Rubies, emeralds, sapphires... While for others they might be precious stones, for Siddharth Kasliwal these gems were his playthings as a child. And now, as scion of the Gem Palace, Jaipur, Siddharth has carefully put together these jewels to design his own collection as a tribute to his father, the late Munnu Kasliwal.
He was 19 when he joined his father’s business, juggling their then new store in Mumbai and his studies. Today, the 30-year-old says, “I first thought it was my duty to join the business, but today I know it’s my choice. I have always said, gems and jewels are in my blood. I have fallen in love with the jewels, but for me the most important thing is to take my father’s legacy forward.”
After the untimely death of his father two years ago due to cancer, Siddharth knew he had big shoes to fill, from managing a business that was started in 1852 to living up to his father’s glory. “When you come from a family that has achieved so much, you know there are people expecting a lot. There was an intense amount of pressure, with people asking ‘What is Siddharth going to do next?’ My father was one of the leading designers from our part of the world, so I knew I had to live up to those expectations,” he says.
He fondly remembers his childhood where he would come back from his boarding school, Mayo, Ajmer, every summer and would often find himself in the company of his father.
“When I was hardly six or seven, my father would give me a pen and paper to draw something and I remember it would be horrendous, yet he would go around showing it to everyone proudly saying, ‘My son drew this’. And then many of my summers would also be in Brazil where my father used to go to shop for precious stones,” says Siddharth, adding, “I have learnt many things from him, but one thing I remember vividly is his saying ‘We may come and go, but jewellery lasts for ever’. It is something that people pass on for generations, it becomes inheritance for people.”
That’s why his new collection that took him two years to put together is dedicated to his father and inspired by the last few pieces his father was working on, like the peacock earrings that were recently put on display at the Kremlin.
And when you spot the seven one-of-a-kind pieces that Siddharth promises will not be remade, you know why. Just like their name in the jewellery business, this collection, which is specially designed by using a French technique called plique-a-jour – meaning letting in light – is extraordinary. But you also see nuances of his own style reflected in the collection that will be launched in New York in November.
“I think my style is more modern. Like they say, an apple never falls far from the tree, I think I’m sticking to my roots, that’s my father’s designing prowess, but also with hints of my own. One thing I wanted to ensure was that the first collection I brought about was not priced at half-a-million dollars a piece,” he says.
Belonging to one of the most famous jewellery houses, where the client base has ranged from the Kennedys’ to top Hollywood celebrities like Sharon Stone, Gwyneth Paltrow to Oprah Winfrey, Siddharth says that it is their confidence and trust that brings them to their store. “We still find clients in the Arab royal families or the South East Asian royalties, but we like to keep things discreet as that builds their trust,” he says.
Siddharth, who now divides his time between New York and Jaipur, takes special interest in designing and production. “That’s one of the first things I have learnt, to pay attention to detail. From attending to clients to looking into the designs, production of the pieces to shopping for the gems, are all part of the work I adhere to,” he says. But the avid traveller admits that after his passion for jewellery, it’s travelling and playing golf that he loves the most. And as he juggles it all, Siddharth promises one thing — to make sure that his jeweled inheritance never leaves the timeless dimension that it was set upon.
