Recently, Mumbai was the venue for a prestigious and fascinating conference organised by SaffronArt.  The event was sponsored by The Gem and Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), partnered by the Diamond Producers Association (DPA) and the World Diamond Museum, and supported by the Gemological Institute of America (GIA).

The second SaffronArt Jewellery Conference  sought to trace, in the words of Saffronart’s President and Co-Founder Minal Vazirani, “…the dialogue between tradition and modernity, history and myth, and charts a contemporary Indian aesthetic in jewellery design.” It was attended by jewellery enthusiasts from Asia, the Americas and Europe.

The event was curated by world renowned jewellery expert and the World Diamond Museum’s chief curator, Dr. Usha R. Balakrishnan. The speakers of the two-day event (October 11-12, 2019) included, among others, the famous Indian jewellery designer Viren Bhagat; international jewellery specialists Lisa Hubbard and Joanna Hardy; Deepthi Sasidharan, Director of Eka Archiving Services; Cynthia Meera Frederick, Chief Advisor to the Maharaja of Kapurthala; fashion designer and author Wendell Rodricks; authors and historians Manu Pillai, Hugo Miguel Crespo and Jack Ogden; GIA’s Chief Quality Officer, John King; and Alex Popov, Founder and CEO of the World Diamond Museum.

Dr. Balakrishnan noted that the conference “had succeeded beyond all expectations”, mapping the legacy of Indian jewels and looking at jewellery as art. “It is my firm belief that it has served as a catalyst for the further study and documentation of this incredible heritage,” she said. “At Saffronart’s second jewellery conference, speaker after speaker chronicled the histories of gems and jewels and related their journeys across time and continents.”

“The SaffronArt Dialogues in Art conference is a unique and exclusive event,” Alex Popov, founder and CEO of the World Diamond Museum noted. “It brings together distinguished experts, among the jewellery designers, historians, researchers, curators, authors and writers, as well as diamond gemstone and jewellery industry professionals. It is so exclusive that the conference proceedings are not made available but to a few!”

He added: “It was an honour for the World Diamond Museum to take part is such a prestigious and important gathering. Sadly, there were very few participants from the Mumbai diamond community. Hopefully we’ll see more of the industry at the next conference.”

The second day of the conference, the conference focussed on diamonds, which were the major topic. “The British historian Jack Ogden spoke about the early history of diamonds, which were initially utilitarian and used for cutting, drilling and scratching; as well as the diamond trade spanning more than 2500 years, with India at its centre for centuries,” a press release from the World Diamond Museum summed up. “GIA's John King, a well-recognised expert of coloured diamonds, talked about some of the most fascinating coloured diamonds he had come across, including some from India and went into depth on issues such as cutting, grading systems and marketing strategies that brought these diamonds into the spotlight. Alex Popov announced the forthcoming publication of the new diamond book – a fascinating story titled “The Facets of Mankind,” due next spring. Further on, Popov, Ogden and King discussed the intrinsic value, rarity and pricing of these diamonds.”

The conference also featured   eminent jewellery designer Viren Bhagat participate in a conversation with Minal Vazirani, Co-Founder and President of Saffronart, and Dr Usha R. Balakrishnan, jewellery historian and cultural capital consultant.

Another important discussion featured Alex Popov, Founder and CEO of the World Diamond Museum; John King, Chief Quality Officer of GIA Laboratory and jewellery historian Jack Ogden in conversation with Nirupa Bhatt, GIA’s Managing Director for India and the Middle East.  

Pic Cap: Speakers at Mapping a Legacy of Indian Jewels: (L-R) Viren Bhagat, Wendell Rodricks, Hugo Miguel Crespo, Lisa Hubbard, Jack Ogden, Dr. Usha R Balakrishnan, Alex Popov, Cynthia Meera Frederick, Deepthi Sasidharan, Minal Vazirani and Joanna Hardy.