Splurge. India’s answer to Cartier

From Impressionist masterpieces to his daughter’s toys, Nirav Modi finds inspiration for his jewellery everywhere.

“One day I was watching my daughters play with some elastic bands and I was inspired to capture that playfulness and simplicity in a jewel,” says the 43-year-old jewellery designer, who has been called the Cartier of India. So was conceived the Embrace bangle, a patented 800-part 1,600-diamond bracelet that slips on like an elastic band and can be worn, he says, “casually with a pair of jeans, or dressed up to the nines.”

Modi, a third-generation Mumbai-based diamantaire, has turned jewellery design into artistic engineering. He has patented 10 designs, including one that took 10 years in the making, has 75 registered trademarks and an intellectual property library with several hundred copyrights.

It is technical innovation combined with intuitive creativity that set Nirav Modi’s designs apart from rivals, which include the likes of Graff, Harry Winston or Cartier.

Auction houses Christie’s and Sotheby’s cite the “fluidity” and “flexibility” of Nirav Modi's jewels as inherent in their wearable nature.

Of course, these designs are not targeted at the merely aspirational. Nirav Modi designs are bought by some of India’s billionaires and most prominent families.

Modi, who is a billionaire, describes his journey as “serendipitous”. He was born into a family of Belgium-based Indian diamantaires. At the age of 19, he was forced to drop out of Wharton Business School when the firm hit a rough patch.

He was sent to Mumbai to join the family business, mentored by his maternal uncle, Mehul Choksi, who was managing director of diamond trader Gitanjali Gems.

At 28, Modi decided to go it alone and launched his own firm, Firestar Diamond. Aided by his younger brother Neeshal, Modi bought yellow diamonds from Sierra Leone, white diamonds from Armenia and Russia and pink diamonds from Argyle mines in Western Australia.

It was the quality of his stones that paved the way to his success. In 2005, Firestar acquired US jeweller Fredrick Goldman and two years later, Sandberg & Sikorski, thus entering the US retail market, selling in stores JC Penney, Sears, Zales and bridal jewellery retailer A Jaffe.

In 2009, when Lehman Brothers went under, luxury brands battened down the hatches. But Modi used the opportunity to invest, picking up rare diamonds at bargain prices and setting up seven manufacturing units in six countries.

He also launched the eponymous Nirav Modi brand under which he sells today. A year later, he had the break that would give him the stamp of a global player.

Christie’s auction house put Modi’s Golconda Lotus necklace in his Ainra lattice cut, on the front cover of their auction catalogue — an important vote of confidence for the hitherto globally unknown designer, which Christie’s decided on before even seeing the jewel.

The necklace sold in Hong Kong for $3.56 million. This provided a springboard for other international auctions and in 2012, his 88.88 carat Riviere Diamond Necklace was sold for $5.1 million in Hong Kong at a Sotheby’s auction.

Firestar Diamond is based in central Mumbai and Modi’s walls are covered with an eclectic art collection which he says inspires his designs. He fell in love with Monet’s Water Lilies at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Later, when he visited the gardens of Giverny in France, the paintings came to life: “So the inspiration for the Lotus Collection was born,” he says.

A painting by the late Gond tribal artist Jangarh Singh Shyam that hangs on his wall triggered inspiration for the Bodhi Cuff. “The artist’s elaborate forms consisting of a series of lines and studded points, are interpreted through the medium of gold and diamonds,” he explained.

“Among Indian artists, Shergil’s and Gaitonde’s works draw me for their faculty in capturing introspection. I also like the Impressionists, particularly Degas and Monet, for their ability to depict movement which my work is known for.” Today, Firestar Diamond is worth $1 billion. In March, he opened his first retail store in Delhi, attended by Indian celebrities, including socialite Dilshad Sheikh, author Bina Ramani and politician and scion Omar Abdullah.

Next on the cards is a premises in South Mumbai, followed by global expansion in London and New York. Where will his ambition take him next? “I have a keen desire to push boundaries,” he says.

“One day, I want every woman to cherish a Nirav Modi jewel. So for me, a $10,000 jewel is as important as a $5 million jewel.”

(The writer is editor-in-chief, Wealth-X, a leading ultra high net worth intelligence provider)