Oh boy! It's gifting time

Kieeran Manral presents a guy’s guide to gifting jewellery

If food and sex are the speediest route to your heart boys, jewellery is the definitely the quickest path to ours. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy to pick the perfect jewel for your loved one as it is to buy flowers or chocolates. To start with, it means investing money. But if you are willing to indulge your sweetheart, here’s a rough guide to help you make the right choice.

Budget strains
Get this - you could pick up jewellery for as low as Rs. 500 - it might be 18 karat instead of 22 karat, but it comes with a brand name and real stones in it! Heavyweights in the jewellery business like Carbon, Gili, Classic Jewels, Oyzterbay, Nirvana, Sparkles and Tanishq offer jewellery products that start below Rs. 1,000 and go progressively higher up the scale. The Tanishq range of products start at an accessible low of Rs. 600 and the range - Solo, Collection G (a collection of contemporarily styled 22 karat gold jewellery in collaboration with the World Gold Council starts at Rs. 1,050 upwards), Aria, Diva, Hoopla, Lightweights, Bandhan and the most recent, Colours - comprises wearable everyday jewellery which has been designed for the urban working woman. Hiroo Mirchandani, marketing director (India), World Gold Council, says, “The launch of ‘Collection g’ is an attempt to make gold jewellery contemporary, a fun fashion accessory for young women and a perfect choice for young men to give as gifts. It is our endeavour to promote a new category in gold jewellery which is functional and trendy, and to give young women an opportunity to be creative with gold.”

The Tanishq Valentine’s Day collection includes pendants, earrings and finger rings starting from Rs. 2,000 onwards. The look is contemporary with inspirations from butterflies, hearts, the colour of love, love letters, etc. Also from Tanishq is the Daytimes collection of all day diamonds, which starts at an affordable Rs. 1,960. The collection combines traditional motifs in sleek contemporary lines with slight touches of black rhodium. Oyzterbay has a great budget collection of diamond pendants, earrings and rings at prices for the budget buyers from Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 6,000. They also offer jewellery in sterling silver set with semi precious stones. Most popular in the budget segment is Gili, with its 18 karat diamond-studded jewellery in the price range of Rs. 2,000 and Rs.15, 000. Sun-sign pendants from Carbon are also great gifting options, and prices start at Rs. 2,750. Swarovski jewellery is also another great gifting option, and you could get earrings starting from Rs. 2,500 onwards. Brooches, neckpieces and pendants set with Swarovski crystals are great gifting options too. Antique silver as well as Italian silver jewellery is also another great budget gifting option with prices starting as low as Rs. 800. Check out the Pallazio collection at Crossroads. Says Sameer Shah of D’damas Jewellery, “We have a collection called Love Me Do, which is basically a gifting collection of diamond jewellery beginning at Rs. 1,500 onwards, which is great for everyday wear.”

The best place to shop for gift jewellery in budget price range is at large stores such as Shoppers’ Stop, Ebony, Globus, The Bombay Store and Lifestyle International. The range of affordable precious jewellery can be mind-boggling. And you thought money was the problem!

The I-feel-like-splurging trinket
Thank your lucky stars, branded jewellery manufacturers have pulled out all the stops to make this price band the most popular. If your budget is between Rs. 6,000 and Rs. 25,000 you have a slew of choices, which include diamonds and platinum. D’damas Jewellery has a great range in their occasion wear, starting from Rs. 6,000 onwards. Triana - which comprises three stones, Raena for night wear (comprising a pair of earrings, pendant and a ring), Fleur, Aneka which has a unique setting of single princess-cut diamonds in invisible settings, Taarika which is inspired from the constellations and, finally, Fiore, which has diamonds set suspended in an invisible polymer setting. “These are contemporary fashion statements. Any international traveller would recognise them as being at the cutting-edge of jewellery design,” says Sameer Shah of D’damas Jewellery. Platinum is slowly gaining popularity as a gifting option. Prices for jewellery pieces in platinum start from Rs. 10,000. Do check for the platinum symbol on the piece of jewellery you pick up. Oyzterbay offers a collection of diamond co-ordinates, sets of earrings and neckwear in international designs. Tanishq recently introduced a range called Colours within their Lightweight set collection in 22 karat gold. The collection is embellished intricately with colourful beads, enamel and stones. Says Abhijit Achwal, regional business manager, Tanishq, “Internationally and now in India, too, colours are becoming the rage. This collection is in sync with the trend.” Jewellery boutiques too offer designer sets in lightweight collections that start at Rs. 20,000.

The c’mon-baby-light-my-fire gift
Yup, we’re talking of the solitaire. Nothing beats the big rock. Arisia offers IGI certified diamond solitaires in earrings and pendant sets inspired and endorsed by royalty. D’damas offers solitaires endorsed by Amitabh Bachchan. Great if your lady is a fan of the man. Branded the ‘D’damas Solitaire’, every piece of jewellery in this collection carries a signature of ‘the big B’ on the ring and can be personalised with the customer’s name or signature. The range will be a limited edition of the finest diamond solitaires with five scintillating collections cut and polished with unmatched precision. Also check out your First Diamond Solitaire collection from Oyzterbay. You could also get a jewellery designer to custom create a piece of jewellery for your beloved. You’d have to shell out a lot though as on an average this would cost you Rs 1 lakh onwards. Chandelier earrings - really big these days - start around Rs. 80,000. Or if you can, go for international brand names like Cartier, Piaget, Bvlgari or Tiffany. Their pieces of jewellery are status symbols.

At the end of the day, it’s not the value of the piece of jewellery, but the thought behind it that counts. So go ahead and put your heart into choosing the charm.