JEWELLERY HAS ALWAYS BEEN CLOSE TO US.

CLOTHES CAME LATER.

CLOTHES ARE, IF WE’RE BEING HONEST, A PASSION.

JEWELS & JEWELRY, IT HAS BEEN THE FAMILY BUSINESS FOR AS LONG AS ANYONE IN THE FAMILY CAN REASONABLY REMEMBER. FOR GENERATIONS.

LONG BEFORE ANYONE IN PARIS KNEW WHAT ATUL WAS.

1918 IS THE YEAR WE CAN OFFICIALLY TRACE THE STORY BACK TO. THE TRUTH IS, IT IS PROBABLY OLDER. MUCH OLDER.

BUT FAMILIES WHO HAVE SPENT GENERATIONS DOING THE SAME THING AREN’T ALWAYS PARTICULARLY GOOD AT KEEPING TRACK OF WHEN IT ALL BEGAN.

THAT YEAR, OUR FAMILY LEFT THE RURAL PARTS OF INDIA TOWARDS THE CITY.

AND SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY, A SMALL FIRM WAS ESTABLISHED. IT DIDN’T EVEN HAVE A NAME. IT DIDN’T NEED ONE. WE WERE MANUFACTURERS. WE BEGAN MANUFACTURING JEWELLERY FOR JEWELLERS ALREADY ESTABLISHED IN THE TRADE.

GOLD CAME IN. SILVER CAME IN. JEWELLERY WENT OUT. AND THE BUSINESS CONTINUED DAY AFTER DAY. YEAR AFTER YEAR.

THEN ONE GENERATION PASSED IT TO THE NEXT. AND THEN TO THE NEXT. OUR GREAT-GREAT-GRANDFATHER WORKED IN THE TRADE. OUR GREAT-GRANDFATHER DID THE SAME.

NOT THROUGH CAREFULLY WRITTEN SUCCESSION PLANS. BUT IN THE WAY FAMILY BUSINESSES OFTEN SURVIVE.

SOMEONE GROWS UP AROUND THE WORK. LEARNS TO RECOGNISE THE WEIGHT OF GOLD AND SILVER. LEARNS WHAT GOOD CRAFTSMANSHIP LOOKS LIKE. LEARNS WHO CAN BE TRUSTED. LEARNS THAT REPUTATION TRAVELS MUCH FURTHER THAN ADVERTISING EVER WILL.

AND EVENTUALLY…

WITHOUT ANYONE MAKING TOO MUCH OF A FUSS ABOUT IT… THEY TAKE THEIR PLACE BEHIND THE COUNTER. AND THE BUSINESS CONTINUES.

THEN, IN 1957, OUR GRANDFATHER, H.C. SONI, DECIDED TO TAKE THE FAMILY BUSINESS SOMEWHERE NEW. TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COUNTER. RETAIL.

HE OPENED OUR FIRST BOUTIQUE IN AHMEDABAD, GUJARAT, INDIA.

AND FOR THE FIRST TIME, THE BUSINESS HAD A NAME. ATUL JEWELLERS.

THAT BOUTIQUE IS STILL THERE. STILL FUNCTIONING. STILL VERY MUCH ALIVE. AND REMARKABLY LITTLE HAS CHANGED. GOLD AND SILVER COME IN. GOLD AND SILVER LEAVE. THEY ARE BOUGHT, SOLD AND TRADED WITH THE KIND OF FAMILIARITY THAT CAN ONLY COME FROM SPENDING AN ENTIRE LIFETIME AROUND THEM.

TO AN OUTSIDER, IT MIGHT SEEM EXTRAORDINARY. TO THE PEOPLE INSIDE, IT IS SIMPLY TUESDAY.

A BAR OF GOLD CHANGES HANDS. SILVER IS WEIGHED. A PIECE IS INSPECTED. A CALCULATION IS MADE. A FEW WORDS ARE EXCHANGED. AND SOMEWHERE BETWEEN THE CONVERSATION AND THE HANDSHAKE… BUSINESS IS DONE.

BUT PERHAPS THE MOST INTERESTING PART HAS NEVER BEEN THE JEWELLERY... IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE PEOPLE.

A CONVERSATION RARELY BEGINS WITH WHAT THE CLIENT HAS COME TO BUY… MORE OFTEN, IT BEGINS WITH A FAMILY. HOW ARE THE PARENTS? HOW ARE THE KIDS? WHO GOT MARRIED? WHO IS COMING BACK TO TOWN? EVENTUALLY, SOMEONE REMEMBERS WHY THEY CAME IN.

A PIECE IS DISCUSSED. A DECISION IS MADE. AND BUSINESS IS DONE. MOSTLY ON TRUST.

