Filigree Jewellery for Growth

Ganjam
Filigree Jewellery
Ganjam
for Growth
While gold filigree mostly
produced in Bengal
remains a hit, the
intricate craft is slowly
diminishing in Odisha,
the state where the
craft originated.
Text: BY SOHINI DEY
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Ganjam
Gaja
Spotlight
I
t’s delicate, almost fragile, and
the texture is reminiscent
of lace. Filigree has been
traditionally associated
with fine craftsmanship and
luxurious designs in classical jewellery.
The art of filigree has been utilised to craft
artefacts for many centuries now, but its
popularity rests on its incorporation into
traditional jewellery. In Bengal, whose
karigars are revered as being among the
best makers of jewellery in the country,
filigree has become an indispensable part
of the state’s cultural and artistic legacy.
Thanks to the highly-skilled craftsmen and
enterprising jewellery houses in the state,
filigreed gold jewels today constitute a
substantial portion of gold jewellery being
sold within and outside the country.
Time-honoured craft
traditions
To members and stakeholders in the
Indian jewellery industry, filigree hardly
requires any introduction. The technique
of ornamental metalwork gained favour
among jewellers who found it possible
to use it to create fine, delicate jewellery
in gold and silver and more sporadically,
in other metals as well. Filigree has been
employed in crafting jewellery in cultures
across the world – records show its use in
ancient Greek and Phoenician civilizations
and it was a popular technique utilised
in Europe in the late medieval centuries
as well. But today, filigree has come to
be associated very intimately with the
jewellery craft in India, and, in particular,
the state of Bengal.
But in its contemporary form,
filigree practice in India draws from the
technique’s rich heritage in Odisha, where
the art of filigree initially developed and
flourished. The tarakashi filigree is a
long-standing tradition of crafting jewels,
practised by karigars in the eastern regions
of the state, primarily Cuttack. While
practitioners in Cuttack traditionally
employed silver in creating filigree
jewellery, the technique received a new
lease of life as it gradually travelled to the
neighbouring state of Bengal.
Gold filigree popular
When it comes to sales figures, gold
filigree jewellery is still shining brightly.
It is mainly artisans from Bengal working
within the state or scattered across the
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Gaja
Spotlight
country who are involved in the creation
of these metalwork wonders. Pankaj
Parekh, vice-chairman of the Gem and
Jewellery Export Promotion Coucil
(GJEPC), sheds light on the astounding
contribution of Bengali karigars in the sale
of gold, saying that an average of 200 kilos
of gold per day is crafted by the artisans in
and around the state.
Almost three-fourths of the massive
volumes of gold jewellery being crafted
for both domestic and international
markets incorporate some amount of
filigree. As Nilesh Parekh, chairman of
the Kolkata-based manufacturers Shree
Ganesh Jewellery House Limited, puts it,
“Since the expansion of export markets
in recent years, filigree jewellery from
India makes its way to far-flung countries,
including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and
Iraq. Even in India, every store is sure
to stock some amount of gold filigree
jewellery.”
Today, the craft has come to be
intimately connected with Bengal not
merely from a commercial perspective but
also a traditional one. “Bengal has been a
centre for both gold jewellery and the craft
of filigree,” says Nilesh Parekh adding that
what makes gold filigree so popular and
successful is a combination of factors such
as cost-effectiveness, ingenuity of design
and immaculate craftsmanship.
In a market where gold prices are
high, incorporating filigree designs have
a number of advantages. To begin with,
the signature wirework ensures that the
pieces are lightweight and bigger pieces
can be crafted by the use of minimal gold.
To use a single design element in covering
more surface area of the pieces, a few years
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ago artisans in the state began to modify
the otherwise straight-line metalwork
into meandering shapes – it has come
to be known as the “chowmein” pattern,
deriving its name from the massively
popular Chinese fast food found in shops
and shacks at practically every nook and
corner of Kolkata.
Employing filigree ensures that
customers can have access to bigger
pieces of jewellery without having to
spend excessively. Jewellery that scores
both in terms of aesthetics and pricing is
the USP of filigree. According to Nilesh
Parekh, the emergence of machinery and
technological advancements in jewellery
has given an added boost to the gold
filigree jewellery in Bengal, assisting
craftsmen to create jewels with finer
wiring to achieve enhanced intricacy
in patterns that used to be extremely
difficult, if not completely impossible, to
achieve by hand. Technology has created
new dynamics in the jewellery industry,
allowing for traditional crafts such as
filigree to be reinvented in various ways
without necessarily tampering with the
essence of the art.
Of course, the complete penetration of
technology is yet to occur in the jewellery
units in Bengal. Both Pankaj Parekh and
Nilesh Parekh are however optimistic
about the future, especially with the
impending opening of an Indian Institute
of Gems & Jewellery (IIGJ) in Domjur,
West Bengal, where emphasis will be
laid on teaching artisans the means and
methods of employing new technology
in creating innovative designs using
traditional jewellery crafts such as filigree.
It is also being hoped that the institute
will encourage young people to join the
industry.
Filigree’s flourishing status in Bengal
has much to do with the patronage
provided to the craft’s practitioners
by the people of the state. Bengalis are
traditional customers of gold filigree and
it’s practically impossible, even now to
find a Bengali bride who will not have at
least a few pieces of filigreed jewellery in
her trousseau.
Hemraj Jewellery Craft
Hemraj Jewellery Craft
Spotlight
Over the years, karigars from Bengal
have made their way into jewellery units
and factories all over the country carrying
the art of filigree with them wherever
they go. As a result, today the influence
of filigree craft is evident in gold designs
in places like Gujarat and South India.
Despite the rising popularity of diamondand gem-studded jewellery and more
contemporary designs, filigreed gold
jewellery still remains a favourite among
the masses who continue to find better
investment value in the metal.
A different picture in Odisha
In Odisha however, the state of affairs
is hardly as rosy. Though the craft was
initiated in the state, it was Bengal with its
capacity of commercialising the designs
and providing more suitable infrastructure
where the craft prospered. In Odisha,
most filigree work is still done in silver
and lack of access to modern machinery
and dependence on hand-crafting makes
it difficult to create products in massive
quantities. Bharat Ganatra, proprietor of
Hemraj Jewellery Craft, a Cuttack-based
jewellery house that specialises in delicate
filigree work says, “The art is in a declining
condition in the state – hardly a lucrative
profession, most craftsmen prefer doing
other jobs now instead of spending hours
doing filigree. The craft is attracting lesser
numbers of young people who do not want
to get into a profession that does not pay.”
In the face of insufficient support from
the government and lack of clientele, the
art is in danger, says Ganatra. In India,
the biggest client of Hemraj Jewellery
Craft is Fabindia. Ganatra rues the lack of
interest among foreign buyers saying that
it will be virtually impossible to sustain
the craft without the support of exports.
There is little to no customer base for gold
filigree crafts in Odisha, a far cry from the
thriving affair in Bengal. Ganatra who will
be showcasing filigree innovation in 3D
at the India International Jewellery Show
this year asserts that the state’s karigars can
recreate silver filigree design in gold just as
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easily, but do not since there is no demand
for it. Ganjam is the firm’s only client
commissioning filigree designs in gold.
On the whole, the state of filigree and
its future lies in a somewhat complex
state of affairs. On the one hand, the art
is thriving in Bengal – the craft rests on a
fine balance between art and commerce
bringing both together into beautiful, costeffective designs. In its more traditional
and essential form in Odisha on the other
hand, the craft is going through a very
difficult phase and both government and
industrial impetus seems imperative if the
craft is to survive and flourish in the state. n