-By Dwijendra Kumar
New Delhi (NVI) Jewellery scene across the globe has undergone fashionable transformation over past few years. Gold is now being worn not only in various designs and styles but is also in vogue with precious stones. Further, jewellery made of beads, glass, bone etc are also becoming popular among fashion conscious folks.
Purity and affordability which earlier dominated customers’ mindset have now been relegated to background. Branded jewellery too have arrived in the market enticing customers in breathtakingly beautiful styles. All these have made adequate knowledge of materials and its use very important and so trained jewellery designers are much sought-after people in the Gems and Jewelley industry.
No wonder then, Gems and jewellery industry in India is growing at a phenomenal speed. While domestic market is worth approx 16 bn US dollars, its export has reached to the tune of 30 billions almost double of the domestic market size. There are around 5 million people employed in this industry.
According to Ms Kritika Maheshwari a young gemologist who has to her credit a course in Gemology from Gemology Institute of America, a trained professional in the field is able to differentiate all the natural gems and diamonds from their treated as well as synthetics forms. Jewellery business works majorly on the trust and more often people have little knowledge about the gemstones they purchase.
“Gems & jewellery industry provides wide range of career opportunities. Since it’s a creative field there are designing related careers one could opt for like jewellery making, jewellery designing etc. However if one wishes to be more technical, then gemology offers them the knowledge about gems & diamonds. Apart from this, there will always be administrative work at the backend,” she says.
According to experts in the field, designing is related to inherent creativity. But since creative talent and the market reality have always been poles apart and blending of the two is must for success, training imparted at a professional institute is always a great help as students learn to translate their imagination into real products and also its sale. Also exposure to global fashion trends at these institutes equip them to face competition in the market.
There are several institutes offering multiple courses both long term as well as short term within India as well as abroad. While the most renowned around the globe are Gemology Institue of America, IGI, GEM-A (Majorly for technical education), there are also many renowned design schools around the world and in India imparting training in jewellery making and designing such as Indian Institute of Gems and Jewerllery, Alchimia to name a few, the young Gemologist adds.
Other institutes providing a course in the filed include:
National Institute of Fashion Technology, Bhubaneswar
Pearl Academy of Fashion, Delhi
Delhi Institute of Fashion Technology
Universal Institute of Design, Surat
Hamstech Institute of Fashion & Interior Design, Hyderabad
Indian Institute of Gemology, Delhi
Gautam Banerjee’s School of Jewellery Designing, Mumbai
North India Institute of Technology, Bijnor
IMS Design and Innovation Academy, NOIDA
International School of Design, Mumbai
Solitaire Diamond Institute, Bangalore
Some institutes are also offering courses online. Being class 12 pass out is a pre-requisite for admission in such courses. Duration of these courses range from 4 months to about 4 years.
According to Ms Maheshwari, the most important attribute any professional would require to succeed is an individual’s passion to learn. A gemologist can definitely learn the technicalities. However the more one holds knowledge about history of testing/dealing in gemstones and diamonds, more one would acquires finesse and accuracy in acquiring knowledge about gemstones. Dynamic world that we live in, new technologies have brought in synthetics into the market and a gemologist’s eye for details helps one segregate the complete natural gems from the mixed varieties to use them as beautiful pieces of jewellery.
The future of gems and jewellery industry too holds promises. ” In coming days we shall see a lot of Indian jewelers dealing in a variety of beautiful gemstones apart from traditional diamonds and gold. It is one of the most creative and promising careers. The upcoming trends that include growing demand for men’s jewellery has also brought about a new market that needs to be catered to, ” she adds.
