Pink sapphire is the new colour gemstone on the block. Brands explain why

The year has seen colour gemstones steal the hearts of jewellery lovers. Impressing the youth, manufacturers are even imbuing temple jewellery with multicolour gemstones for excitement. Also in the race is a member of the corundum family not so spoken of. We adore red rubies or blue sapphires, but pink sapphire is the new find.

Hazoorilal Legacy

There is a steady, rising demand for pink sapphires and the industry needs to intensify customer awareness campaigns to drive home the point that pink sapphires are indeed precious. “People still don’t realize that it is the chemical composition alone that defines the nature of the corundum. Pink is already a very popular colour in fashion and the jewellery industry should leverage that standpoint to promote pink sapphires to young buyers effectively,” concluded Narang.

House of Rose

Sapphires had historically faced a bad connotation in India because of astrological repercussions, feels Biren Vaidya, MD, The Rose Group of Companies. The brand, known for colour gemstone jewellery, is actively using pink sapphires in its upcoming ranges and stresses more on customer education. “In the last 10 years, our focus on customer education through offline and now, online campaigns, have resulted in high receptivity. The important part is to differentiate between tourmaline and rubies, which helps customers identify pink sapphires,” he maintained.

Agreeing with Vaidya is Ishu Datwani, director, Anmol Jewellers, who feels that the path to acceptance is still rough for blue sapphires in India. “We started using pink sapphires as embellishments of colour gemstone jewellery in drop and marquee shapes. Since there was no astrological warning associating with pink sapphires, the stone got the green signal and got accepted in a mix of colour stone jewellery,” said Datwani.

Anmol Jewellers

When asked about the future of this gemstone, Datwani feels that every segment in fine jewellery can accept pink sapphires if the design is stunning. Rohan Narang, MD, Hazoorilal Legacy, is also of the same opinion as he feels that the big three of rubies, emeralds and sapphires have been in the market for ever. “Certain sections of the customers wanted to explore more shades and pink sapphire is a very bubbly, feminine shade that is bringing us good response as we use the stone more liberally in diamond jewellery than ever,” said Narang.

Harvish Jewels

Pink sapphires have been embellishing colour gemstone jewellery mostly as a supportive design element instead of the main attraction. Harshad Soni, MD/ jewellery designer, Harvish Jewels, Vadodara, sums up the history of pink sapphires. “Pink sapphires are the outcome of less chromium concentration in corundum, giving rise the pinkish hue instead of intense red. Due to common mining source, there was a lot of confusion among spinels, tourmalines and pink sapphires,” Soni said. Due to absence of proper gemological laboratories before, miners used to empirically analyse the colour density and rely on naked vision to group corundums.

The brand has been selling pink sapphire jewellery to its premium clientele after thorough awareness sessions. That, Soni says, is mandatory because of the low awareness about gem quality gemstones amongst average jewellery lovers. “I use references of the top echelons of colour gemstone jewellery, such as Chopard, Harry Winston and Bulgari for my clientele, who are similarly informed about the luxurious look they want to command. The mass market is learning the ropes of colour gemstone jewellery and are still not capable of identifying the value of pink sapphires,” he maintained.

Written by Shubham Dasgupta

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