ISLAMABAD:
The sky-rocketing rate of gold has created a high demand for substitutes. So when silver jewellery is amalgamated with some gold content and embellished with genuine precious and semi-precious gems, it makes for some affordable, yet exquisite pieces.
By dabbling in this practice, Ahmad Haroon Khan has replicated the original jewelled treasures of the Mughals, Victorian royalty and the princely states of India. These pieces are prepared in Jodhpur and Udaipur by karigars, who are the descendants of the original craftsmen of this jewellery. With his brand, Haroon aims to retain the quality and precision of the original museum pieces.
Mindful of making the pieces as affordable as possible, he mixes pure silver with a few grams of gold to add colour and to prevent the silver from tarnishing. His polki too, is combined with kundan, whereas all his stones and crystals are real.
His ongoing exhibition at L’atelier has been a soaring success as most of the pieces have been sold out. The collection comprises around 200 pieces including earrings, rings and complete sets.
Most of these are made in 24 carat gold plating on silver jewellery, kundan and polka, fashioned with precious and semi stones such as ruby, emerald, and lapis.
For those on a lookout for affordable yet beautiful jewellery, “the pieces start from Rs8,000 and go up to Rs100,000 which is easily affordable as compared to the sky high rates [of gold jewellery] these days,” said L’atelier owner Zahra Raza, while talking about the shifting trends of costume jewellery.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 21st, 2011.
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