Gone are the days when jewellery was merely considered as a metal of investment, to be worn only during weddings. Today, design element has gained prominence and jewellery lovers are all the time looking for that exclusive piece. This and many more trends came to light at ‘Aakaar’, a nationwide jewellery design competition organised for the first time in South India with Bangalore as the host City.

The competition was organised by jewellery magazine ‘The Art of Jewellery’ in association with a global body ‘Leading Jewellers of the World’ (LJOW). Sponsoring cash prizes worth Rs 75,000, the competition was open to all under three categories - Wedding, Glamour and Glitz, Corporate Gifting. From design students, goldsmiths to karigars, several enthusiasts participated by submitting designs of wedding sets, maang tikaas, nose rings, contemporary designs in solitaire rings and pendants, tie-pins, cufflinks among others. All designs had to be on 18k yellow or white gold.

Explaining the criteria given to the participants, Sumesh Wadhera of The Art Of Jewellery, said, “Market need for good exclusive designs is soaring high. This is when we decided to have a nationwide design competition, offering a platform to all. The forms were sent out in November 2007.

One could submit entries for one or more categories. We received about 650 entries from across India, including two from California. Predominantly, students have participated in this competition and they are primarily women. The entries are high both on quality and quantity. The first prize is Rs 50,000, second prize is Rs 15,000 and Rs 10,000 for the third prize.”

Interestingly, ‘Aakaar’ has received more entries for the ‘corporate gifting’ category than for the usually popular wedding segment.

The corporate gifting segment comprised of tie-pins, cufflinks, bracelets, rings and pendants. “Corporate gifting is the fastest growing segment today. Even a gold coin with a personalised logo has a great demand. The trend picked up four years ago, especially with large companies in the metros. Wedding and glamour are evergreen. But we saw a whole lot of students submitting designs for the corporate category,” said Wadhera.

One such is design student Karishma S Jain. She chose the corporate category over the conventional wedding or glamour theme. “Corporate gifting is an emerging sector that is more challenging than wedding and glamour. I have designed an earring and a bracelet. The design is very futuristic, inspired by Indian contemporary architecture and the solar system,” she reveals.

Another corporate category candidate is designer Bharat Vyas from Bangalore. He said, “The themes are good because this is what is in trend now. I have sent two entries - wedding and corporate. My wedding set takes on the floral note with rubies and diamonds. Corporate gifting is also big today. I have drawn inspiration from an active volcano to create tie-pins and cufflinks. Designing is not that easy as it cannot be restricted to paper. It must have the potential to be manufactured.”

A six-member jury - comprising K Shivram of World Gold Council, Vinod Hyagriv of CKC, Pallavi Dudeja of Tanishq, award-winning designer Geepika Singh, sponsor Paresh Taj and Vrinda Chibbar, editor of an international jewellery magazine - will shortlist the designs. But what is the jury looking out for in the winning designs? “Feasibility, innovation and originality. Commercial viability is of utmost importance. Three winners will be announced and their designs will be displayed at the South India Jewellery Show (SIJS) 2008. The designs will become property of LJOW and we will decide what has to be done with it. Either we will come up with our own brand called ‘Aakaar Jewellery’ or we will hand it over to some companies. That has not been decided yet,” explained Wadhera.

The final round of judging and prize distribution will happen at SIJS 2008, a business-to-business exhibition on jewellery which will be held from January 18 to 20 at the Sree Kanteerava Indoor Stadium.