Rakhis get a modern makeover with precious, semi-precious metal and gemstones

Rakshabandhan has served to be a great occasion for jewellery purchases this year. Across the industry, many brands came up with innovative jewellery to treasure this relationship. Here are some of the best attempts to reignite gifting through the occasion.

Celebrating the beautiful bond between a brother and a sister, Narayan Jewellers came up with a special Rakhi Collection called Tooty Frooty. It includes delicate unisex gold bracelets embellished with precious and semi-precious colourful stones of different shapes and sizes, small studs and beautiful pendants. The collection features over 30 styles in a myriad of fruity colours like blue, green, yellow, pink, fuchsia, purple etc. The unisex bracelets in the Tooty Frooty collection can be tied as Rakhi to brothers. 

Giving more details, Ketan Chokshi, Co-Owner, Narayan Jewellers said, “In India, gold is a symbol of auspiciousness on every occasion. During the pandemic, people have realized the importance of gold beyond jewellery. In the last few years, sales of gold jewellery generally goes up during any festive season such as Rakshabandhan.”Customers from the age group of 20-40 years mostly bought gold Rakhi bracelets and although TootyFrooty was a Rakhi-specific collection, they are still receiving enquiries from the customers.

Mumbai-based Anmol Jewellers used gold and diamond for the first time in their Rakhi collection this year. Once Rakhi is over, the pieces can be turned into a pendant and wore in a chain.  Set in 18K gold, the price point of these rakhis were between Rs 30,000-Rs 1 lakh.

Ishu Datwani, Founder, Anmol Jewellers said, “The response was so overwhelming that we sold out the entire Rakhi collection even before the Rakshabandhan day and we had to make new pieces. I think there was a pent-up demand due to Covid lockdowns and restrictions. Many siblings were meeting in person after almost two years.”  

Anmol Jewellers observed a 30% increase in this year’s Rakshabandhan sales as compared to 2019 sales during the same period. The majority of the sales happened through Instagram as Anmol Jewellers did a lot of promotions on the social media platforms.

Aisshpra Gems and Jewels also came up with precious rachis using gold and silver. According to Vaibhav Saraf, Director, Aisshpra Gems and Jewels, gold holds special importance in auspicious moments of life. The collection, which starts from Rs 5000, featured motifs like flowers, paisley, Om, swastika along with text quotes like ‘Brother’.

Saraf stated that the brand has been selling gold Rakhis in smaller forms since the last three years. “We used to convert mens’ gold lockets into temporary rakhis using black thread and beads. This year, we decided to raise the bar of our Rakhi collection by introducing lightweight jewellery such as bracelets in gold and diamonds, and kadas which will be on the hand for a longer period of time,” Saraf maintained.

Collaborating with Warner Media, Supers Jewellery came up with an array of bracelets and pendants in 14k gold. The bracelet band includes the ornate Superhero motifs.

Mayank Soni, MD, Supers Jewellery said, “Precious metals have always been very popular around festivals like Rakshabandhan. So rather than a conventional gift, people prefer a gold Rakhi or diamond Rakhi. Gold has always been the biggest form of investment for the longest time. The way it has come up in recent years, it is indeed the best investment for people.”

GemPundit included healing gemstones in their sterling silver Rakshabandhan collection that are suitable for everyone and goes with all the birth charts. The silver metal is not only economical, but also skin-friendly while gemstones are original, unheated, and untreated.

Nitin Yadav, Director, GemPundit said that most youngsters are buying rakhi collections for their brothers and sisters as they could not travel due to Covid. “Keeping the current scenario in mind, we have limited our collection to semi-precious gemstones only, to make it more pocket-friendly. Moreover, it is easier and economical to ship semi-precious gemstones in the national and international markets,” Yadav said.

Written by Manoj Chakraborty

RJ exclusive