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As she was prepping up for Karvachauth, the wife of a leading Indian businessman suffered a fall. While she coped with the bruises, she was heartbroken when she found that her minaudiere - a bejewelled ornamental case that was as special to her as any expensive bauble - had broken into fragments. And so she begged jewellery designer Bina Goenka, the original maker of the minaudiere, to repair her prized possession.
"It was not salvageable," recalls Goenka. "But she was a valued customer so we broke it apart and restored it." It is this high degree of bespoke services that sets Goenka apart And it also explains the steep price tag that comes with each of her pieces. "I work with thousands and thousands of carats of diamonds," she says. One such eye-popping diamond, her own design naturally, sparkles on her finger.
In the last five years since she began retailing out of her store in Mumbai's Grand Hyatt, Goenka has gathered a small but loyal group of high net worth customers who consider her extravagant wares as "collector's items". A staunch supporter of Indian craftsmen and artisans, Goenka works with white diamonds, yellow gold and precious stones like rubies, amethysts and emeralds. Depending on the value of the gem she uses, a Bina Goenka jewel can cost anywhere between Rs 2 lakh and Rs 2 crore. Her designs combine the contemporary and the traditional to create bespoke jewellery, which is why her creations find favour with women from different age groups and professions. This includes magnificent bracelets (such as one in pearl with a red emerald heart at the centre), earrings and neckpieces carved with motifs of flowers and leaves in white diamonds and yellow gold - some even more stylish than jewellery house Mawi's recent collection.
Goenka's work also includes ornamental minaudieres - she has tapped into the market of bejewelled clutches that are currently de rigeur in the party circuit. Earlier this week, she unveiled Theia - a delicate minaudiere with Zambian emeralds, Mozambican rubies and Zambian amethysts along with pearls and tourmalines, all set in yellow gold - as part of leading gemstone producer Gemfields' recent fine jewellery collaboration. Contending with the extravagant wares of 35 famous designers, including Alexandra Mor, Amrapali and Faberge, Goenka's minaudiere was chosen as the showstopper arm candy for Hollywood stunner Mila Kunis.
While Indian craftsmanship is evidently her forte, Goenka insists, "My pieces are not occasion-centric. I don't design for weddings alone, but for everyday wear." Take, for instance, the delicate ring glistening with white diamonds and yellow gold (well over Rs 2 lakh) from her recent collection - put it on your finger and you wouldn't need much else to catch someone's eye. Particularly fetching are the pink opal ball earrings glinting with white diamonds and 18-karat gold (around Rs 1.65 lakh). Pair these with the heavy neck-piece (over Rs 19 lakh) over a white ensemble to create an elegant statement. The winner is the magnificent choker with emerald ovals strapped on a belt of yellow gold and white diamonds (nearly Rs 39 lakh) - classic without being over-the-top on the bling quotient, this piece can adorn both western and Indian ensembles.
But what sets her apart from several leading Indian jewellery designers (such as Poonam Soni and Farah Khan) is the sought-after tag of exclusivity which is crucial to those who invest in her high-end baubles. "Two pieces might look alike but no two collections are the same," says Goenka. A clever businesswoman, she knows that while husbands would walk into her store hoping to buy one exorbitant piece, their wives aim to build their own Bina Goenka collection year after year!
Goenka has a strong hold over the fickle, yet evolving, tastes of the Indian customer. "Indians are investment-crazy. But they invest in the jeweller, not the jewellery," she adds. "I am not a jeweller who will make, then break and remake a piece and then sell it back at a discount," she says tongue-in-cheek.
