Gemtastic by Fareeha Rafique

Bejeweled

A little while after I meet Amna Nasir, she mentions that clients become her “Friend for life.” there remains no room for any skepticism with which such a statement might be viewed when during the course of our conversation I see this jewelry designer befriending quite a few customers at her exhibition in PC. With almost two decades of experience behind her and a diploma from the American Gemological Institute, some of Amna’s jewelry designs at Arts and Gems went onstage at Lux Style Awards last year as well as this year. But designing is not her only contribution at Arts and Gems, production and exports are other responsibilities she shares with the other two partners, one of whom is her husband and the other brother-in-law.

With her husband being the fourth generation in a family of jewelers, whose family used to “make jewels for the Mughals,” Amna found the backing experience to start learning. And along the way she and her husband introduced quite a few changes in jewelry making. A recent exhibition by Arts and Gems in Lahore was their first ever; the shop is located in Saddar, Karachi.

While the variety on display in Lahore was “a small sampling,” there was evidence of diverse designing, from the contemporary to the traditional; set off by fine workmanship. The designing and quality craftsmanship both have not gone unnoticed, since Amna tells me she’s designing for “a couple of royal families (I can’t give you names); people invite me over to their country for this purpose.” Not only this, bus, “at any given time there are jewelry craftsmen standing outside are shop window trying to copy,” says the people behind Arts and Gems.

“We introduced aquamarines, pink tourmaline and peridot, and had to educate customers to accept semi precious stones as well,” says Amna about the early days. “Then we started participating in international exhibitions around the world.”

Progression in terms of evolving is a constant. If at one time, claims Amna, they “eliminated the tanka from traditional jewelry making,” more recently she suggested to the Export Promotion Bureau that “jewelry should be hallmarked,” like it is in other countries. A suggestion which did not get due attention, unfortunately.

The diploma from the Gemological Institute of America came after she’d been working in the jewelry biz for several years. With years of experience under her belt, how did it feel to acquire formal training, or what was the difference felt after acquiring the training? The answer comes in gemological terms; one should not be surprised… “the difference is equivalent to that between an uncut and cut diamond; education polishes you.” Learning from professionals, she says “makes all the difference in the world. Literally hundreds of stones used to pass through our hands every day and we had to check them.” The knowledge of gems picked up by the designer behind Arts and Gems must have come in handy, to say the least. They export jewelry regularly to Canada, U.K, U.S., and the Middle East and Far East. “Four trips in a month” are the norm for Amna.

Jewelry worn here is of course completely different from the sort preferred abroad, though the trends are more globalised now. Whereas some years ago any light jewelry that one wished to acquire had to be purchased abroad, now there is variety in choice available in our land too. Nonetheless, when one draws comparison in workmanship quality, “abroad they have access to the latest technology. We can’t afford the extremely expensive machinery they have.” The edge we can bank on in jewelry crafting may be hand work, because “hand work there is extremely expensive, not many can afford that.” Generally speaking, though, “traditional methods of making jewelry by hand take very long and there is no guarantee of getting the exact result,” Amna compares. “Machine work is cheaper but not as beautiful or unique.”

Whatever the method of craftsmanship may be, Arts and Gems are sure of the quality they provide. “There is complete guarantee of money return when you come back to us with gold or diamond jewelry you’ve bough from us which you wish to sell. And fifty percent refund value for strings and stones.” Which is fair enough, feels Amna, “since jewelry is an investment which you enjoy as well all the time that you have it.” Part of the reason why this jewelry shop has people queuing up outside to pinch designs may be the fact that most of their kaarighars are “really old; generational ones.”

While “Arts & Gems” also does its share of outsourcing, too- they get some of their jewelry made in “ Turkey, Hong Kong and Bangkok because of the craftsmanship”- at the same time, we should also realize that we can get our share of the pie. “There is infinite potential for exports; all we need is a bit of help from government agencies,” Amna feels very strongly about helping the economy grow. Unfortunately she points out, “at exhibitions abroad EPB gets stalls in the farthest corner instead of up front where there is the maximum number of visitors.”

Coming back to home turf, various options are constantly being offered to clients. “We introduced changeable jewelry” says Amna; a concept that is still very unusual here, though quite practical. “You are given different stones which you can change yourself, either with a hook or by screwing on,” she explains. That does tie in with another fact she points out, that they “try to cater to every budget,”- from a range of five thousand for a small locket set to something like thirteen lakh for a mega diamond and pearl set which is pointed out to me. A word of caution is issued for buyers. “Gemstones are very often ‘treated’, i.e. made to appear flawless and treatment is based on nuclear technology, so the procedures are very refined, whereby cracks are filled, color enhancement done etc.” Amna says she would suggest that preferably one should not purchase gemstones unless one has some know-how, or else “you should stick to one jeweler whom you can trust.