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From Beyoncé, Jennifer Lopez, Angelina Jolie, Penelope Cruz to Sonam Kapoor, Priyanka Chopra, Lara Dutta, Dimple Kapadia, Reena Roy, Shabana Azmi and several others, all have a common Jaipur connection – Amrapali jewellery.
Founder of the ethnic silver jewellery group Rajiv Arora attributes a long list of reasons to this celebrity craze but then nails it with one uniqueness. “The pieces they wear are one of a kind. You won’t find a second one. That’s what these high-street celebrities want.”
And that pretty much explains why Arora’s archive boasts of over 10,000 designs, some of which have also found their way to movies like Jism, Rog, Ramleela, Bahubali-II and most recently Manikarnika. Enamored of Arora’s design language, Hollywood producers too have sought his help for period jewelleries for flicks like Troy and Valley of Flowers.
Arora’s entrepreneurial journey along with his co-founder Rajesh Ajmera is redolent of any contemporary startup folklore. When they began in 1978 in Arora’s living rooms, it was not technology, rather the heritage enthusiasts’ love for traditional, tribal and royal jewellery.
After post-graduation in history, Arora did an MBA degree. But his learnings were at the opposite of what the MBA courses offered. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why Amrapali, even after 40 years, still thrives despite a slow revenue growth.
“I don’t sell the same piece to another celebrity. Whereas, with one successful design I can sell thousands of pieces. Maybe that is the reason why Melania Trump chose our earrings for her India visit or gifts made to former US presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama during their visits to the country were made by us,” said Arora. Amrapali Jewels counts on a clientele spanning royalty, corporate honchos and celebrities globally and has created a fan club of famous families like Hermes, Corum, Porche, and Barbie-Muller.
Arora said, “Amrapali group’s annual revenues of Rs 200 crore can grow 10-fold in quick time if we automate the production and sacrifice the craftsmanship and exclusiveness.”
From a modest start in Jaipur’s Chameliwala market in 1981, Amrapali stepped out of Jaipur by opening a shop in Mumbai’s Oberoi hotel in 1991. As ethnic jewellery started influencing fashion trends in the world, Amrapali rode the wave supplying to popular overseas departmental stores like Berty in London, Galleries Lafayette Haussmann and Le Bon Marche in Paris.
Today, Amrapali has three manufacturing units in Jaipur employing over 2,000 craftsmen, and has expanded its footprint to over 33 outlets, including major cities of the world and most busy airports in the country.
Arora said the secret behind the brand’s success is his penchant for ancient India’s cultural history. In the early days of his entrepreneurial journey, Arora scoured remote regions in the country in search of unique tribal jewellery designs.
“I toured all over India to understand and learn about various tribal jewellery made in villages. That took me as far as Jagdalpur and Bastar in Chhattisgarh, Koraput in Odisha, Gujarat, and Madhya Pradesh and districts in Rajasthan like Rattangargh, Churu, Ramgarh, Shekhawati,” said Arora.
In rural India whenever people need money during hard times like a drought, calamity or for family obligations like weddings of their children, they tend to sell their old jewellery or remake. Arora would not miss an opportunity like this if he came across one. He collected as many pieces as he could for their designing value.
“Numerous pieces, which were works of art at that time, were lost. I started collecting the pieces. My tribal jewellery museum in Jaipur is a treasure trove of that. It’s an inspiration for the young budding designers,” said Arora.
“Also I believe,” he said, “If you cannot appreciate other cultures, you cannot deal with ethnic jewellery.” Reviving dying arts of filigree and enameling was another way of recreating the old world design aesthetic that he undertook to enrich his collections.
India is a living culture with ancient and eternal designs still in use. Besides tribal design, royalty has a bigger aesthetic influence. “I experiment with designs with contemporary and futuristic trends in mind. The pieces I make are bold and bigger so that when an actor or celebrity wears it, it is visible on the screen,” said Arora.
Now Arora’s son Tarang has joined the family business. Like his father, he is also passionate about cultural and designing traditions. He went to London to study gemmology and designings to hone his skills and sharpen his insights. Currently, Tarang is diversifying the business with forays into online and e-commerce and created a couple of brands.
Arora said the fashion jewellery they make are versatile in nature. “They can be paired with Jeans, T-Shirts, lehenga, salwar suit or a Western outfit. Our pieces range from Rs 500 and Rs 5 lakh. We also do gold, kundan meena and polka jewelleries but only masterpieces,” added Arora.
With regard to Amrapali’s future growth strategy, Arora said “I want Amrapali to become a household jewellery brand to suit every pocket. When you wear Amrapali, you should feel like a princess. There is a princess in every woman and Amrapali makes them feel so.”
For Arora, the word tribe does not mean various Indian cultures alone. “It also means there is a tribe or a large group or community in the world who loves the designs and understands and appreciates other cultures and ways of life. I want my jewellery to play a role in creating a world where people find beauty in diversity,” he explained.
Quotes:
“Fashion jewellery has huge scope for growth and has been growing at a faster clip due to multiple reasons. The versatility of fashion jewellery that can fit into multiple occasions coupled with lower cost is drawing many to this kind of ornament. The rising prices of gold and the security risks involved with it is also fuelling demand for fashion jewellery” —Nawal Agarwal | Prominent jeweler in Jaipur
“Today, the majority of costume and fashion jewellery is imported from China. They are not only cheaper but trendy as well. But in the past couple of years, the import volume has started declining. Jewellers in India and in Jaipur are also experimenting with new design themes. We have talent but not enough volume to cater to big buyers in exporting countries” —Ajay Kala | Spokesperson, Jaipur Jewellery Show
“Women were never part of the core gem and jewellery manufacturing. We are trying to change that by training them. Since the demand is growing for costume and fashion jewellery, we need more skilled craftspersons. That’s why we started a training initiative. Close to 250 women have been trained and we have a target to skill 2000 in various crafts of fashion jewellery” —Gaurav Jain | President, Sitapura Gems and
Jewellery Association
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