people are still hanging onto 22 carats. The market in Bangalore is changing faster than any other market in India. We have a lot of global players opening up here. The reason manufacturers have come in with lower carat jewellery is so that you can buy more of it.
Source: Vijay Times, BVT LifeStyle - 4.
Copyright © 2005 Puja Goyal.
Trends in Silver…
Silver as a concept was not looked into as a trend; but now it is picking up. Earlier the trend was that of traditional gold jewellery and now it's all about diamonds. More over 18 carat gold has entered the market in full swing because it is essential that diamonds are set in 18 carat…
Why Silver is more popular in terms of Designing?
Silver is widely used by manufacturers to experiment with design. Silver is way cheaper than gold and designs come in at a much lower cost compared to the same design in gold. What the manufacturers does is; try the design out in silver and then get it made in gold and diamonds. Branding is a concept that has come into India only for the past three years, not too long ago, that has helped silver make a good entry.
Platinum and Gold:
Platinum is much rarer metal than gold, and that’s why it is much more expensive than gold. Lets compare white gold and platinum; if you make a ring in white gold, (white gold is nothing but yellow gold dipped in the colour white), the colour does start coming off after some time, but it can be re-polished. With platinum the colour does not come out, and in terms of long term perspective, platinum is a better bet. The concept of Hallmarking has also been introduced to test the authenticity of metal nowadays which is a good thing…
Metal Trends:
Handmade jewellery has a large market outside India because the craftsmen available here are exceptional. A lot of machine made jewellery is exported from Mumbai, because the labour is cheaper here. Traditional jewellery still has its own place. Unfortunately, antiques are becoming obsolete. Nowadays every piece is 18 carat, and the 22 and 21 carats are disappearing. If you melt an 18 carat then there is hardly anything in it to buy back from so looking at the long term perspective it is good that in south, people are still hanging onto 22 carats. The market in Bangalore is changing faster than any other market in India. We have a lot of global players opening up here. The reason manufacturers have come in with lower carat jewellery is so that you can buy more of it.
Comments