Surat's Jewellery Craft Heritage — The Artisans Behind India's Jewellery Capital

I started Abdesigns in Surat in 2016. Not in Mumbai. Not in Delhi. Not in Bangalore. In Surat — a city that most people outside Gujarat do not immediately associate with fashion or jewellery, but that insiders know is the beating heart of India's jewellery manufacturing world.

This post is my way of honouring the city and the artisan community that made Abdesigns possible — and of introducing you to Surat's extraordinary jewellery craft heritage.

Why Surat is India's Jewellery Capital

Surat is best known internationally for its diamond cutting and polishing industry — approximately 90% of the world's rough diamonds pass through Surat for cutting and polishing. But beyond diamonds, Surat is home to one of the most concentrated jewellery manufacturing ecosystems in the world.

The city's jewellery clusters in areas like Katargam, Udhna, Varachha and Sagrampura employ hundreds of thousands of skilled artisans working in gold plating, silver work, stone setting, thread work, meenakari enamel and dozens of other specialised crafts. These are families where the knowledge has been passed down through generations — grandfather to father to son, each generation refining the technique.

The Key Craft Traditions of Surat's Jewellery World

1. Gold and Silver Plating

Surat is home to some of the finest gold and silver plating artisans in India. The quality of plating — how thick, how even, how durable — determines how long a piece will maintain its finish. The best Surat plating workshops use multi-layer electroplating processes that produce a finish that holds for months of regular wear with proper care.

At Abdesigns, every piece passes through our plating quality check before dispatch. We work with Surat's skilled plating artisans to ensure the finish on your jewellery is as good as it looks on the day you receive it.

2. American Diamond (CZ) Stone Setting

Setting stones by hand requires extraordinary precision. Each stone must be placed at exactly the right depth and angle to catch light correctly — too shallow and it looks flat, too deep and it loses its brilliance. Surat's stone-setting artisans learn this skill over years of practice, developing an eye for stone placement that no machine can replicate.

The stone setting in Abdesigns jewellery is entirely by hand. Which is why each piece, when you look closely, has its own slightly unique character — the mark of a human who made it.

3. Kundan Work

Kundan jewellery is one of India's most sophisticated craft traditions — setting uncut stones in refined gold foil over a lac base, without heat or adhesive. Surat has a community of Kundan artisans who have maintained this tradition for generations. The lac is melted, the gold foil is pressed, the stone is embedded by hand. It takes a skilled artisan three to seven days to complete a single Kundan necklace.

Every Kundan piece in the Abdesigns collection is the product of this knowledge and patience.

4. Meenakari Enamel Work

Meenakari is the art of fusing coloured enamel onto metal surfaces — one of the most vivid and technically demanding jewellery crafts in India. Surat's meenakari artisans work with the same basic techniques developed in Rajasthan centuries ago, applying coloured glass powder to metal and firing it at precise temperatures to create the brilliant colours that make meenakari jewellery so distinctive.

5. Thread and Fabric Work

Surat is also famous for its fabric and thread work on jewellery — silk thread wrapped around metal frames, creating a distinctive textile-meets-jewellery aesthetic that is unique to this region of Gujarat.

What Makes Surat Jewellery Different

Jewellery made in Surat is not mass-produced in the way that imported or factory fashion jewellery is. Even in larger workshops, individual artisans handle specific stages of production by hand — one person does the stone setting, another does the plating, another does the quality check. The result is a piece that carries human skill and attention in every step of its creation.

This is what we mean when we say Abdesigns is handcrafted. Not a marketing claim. A description of how the jewellery in your order was actually made.

Abdesigns — Carrying Surat's Craft to the World

When you buy from Abdesigns, you are not just buying a piece of jewellery. You are buying the work of a stone setter in Katargam, a plating artisan in Udhna, a quality checker in our Surat warehouse. You are participating in an economic ecosystem that supports hundreds of skilled families in Gujarat.

We ship to India and internationally to the USA, UK, Canada, Australia and UAE. Surat's craft reaches wherever you are.

A Note from Aakash

I started Abdesigns because I believed that the world deserved access to Surat's craft heritage at honest prices. Nine years later, with over 1,00,000 happy customers, I believe it more than ever. Every piece we ship is a small act of pride in what this city and its artisans can do.

Thank you for being part of it.

— Aakash Brahmbhatt, Founder, Abdesigns Jewellery, Surat

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is Surat famous for jewellery?

Surat is India's jewellery manufacturing capital, home to the world's largest diamond cutting and polishing industry as well as a massive fashion and artificial jewellery manufacturing ecosystem. The city's skilled artisan community, generational craft knowledge and concentrated manufacturing infrastructure make it the best place in India to produce high-quality handcrafted jewellery.

Is Abdesigns jewellery made in India?

Yes — every piece of Abdesigns jewellery is handcrafted in Surat, Gujarat, India. We do not import or source from outside India. All manufacturing, plating, stone setting and quality checking happens in Surat.

What does handcrafted jewellery mean at Abdesigns?

Handcrafted means that individual artisans in Surat handle the production of each piece by hand — stone setting, plating, assembly and quality checking are all done by skilled human hands, not machines. This is why each piece has a slight uniqueness that machine-made jewellery never achieves.

Does Abdesigns support local artisans?

Yes — Abdesigns works directly with Surat's skilled artisan community. Every purchase from Abdesigns directly supports the livelihoods of these artisans and their families.