Ashraf Motiwala: Inspiring India through the art of jewels

In Conversation with Ashraf Motiwala: The ‘Fine Jewellery’ Maker.

Y ear s o f work i n g in th e i ndustry , yo ur contribution r efl ec ts v e rsati l it y an d volubi l ity . Wha t ha s inf l ue n c e d your dec i si o n mak i n g pro ce s s a t v ar i ou s stag es?

Personally, it’s just two decades of work, butI have over 100 years of legacy that has directly or indirectly influenced my decision at different times. Since 1905, the Company and its promoters have won trust of the multitude, one individual at a time. This organic growth did cost us sizable market share. However the contentment was huge and business safe.

I was determined to change this and started learning everything there was to learn about the trade. I joined in the year 2000 and started at absolute rock bottom of design and manufacturing process - at our factory in the highly congested kalbadevi in Mumbai. That was my first tryst with the real skill and techniques of jewel making. Every little step grew in importance and I absorbed every minute detail like a sponge. The next set of learning was understanding raw material further- for which I went to GIA (Gemological institute of America) in Carlsbad, California in 2002. I learnt the nuances of diamonds right from mining, cutting , polishing and assorting (grading ) the Diamonds and precious stones before graduating from this prestigious institute.

The way forward emerged from here. I was fascinated by the Italian designs and manufacturing specially their finish that were way ahead of the rest of the world. So I deep dived into it geared to learn everything and bring home a defining finish to our business. I was determined to translate heritage value with high finish and be an exporter of ‘Made in India’ jewellery to the rest of the world.

The dream was shaping and chasing this growing phenomenon, I moved to Thailand as most places in Europe and America chose to outsource their jewellery from Hong Kong and Thailand . Here I worked as a diamond & precious stone grader for a jewellery export house.

When I look back I realise that right from the very beginning, I always pictured myself to be the person who changes things for the better and most importantly get the company to stay relevant and it’s this dream that led me from one decision to other shaping a very meaningful journey of discovery all along.

An acc omp l is h m e n t tha t yo u c on sider t o b e th e m o s t si g nifi can t in yo ur care er?

I think the biggest accomplishment was the crescendo I felt after I put all my learning into practise. A decade of deep learning manifested itself into something completely new. A completely new product unit, with state of the art machinery, best technology, both in manufacturing and polishing and to top it all a brand new flagship store at one of the most coveted address in Mumbai, Bandra.

The newness only begins here – we moved away from yellow gold then dominating the market; we disregarded round brilliant cut diamonds that the Indian market so adored back then. We had understood these fixations and chose to utilise these blind spot to the rest of diamond shapes and finishes as an opportunity.

For the first time ever for anyone in the Indian jewellers industry, we took a bold step – we introduced other 8-9 different shaped diamonds. We knew mere new shapes would not be enough, so a radical change in design was bought about – to top it all we manufactured it using rose/pink gold instead of the most preferred yellow .

From a company playing safe to innovation leaps in every aspect of design and manufacturing aiming to being nothing less than trend setters – the risks were huge –but I was confident on this being the future of jewellery and we went all in and launched it as Fine Jewellery in an all designed 6000 sq ft of sheer luxury with unprecedented in store customer experience.

I now can boldly state; When a store is made up of 80 percent rose gold and fancy shape diamonds jewellery, in a never before seen design and finish- alongside deliberately left 20 percent of the usual yellow and white gold pieces, in typical designs is opened, with a mind set to serve your customers something new… Magic happens