Gold has always been an integral part of this old city, and holds a sentimental value among the people. The glitter of the yellow metal continues to draw people despite the changing era and sky-rocketing prices.
In the early 1900s, the pincode 600001, for Sowcarpet or George Town, was the hub for the gold market. It is one of the few trades that continues to be a family business for generations.
Unlike the swanky showrooms that showcase a wide range of stunning ornaments now, rows of gold shops during 1940s and 1950s were spread over hardly 200-300 sq. ft. and dealt with only gold bars. Nearly 80% of the jewellery were made on orders, recalled jewellers.
The city is still home to several brands, including Mehta Jewellery, Vummidi Bangaru Jewellers (VBJ) and LKS Gold House, that had their humble beginning on NSC Bose Road or at George Town almost a century ago. “The speciality then was exclusive designs and the personal attention provided to customers. Each jeweller could be identified by the quality of ornaments and we had our own batch of goldsmiths who used to make jewels out of gold bars given to them. They were either paid in cash or gold bars,” said L.K.S. Syed Ahmed, chairman, LKS Gold House, and chief adviser, Tamil Nadu Gold Jewellery Federation. Though the brand was started in 1925, LKS Gold House had its first city branch at Rattan Bazaar in 1945.
NSC Bose Road housed both gold shops and goldsmiths in the same hub. The concept of retail jewellery business and ready-made ornaments became popular during the early 1970s with jewellers adapting themselves to the changing mindset of people and the growing demand.
While Sowcarpet still retains the traditional flavour of the gold market, a new breed of wholesalers invaded the Madras market in the 1980s and brought in designs and machine-cut ornaments from places, including Mumbai and Kolkata. “Wholesalers flourished after the government provided relaxations in the Gold (Control) Act (which was repealed in 1990), and they provided ornaments on credit to jewellers. But some jewellers like us employ goldsmiths even now to manufacture exclusive designs,” said Mr. Ahmed.
With Sowcarpet becoming congested, many jewellers began eyeing T. Nagar as a potential retail hub with parking space as most of the customer base was in south Chennai. “The jewellery business in Madras from a century ago until now is known for its affinity to quality and ethics,” said Amarendran Vummidi, Managing Partner, VBJ.
While T. Nagar now might be a bustling shopping hub filled with jewellery showrooms, Mr. Vummidi recalls that his family had purchased 6 grounds then and had the foresight to earmark 4 grounds for parking space.
If jewellery brands now take to aggressive advertising on television and print publications, they got the word out a lot more differently a century ago. In 1890, P. Orr & Sons, which was also a renowned jewellery-maker then, circulated an illustrated catalogue carrying details of 400 items it had for sale — including jewellery, watches, clocks and cutlery.
Until the early 1970s, goldsmiths dominated the gold market. Each family had its own ‘achari’, who made ornaments for special occasions. Edapalayam, off NSC Bose Road, remains a goldsmiths’ hub.
M. Mannivannan, a second-generation goldsmith at Sowcarpet, recalled how his father used to make gold bangles enough to fill a few bamboo baskets.
A dip in margins and the need for heavier investments have driven several traditional goldsmith families to other professions. Now, corporate firms, too, have entered the jewellery retail business. However, for the existing jewellers, the focus still remains on what the city’s jewellery trade was famed for a century ago — quality and upholding of the trust of customers.
