Toral Shah is the founder and owner of the brand Silverina by Farben. Gold and Silver Jewelery is primarily sold in stores. So when we came across a brand account where silver jewellery was sold online on Instagram, it immediately caught our attention. Stunning designs is another thing that caught our attention.
How did you get into the jewellery business?
My basic technical training is in Jewellery design and diamond grading. I can grade stones including diamonds. My job in an Export Firm based in SEEPZ was to design jewellery as well as merchandise it. I used to grade jewellery, calculate the costing and exchange rate and prepare all calculations. This work experience gave me sufficient insight and experience in handling jewellery.
How did your brand come into being?
I shifted from Mumbai to Gurugram due to personal reasons. Mumbai is a jewellery and manufacturing hub. Coming to Gurugram, I not only had to start afresh, but finding my foothold in a new place was itself a challenge. That is when I hit upon the idea of designing silver jewellery.
Design was always my strong point. I decided to go online with my design business. Silver is one of the most elegant and versatile metals for jewellery making. Silver can easily hold all kinds of precious stone rather than gold. Also gold jewellery is saturated and competitive market. Silver on the other hand has still not reached its potential in India.
Another core part of my business idea was providing an exclusive and complete online experience.
How did you set upon to grow your brand?
My main focus was on unique designs. Most of my designs are not available anywhere else. I set up my brand on Facebook in 2016 and then followed it through on Instagram. Initially there was not too much social media, only direct contact with clients. They loved my designs. Also my assurance is that you get 100% what you pay for. Most of my time goes in understanding the needs of the clients.
My design range is also large. I create daily wear Jewelry, earrings, rings, neck pieces and much more. Each of my jewellery piece comes with a 925 purity stamp. Within a couple of years, I established a stable business with a steady flow of orders. But then COVID and lockdown struck. There was a time when the order flow trickled to zero. But I waited patiently. The thing that worked in my favour was that people were ready to buy again, especially for gifting. Since they were not able to go out and most of the jewellery stores were closed, I started getting orders once again. There has been no looking back ever since.
I am planning to expand my brand. It is a very tightrope walk between creativity of designs and business expansion. Both take time. Next step for me is making a website to reach out to more customers. Many times I feel the lack of store where customers can see the jewellery pieces and feel them in their hands. But till then, Instagram is the way forward for me.
https://www.instagram.com/silverinabyfarben/
A mother of two, Preeti Bhandari is a colloquial writer. She believes in simple living which reflects in her writings. As the Editor of Narisakti, she intends to use her vast experience to propel this platform to a cult status among entrepreneurial networks.
When not writing she is quilling, both with paper and thoughts.
