Diamonds may have been a girl’s best friend in an era when a woman’s only hope of having a high family income was to marry a man who was well-off, but today, marketable skills that will enable a woman (as well as a man!) to command a good income over her lifetime, are a better investment, wisely deduced Grace Baruch.
There’s nothing to challenge the fact that not only do stones have healing qualities and fascinating historical lore, they mean good business.
You need not be Raúl Ybarra, a scientist as well as silversmith with his own foundry and a jewellery designer with his own studio (after learning on his own), to be able to design a jewel.
It is perhaps only in the ‘advanced’ civilisations that artists are ranked above craftsmen, with the former thought to be leading the cultural vanguard and the latter merely ‘practising’ traditional crafts and taking a backseat.
Despite all odds, the gem and jewellery industry has seen phenomenal upward growth, that has led to an influx of a new breed of trendy technologists in place of just the local goldsmith. According to a recent report, the gem and jewellery industry is projected to grow over $16 million in the next few years.
It is a well-known yet fickle fact in India that traditionally, the ‘brainos’ go for engineering and medicine. But what the career-decision making ‘bodies’ need to understand is that it does not take scores in the high 90s’ in Physics, Chem and Math to prove one’s capabilities. There is a high section of people who are thoroughly ‘intelligent’ in every way, particularly, ‘creativity’, to manufacture beautifully designed shiny stones, with precision, clarity and panache. A career option that is often misunderstood as a hobby or a part-time holiday course, is that of jewellery manufacture and design. Contrarily, a lot of hard work goes into the small intricate jewels that twinkle their way into your hearts.
“Ninety nine of 100 designs remain drawings, just one becomes a jewel!” says Mrs Renu Kapoor, Director, Indian Institute of Jewellery, Mumbai. Dwelling on the qualities one needs to have to actually go in for a professionally handled jewellery course, she says, “Commitment, eye for detail, being able to sit for long hours on a bench, the capacity to visualise the look and feel of a jewel are some essentials.”
Courses in jewellery are meant for those who are creative in wanting to put their artistic inclinations on paper (or computer, aided with 2-D or 3-D) and thereafter, stone. One needn’t be an heir to the family jewellery business to want to pursue the course.
The Indian Institute of Jewellery (IIJ), Mumbai, has a 10 month (1000 hours) Jewellery Manufacturing (fast track) programme that has four modules which comprise introduction to Jewellery Trade Tools and Fabrication, stone setting, Advanced Jewellery Making and so on. It costs Rs 3,99,000. The institute has various other short-term courses too.  Jewellery Designing,  2D/3D Aided Jewellery Designing, CAM, CAD, Diamond Grading and more, with one in lac artistry. A high-tech library already accommodates study of 1,500 gems.
 IIJ has collaborated with the California Institute of Jewellery Training (CIJT), Sacramento, USA, for its jewellery technology and Retail Jewellery and Lifestyle management programmes.
Admission to the course is very flexible. Students who have passed SSC/ICSE/ CBSE or any other equivalent board, graduates and undergraduates, can apply. In fact, all those who wish to make a career in the jewellery industry can have a go at it, ranging from women entrepreneurs to homemakers, craftsmen from all industries to prospective jewellers, and members of family owned business. On the anvil is the Master’s programme in gemology, according to Kapoor.
Around 1,000 students have undertaken various IIJ programmes with 100 having done the 10-month jewellery manufacturing course, she adds. Students have been recruited by companies like UNI Design, Super Gems, Hammer Plus and others.
The course, says Kapoor, is also ideal for those who continue the family jewellery business. After learning the nuances of this art, it becomes simpler for the next generation jeweller to reduce the wastage and increase production and quality control and not just be a silent spectator to the age-old traditions of the I-know-it-all worker.
The 140-year-old jewellery showroom C Krishniah Chetty and Sons, (official jewellers of the Maharaja of Mysore, Travancore and Nizam of Hyderabad), sent a team of seven members in February-March 2007, to IIJ, in order to understand design, manufacture, processing, sales, etc. They belonged to different departments such as sales, finance, production and order execution and client relation. The 8-session (3 week)  module was specially designed for CKC by IIJ. Mr Venkatachalam, Chief Financial Officer, CKC, said, ``Even a person in sales needs to have an understanding of the stone, design, in order to understand the needs of the customer.”
Mansi Shete (with no jewellery background), did an eight-month jewellery designing course last year at IIJ, along with a month long lac jewellery course. She started her own enterprise with an investment as feasible as Rs 2,000. Mansi also works as a jewellery merchandiser.
For details on IIJ, visit website: www.iij.net.in, or call 022-66661102.
Vogue Institute, Bangalore
The Vogue Institute of Fashion Technology offers a one-year Graduate Diploma in Jewellery Designing and Manufacturing, and has entered into a technical collaboration with the Indian Diamond Institute. It comprises modules in designing, principles of sketching, drawing of stone cuts and colouring, colouring of gold, jewellery manufacturing, etc. The course costs a lakh.
Apart from the one-year course that started in February 2003, there are around 4 part-time courses too. According to Lakshmi Bhimaiah, designer and instructor here, out of 20 of the current batch, there are six boys and most students are, in fact, college going, who preferred joining the afternoon batch to accommodate their classes in college as well as of the institute.
Other courses offered are Diploma in Jewellery Designing with Jewel CAD, Diploma in Gemology, etc.
 For more details, log on to www.voguefashioninstitute.com
JSS Polytechnic, Mysore
JSS Polytechnic for the Disabled, Mysore, offers a 3-year Diploma in Jewellery Designing and Technology, with the support of World Gold Council, an international non-profit making organisation involved in Jewellery Production Technology promotional activities. Located at SJ College of Engineering campus, Mysore, this is the first polytechnic in India to offer a Diploma in Jewellery Design and Technology covering all areas of Jewellery Design and Manufacturing Techniques. The course started in 2001-02, according to the Principal, Wing Commander B C Prabhakar. It is recognised by the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Govt of India, and Board of Technical Education, Government of Karnataka.
There are 30 seats of which, 50% are reserved for disabled students and the remaining for normal students. Qualification is a pass in SSLC or 10th Std or equivalent.
There are short term courses like Jewellery Making Technology (1 year), Stone Setting (1 year), Casting Technology (3 years), Gemology, Diamond Grading, etc.
There is a separate gold refining and purity testing lab for gemology. With all facilities like individual work bench and tool sets for every student along with fully equipped casting lab and jewellery finishing section, students receive full assistance for job placements. This year many students were recruited by Ganjam, according to Prabhakar.
The fees for Karnataka disabled students are Rs 10,180 per year, for normal (Karnataka) students: Rs 15,180, and for non Karnataka (both normal and disabled) is Rs 15,180 per year.
For details, visit www.jsspph.org