Indian Institute of Gems & Jewellery, Academics’ presence at IIJS Premiere 2022 featured a uniquely-designed display gallery entitled Gallerie Futura, Creations from GenNext. The display gallery showcased futuristic and creative jewellery designed and manufactured by IIGJ students from centres based in Delhi, Jaipur, Mumbai, Udupi and Varanasi. IIGJ Research & Laboratories made available state-of-the-art equipment for on-the-spot testing, showcasing its expertise in the field of precious stone and jewellery certification.

The students’ design gallery concept was re-imagined for IIJS Premiere 2022 with the theme ‘Nisarga – Unveiling Nature.’ This year’s impactful and attractive display of students’ creations, with visual merchandising courtesy Aditi Kotak, Vision Board Studio, not only highlights their creativity and skills but also IIGJ’s strong commitment to fulfil the industry’s professional workforce requirements in line with its vision “To deliver knowledge?about gems and jewellery?to aspiring young professionals and entrepreneurs to?help?build their careers and businesses?by developing their understanding?of the beautiful world of gemstones, designing, manufacturing and management of jewellery businesses.”

Indian Institute of Gems & Jewellery – Academics and Laboratories - are two important initiatives of the GJEPC that have been serving the industry for decades. With India emerging as a pivotal player in the global market of gems and jewellery over the last few years, IIGJ’s role in GJEPC’s future plans for industry expansion has become even more crucial. IIGJ has always played an important role in GJEPC’s plans and efforts for expansion of the gem and jewellery industry in India. This role has become even more crucial in the last few years with India emerging as a pivotal player in the global market of gems and jewellery.

Colin Shah, Chairman, Gems & Jewellery Export Promotion Council visited the booth and spoke in glowing terms about the students’ creations displayed at the gallery. He also commended the excellent work being carried out by IIGJ in providing industry-aligned gem and jewellery education. Speaking in response to numerous queries from different sizes of businesses at IIJS 2022, Bharat Vaswani, Head, IIGJ Mumbai, stated that apart from an interest in standard education offerings, a large section of manufacturers and retailers have shown keen interest in IIGJ’s customised training programmes for small, medium and large businesses. These are a part of IIGJ’s latest initiatives to provide jewellery company employees with tailor-made programmes aimed at upskilling them and enhancing their productivity. He also mentioned that one of the most important objectives of IIGJ’s education programmes is to help create entrepreneurs.

IIGJ-Research & Laboratories Centre (IIGJ-RLC) plays an important role in the industry and growing exports by providing much-needed certification services for gemstones and jewellery. The two centres, one based in Delhi and the other in Jaipur, have been serving the industry since 1972. These were earlier known as Gem Testing Laboratory (GTL Jaipur) and Indian Gemmological Institute - Gem Testing Laboratory (IGI-GTL, Delhi), and are now amalgamated as IIGJ RLC. Over the years, IIGJ-RLC has emerged as the leading facility in the country for certification of coloured gemstones, diamonds and jewellery as well as origin services of emeralds. Laboratory infrastructure, created at par with international standards, offers gemmological services to both domestic as well as overseas clients.

In fact, the Jaipur centre is the only laboratory in the country with the LA-ICPMS equipment for origin determination of emeralds. Quality certification is provided by qualified personnel using state-of-the-art equipment. RLC also publishes several journals and scholarly articles, and its Lab Information Circular is well-respected in the field. RLC operates a customer-friendly service and offers door-to-door delivery of customers’ gems and jewellery. Participation in IIJS Premiere 2022 by both IIGJ and RLC has strengthened old ties with the industry, while forging new bonds. In line with its vision, IIGJ has been successful in highlighting the importance of professional education with industry-aligned curriculums in every aspect of gem and jewellery.