Big Idea

Stoned and loving it

An affordable daily-wear jewellery brand that offers women a collection of trendy pieces

Soumik Kar

In his previous avatar as an analyst, Manit Varaiya sniffed out sound investment opportunities for a living. In doing so he realised that there was a scalable business opportunity staring him in the face — an affordable daily-wear jewellery brand that offered women a variety of cheap and trendy pieces. “Gold and diamond sets are costly and can’t be updated often. So, I decided to sell handcrafted earrings (₹500-₹2,500), rings (₹800-₹1,500), bracelets, pendants (₹1,000-₹2,500) and neckpieces (₹3,000 and above) made from semi-precious natural stones and a mix of silver and copper,” he says. He launched Silvette — the name inspired by a Picasso painting — in August 2014 with an initial investment of ₹5-6 lakh.

Silvette works with manufacturers in Kolkata and Jaipur and balances its inventory mix based on order trends. It sells nearly 25% of its inventory at the exhibitions it takes to tier 2 cities every weekend. “The audience in metros has easy access to such pieces. In tier 2 cities, variety, delivery and availability are some of the challenges we resolve,” Varaiya adds. This insight has helped him rake in ₹5 lakh to date, with gross profits ranging from 60-100%. With just four people running the show, Varaiya is working on making his enterprise sparkle and shine.