The luxury jewellery label has transformed Jodhpur into a one-stop destination for rare jewels lovers…
Jodhpur might be the second-largest city in the largest state of India but one would hardly assume it harbours one of the most unique destinations for fine jewellery and gems enthusiasts from around the world.
Ever since its inception in 1995, Gems & Jewels Palace has been a beacon for luxury jewellery lovers and discerning collectors from around the world. “Our company is almost 25 to 30 years old. Ours is a law-based family but my mother wanted to build something of her own so she started the business in 1995,” says Romil Bhansali, Managing Director of the brand, “If you go to Jaipur, Mumbai or Delhi, you can find hundreds of jewellers. But in Jodhpur, there was not one single jewellery brand at that time. So, when she started, there was no competition. This allowed her to focus on what she wanted to create, rather than thinking about what works in the market.” The uniqueness of the brand in the region helped make it stand out and when the nearby Umaid Bhawan palace began attracting tourists from around the country and the world to Jodhpur, the brand began growing rapidly.
“Today, we can proudly say that we can be considered among the top 10 single stores in India. In the jewellery industry, people are extremely conscious about the quality and the price of the jewel but they forget that they have to design a product. They’ll use a beautiful 5 or 10-carat Colombian emerald or a Burma ruby and make a $100,000 piece. But if you wear it, it ends up looking awful. My mother’s focus has always been on high-end jewellery and good quality design.”
Along with delivering high-quality designs to people seeking to enrich their jewellery collections, Gems & Jewels Palace has come to be known as the one-stop destination for all things rare and beautiful in the world of luxury. “We have a diverse range of clients, some of whom are highly discerning and want the best of the best. We work towards searching for the goods that they want from all over the world.
Whether it’s rare emeralds or the most unusual of diamonds, we acquire and develop pieces for them in our workshop,” shares Romil, “Our customers are well-travelled and have a great eye for the finer things in life. They know what a Van Cleef & Arpels is doing or what is good at Cartier’s. They have been around the world and seen exquisite pieces in stores across Europe and the US. But now all that is available much closer to home, in the small town of Jodhpur. This is something that they cannot find in the best stores in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad or Calcutta. This is why we have discerning clients from all across the country and the world, including royalty. So anyone who wants rare and exquisite jewels or trendy pieces, knows that there’s only one place where they can get it all.”
When it comes to wedding jewellery, the label understands that it’s more than just stepping into a store and ordering a jewellery piece that catches your fancy. Romil reveals that Gems & Jewels Palace offers their clients a bespoke wedding jewellery buying experience by guiding them through every step. “I have families coming in when they think their daughter/son will get married even after, say, five years and sometimes it’s as short as three months. Our first question, and what starts the whole process, is what is the look you’re envisioning for the wedding day?” he shares, “After that, we get an idea about where it’s happening. What time is the wedding? What would be the weather at the time of the wedding? What outfit is she planning to wear? Is her taste more driven towards, say, Sabyasachi, Elie Saab or Faraz Manan? We need to understand all this at the outset. Once we have this clarity, we try to guide them towards the right piece. Let’s say a bride comes to us saying she wants a choker. But since they are a little plump and we know the choker might make them feel claustrophobic, or if there’s someone with a long neck and wants a flat-laying necklace, we try to share other options that could work better.”
While the team at Gems & Jewels Palace tries to steer the client towards what would work best for their needs, they understand that jewellery buying is a personal and special experience and, at the end of the day, it all depends on what the customer wants. “We meet a lot of people every day and the first step in our process, which is the interview, helps us understand the client in a better way. We like to think of ourselves as the make-up artist or stylist for the whole wedding and our only goal is to beautify the whole experience for the client.”
So, if you’re looking to acquire fine jewellery that can be passed down generations as precious heirlooms or are just a rare gems and jewels enthusiast, you know where to head now!
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