Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers makes a case for traditional hand-crafted jewellery at Chennai fashion show

The event had more than 250 attendees, including jewellery enthusiasts and prominent socialites from Chennai, not only giving the jeweller access to an elite audience, but also increasing its brand salience

Chennai: Fashion shows have always been the go-to engagement activity for jewellers to explore new markets and affluent audiences. Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers (VBJ) recently took part in a fashion show, featuring designer Gaurang Shah’s apparel label, that took place at The Taj Coromandel, Chennai. The jeweller aimed to showcase the beauty and elegance of Indian jewellery that is made using traditional jewellery-making techniques. The event had more than 250 attendees, including discerning jewellery enthusiasts and prominent socialites from Chennai.  

It took over six months for the fashion designer and VBJ to come together and curate the VBJ X Gaurang Shah event. The collaboration opened doors for the audience to witness exquisite jewellery pieces and Indian weaves brought together under one roof, making VBJ the trail-blazer of this trend and highlighting its commitment towards preserving the rich heritage of Indian jewellery in both traditional and contemporary styles. 

Every piece of jewellery was exclusively handcrafted by VBJ for the event, to complement the designer’s outfits, including hand-woven Jamdani silk sarees. The presentation was split into two segments with the first segment featuring models who wore colourful drapes based on traditional weaving techniques along with contemporary diamond-encrusted jewellery. The other segment featured models draped in contemporary sarees with exquisite gold and diamond jewellery in more traditional styles.

Talking on stage at the event, Amarendran Vummidi, Managing Partner, Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers declared that it is the 124-year-old legacy brand’s vision to conserve the traditional art of jewellery-making. He added that working with Gaurang Shah was an “exhilarating experience” as he shares the same vision, and the response received by the brand was “phenomenal”.

Design, techniques and materials utilized differentiate the traditional from contemporary jewellery pieces, and this was borne out at the event. “Our traditional jewellery collection, crafted with polki and uncut diamonds, is inspired by flora, fauna themes and temple art. It is thicker and heavier in terms of weight and has more intricate designs than our contemporary jewellery collection, which plays with pastel colour palettes. In the latter, designs are minimalistic, and trendy compared to traditional pieces. There is also significant emphasis on gemstones like multi-sapphire in the contemporary models,” said Vummidi.

Meanwhile, the event was extensively promoted on VBJ’s official Instagram handle and on other social media platforms. The momentum it created was similar to the flurry of social media promotions done before and during the’100 Dazzling Days of Celebration’ campaign recently organized by the brand for its US-based customers, which involved daily give-aways of 100g silver coins, weekly wins of exquisite diamond rings, and the grand finale prize of a Tesla car. “We are planning to hold frequent exhibitions and campaigns across the USA in the next two years. Team VBJ is working towards realizing the dream of making $100 million in revenue from US operations in a year,” added Vummidi.

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