At the Design Inspirations 2016, held by GJEPC, interestingly, most of the speakers not only spoke about the designs but focused on the ‘saleable’ aspect of jewellery also. Kunjal Karaniya, brings you the highlights of the seminar.

“Design Inspirations”, a two-day seminar focussed on design organised by The Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council was held on February 9 and 10, 2016 at Mumbai. “Jewellery is all about design. If the design is right, if it captures the imagination of the consumer then the jewellery sells and sells in multiples. You must have a passion for design, but it is also important to understand the needs of the market,” said Praveenshankar Pandya, Chairman, GJEPC. He said that though the country has great talented designers who are able to create excellent designs for the domestic market, India still needs to further develop its skills to emerge as a design hub for the export market. Design Inspirations is a move towards this, to give designers a larger global picture and a methodology for trend analysis on which to base their designs. Shimul Mehta Vyas, Faculty member of the National Institute of Design (NID) presented the keynote address titled: “Mapping Macro Trends”. She defined three trend types: Macro and Micro Trends; Counter Trends and Global and Regional Trends. She went on to outline 12 Global Trends also.

The line-up of speakers on the first day included Ishu Datwani, Founder of Anmol who provided a glimpse into the building of a store brand. “There is a deep connection between Design and Success; they go hand in hand, but design alone is not enough – there is marketing, branding, administration, financial management, all of which are also important,” he said. Leading designer, Pallavi Dudeja Foley’s presentation “Story of a Nugget” made a case for “Timeless Trendy ” jewellery which is the kind she makes. “As a designer I want to make a piece that is the best, that is never melted. The best way to forecast a fashion trend is to create it,” Pallavi concluded.

Mithun Sancheti, Co-Founder and CEO of Caratlane.com spoke on “Disruption”, espousing the need to innovate and use new technologies in the jewellery business. “You can have a good design but what good is it if it remains in your home or shop? There is a need for “discovery” and an effective eco-system for discovery. We need to disrupt ourselves, otherwise everyone else will rip into us,” he said alluding to the threat from other products and industries. Well known designer Gautam Banerjee said, “One can get inspired by anything and inspiration can come from anywhere. The challenge is how to translate it into jewellery; and commercially viable jewellery at that. For, ultimately, you need to make it for someone who will buy it.”

Revathi Kant, Associate Vice President Design, Innovation & Development at Titan Industries Ltd, enumerated 12 broad trends thrown up by her department’s analysis and going into each in some detail. Renowned jewellery designer Farah Khan Ali presented a detailed insight into what constitutes a designer jewellery brand. “To have an identity you need to know what your niche is, which economic strata of society you want to design for. A designer brand will always have its own unique language,” Farah stressed. Valishali Banerjee, Country Manager, India of Platinum Guild International, spoke on “Insight Driven Marketing”. She defined an “Insight” as “A fundamental truth about human behaviour”.

Rudrajit Bose, Managing Partner of Atelier Anonyme put forth a researched presentation dense with data titled Evolving Trend Ecosystem – A Bird’s Eye View of the Curve” which said that the gems and jewellery industry faced the threat of “value migration” away from it to other industries like electronics, travel etc.

On day 2, the interesting speakers list included, Laksh Pahuja, eminent jewellery designer shared his expertise on 'Building Iconic Pieces' and stressed on making every 'Sketch to Piece' no matter what. ‪Kapil Hetamsaria‬ from ‎Velvetcase‬ .com spoke about 'Marketing Online Effectively' and stressed on 'Online cannot be ignored'. ‪Reena Ahluwalia, eminent jewellery designer,‬ spoke about '‪Inspiration‬' stressing on 'Inspiration is a state of mind'.
‪Manreet Deol‬ from Manifest Designs spoke about 'Everyday Wearable Art'. ‪Shivaram‬ from ‎IOJS‬ spoke about '‪Designing‬ &‪ Merchandizing‬' and stressed on being 'Designer business person' and not just a 'Designer'. ‪Anaita Shroff Adanjania‬, Fashion Director, Vogue‬ talked about 'Trends in Fashion influencing designs in jewellery'. , ‪Anil Bharwani, eminent jewellery designer‬ sharing his journey highlighted points like inspiration, hard-work and creativity. ‪Sachin Jain‬ from ‎Forevermark‬ spoke on 'building a global diamond brand'.

Paola De Luca, founder of The Futurist Ltd, spoke on both the days. She said that Trend forecasting was a tool, a methodology which enabled companies to devise strategies. “You need to collect the visual data and then analyse this data,” said Paola. “This needs expertise and experience.” She outlined the various trend directions specifically for North America and Europe, going into details for each region and showing how they could be translated into jewellery collections.