IT WAS NEVER SIMPLY ABOUT SELLING GOLD OR SILVER. OR DIAMONDS. OR JEWELLERY.

IT WAS ABOUT KNOWING WHO WAS SITTING ACROSS FROM YOU. NOT BECAUSE OF A MARKETING CAMPAIGN. BUT BECAUSE THEIR PARENTS HAD SAT ACROSS FROM YOUR PARENTS.

AND BECAUSE, SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY, A RELATIONSHIP HAD BECOME MORE VALUABLE THAN THE TRANSACTION ITSELF.

PERHAPS THAT IS WHAT HAS REMAINED UNCHANGED ALL THIS TIME. NOT THE GOLD. NOT THE DESIGNS. NOT EVEN THE NAME.

THE RELATIONSHIP.

THAT IS HOW THE BUSINESS HAS CONTINUED. FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY. WITHOUT MUCH CEREMONY. TRADITIONALLY. SOMETIMES STUBBORNLY. AND ALMOST ENTIRELY ON TRUST.

SO HERE WE ARE. MORE THAN A HUNDRED YEARS AFTER AN UNNAMED MANUFACTURING FIRM BEGAN ITS WORK.

SEVERAL GENERATIONS LATER. WITH THE ORIGINAL FAMILY BUSINESS STILL OPERATING IN AHMEDABAD, INDIA, IN MUCH THE SAME SPIRIT IT ALWAYS HAS. AND STILL DOING THINGS IN A MANNER THAT WOULD PROBABLY MAKE A MODERN MANAGEMENT CONSULTANT RATHER UNCOMFORTABLE.

NOW, ANOTHER GENERATION HAS FOUND ITSELF IN PARIS. AND EVENTUALLY, THE QUESTION BECAME UNAVOIDABLE. WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A FAMILY THAT HAS SPENT MORE THAN A CENTURY AROUND GOLD, SILVER AND JEWELLERY… DECIDES TO BRING THAT PART OF ITS STORY HERE?

NOT TO RECREATE THE BOUTIQUE IN AHMEDABAD, INDIA. NOT BY ATTEMPTING TO RECREATE THE PAST. PARIS ALREADY HAS ENOUGH HISTORY OF ITS OWN.

BUT BY BRINGING WITH US A CERTAIN WAY OF LOOKING AT JEWELLERY.

THE FAMILIARITY. THE FASCINATION WITH GOLD AND SILVER BEFORE THEY BECOME SOMETHING ELSE. THE OBSESSION WITH THE MATERIAL.

THE PLEASURE OF MAKING SOMETHING THAT LASTS.

AND PERHAPS, ABOVE ALL, THE BELIEF THAT BUYING JEWELLERY SHOULD STILL FEEL A LITTLE PERSONAL.

THE UNDERSTANDING THAT JEWELLERY CAN BE VALUABLE LONG BEFORE IT BECOMES FASHIONABLE.

AND THE ASSURANCE THAT WHEN SOMEONE BUYS A PIECE FROM YOU, THEY SHOULD FEEL THAT THERE IS AN ACTUAL PERSON ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CONVERSATION.

BECAUSE JEWELLERY HAS A STRANGE HABIT OF OUTLIVING THE MOMENT IT WAS BOUGHT.

SILVER BECOMES DARKER, SOFTER, MARKED BY TIME. GOLD SURVIVES.

AND EVENTUALLY, PIECES BEGIN COLLECTING STORIES THAT HAVE VERY LITTLE TO DO WITH THE PERSON WHO ORIGINALLY SOLD THEM.

WE HAVE WATCHED THAT HAPPEN FOR GENERATIONS. IT WAS NEVER JUST THE FAMILY BUSINESS. IT WAS ALWAYS AROUND.

IN CONVERSATIONS. ON TABLES. INSIDE SAFES. PASSED FROM ONE HAND TO ANOTHER.

BOUGHT FOR CELEBRATIONS. KEPT THROUGH DIFFICULT TIMES. GIVEN AWAY. INHERITED.

AND OCCASIONALLY SOLD WHEN LIFE DEMANDED SOMETHING MORE PRACTICAL.

IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN THERE.

SO THIS IS NOT EXACTLY A NEW BEGINNING. IT IS SIMPLY ANOTHER CHAPTER. ONE THAT BEGAN SOMEWHERE FAR FROM HERE. IN A SMALL UNNAMED FIRM. IN 1918. AND HAS SOMEHOW…

MORE THAN A CENTURY LATER, FOUND ITS WAY TO PARIS.

ATUL JOAILLERIE.

depuis 1918.