#RJIF2024: FURA Celebration Sapphires all set to change the face of India’s precious-coloured gemstone market

The session by Dev Shetty, Founder and CEO of FURA Gems and Rupak Sen, CMO, FURA Gems, unveiled the ‘Celebration Sapphires’ a campaign by Fura and highlighted potential opportunities for trade

Since time immemorial, coloured gemstones have been the heartthrob of Indian royalty, and Rupak Sen, Chief Marketing Officer of FURA Gems unravelled their glory anew in his presentation ‘Discover the new profit centre for your showroom: Colour gemstones
jewellery.’

Talking about Celebration Sapphires, FURA Gems’ line of dainty pink sapphires, Sen presented data from a pan-India survey that the miner conducted in 2023. The research was carried out in 10 Indian cities with about 1,000 consumers and also involved discussions with 100 potential trade members to explore the future of sapphires in this country.

The report stated that 72% of the respondents were aware of sapphires. This shows that India has a great love for coloured gemstones. Still, unfortunately, precious coloured gemstones took a backseat in the last three decades due to the dearth of an industry leader promoting this category and inadequate supply into the market,” said Sen, adding that the last decade witnessed significant efforts by the trade to organize this industry.

The research summarized that with high overall curiosity, there also is a lack of familiarity among the audience regarding coloured gemstones and diamonds. Emotions related to pride, self-expression and identity remain at the core of India’s jewellery consumer base, so there is a high overall desirability for coloured gemstones. Unlike diamonds, there is no grading mechanism for coloured gemstones, as no two such gemstones are identical. Such gemstones evoke individuality, and their resultant desirability has been extremely high, said Sen, focusing on Celebration Sapphires, meant to excite the discerning tastes of millennial and Gen Z customers having a significant share of voice in the market now.

“The colour gems from Fura come with assured traceability from mine to market. We are working with nine authorized manufacturers— KGK, Jewelex, Caara, Kama, Midas Diamonds Pvt Ltd, Laxmi Diamond, Sanghi, and Priority Jewels,” said Sen, as he unveiled the ‘Pink is the New Black’ campaign featuring model-influencer Jessica Kahawaty, which the miner launched in the Middle East last year.

Dev Shetty, Founder & CEO of FURA Gems, took to the stage to recollect how the market warmly welcomed FURA’s Australian sapphires at last year’s JCK show. “As much of the Western world also sources from India, we are here not only to activate the Indian consumer demand but also to build the pipeline for the world markets. It’s an immense opportunity for India.” He added that FURA Gems would spend substantial amounts on marketing to promote the concept of Celebration Sapphires, starting with pink and, over time, introducing green, yellow, teal, and blue sapphires.

Leading global brands are already using Fura’s gemstones. “Through a FURA training academy in Jaipur, we are skilling workers to match up to the international standards of polished materials,” declared Shetty. Shetty said that FURA’s sightholder model for the pink sapphire programme would assure adequate supply to jewellery manufacturers, along with provenance and an entire education model.