The Unrivalled Craft of Jaipur’s Jewellery Making

Most of their craftsmen come from Bengal, as they are known for their special aptitude for crafting jewellery and have been probably an apprentice to a senior goldsmith to find work in different city.

They also provide training to amateurs. A new entrant to the workshop gets trained by working on brass and silver for one to two years, and later he moves to handling gold jewellery, once he has perfected his skills.

The production process ranging from designing to final polishing is done in-house.

Hand drawn motifs of a four-leaf clover collection with variations.

In the conventional manner the design is sketched on paper and after the final approval it is shared with the team of stone selectors and mould makers.

The stone is first shaped and then refined for lustre. The final process involves finishing and quality checking before the piece is displayed.

The size of each gem stone is measured to check if it fits the design suitably.

Besides the size, the shape of a stone plays an important role in its selection for a particular design. A magnifying glass is used to check different facets of a gemstone.

The stone is fixed onto the wax tip of the wooden pencil-like tool, so that it does not move while filing. The gem is rubbed on a revolving copper plate to cut and shape it.

While making the cuts the craftsperson checks its shape at frequent intervals with a magnifying glass. A paste made of diamond powder and coconut oil is used to polish it.

Prabhat Dey scrapes a gold wire to make it thinner and get the required size. From the wire he makes shanks, the circular part of the ring that fits the finger.

Prabhat Dey has been working in the production section of the organisation for the past 10 years. He specialises in making gold and silver wires.

Robin Verman shapes a gold bangle by putting it on a wooden block and correcting its girth.

A craftsperson polishes a diamond piece using the traditional technique of rubbing it against a waxed thread.

Final polishing is done with the help of a hair buff.

Quality check of the stone is done with a magnifying glass.

At the end of every year uniforms and all personal effects that have been inside the workshop and other items such as the workshop’s floor coverings are burnt.

This is done to condense gold waste and dust that accumulates, to be reused.

Read more about jewellery from Rajasthan here:

- Through the eyes of a collector
- Contemporary tools aid traditional skills