AS A goldsmith, you’d expect Arumugan Arjuna to shine like the sun from head to toe! Instead the affable 47-year-old confesses that he has only three items of value on his entire person.
On his left ring finger, is his late father’s diamond ring, a priceless item of sentiment.
Handcrafted masterpieces: Arumugan Arjuna showing off part of Arjuna Jewellers’ gem collection. On his right hand, is a gold charm ring for business luck. For personal adornment, there is the gold chain around his neck, a series of rounded edge rectangles set in a simple link.
As the head of Arjuna Jewellers, one of the very few jewellery houses that can manufacture their own pieces, Arumugan can certainly afford to be a little flashier.
“I prefer to keep it simple. If I wear too much, I’d look like a clown,” he jested.
Still, one could say that Arumugan was born with a golden spoon in his mouth.
His late father, Arjuna Odaiyappan, had started the business in 1952, and when Arumugan was 17, he was already making name lockets and pendants with the guidance of his father’s craftsmen.
“I’d come home from school and head straight to my father’s shop and watch the Indian craftsmen at work.
“We had about 20 workers then and I’d sit and observe how they went about making jewellery,” he recalled.
His first masterpiece was a gold name locket he had fashioned with a hacksaw.
Bringing on the bling: Gold pendant set with zircon stone. The locket was later sold and at that time, he could still recall that the price of 916 (22ct) gold was still cheap at only RM32.91 per gramme (current price is RM100 per gramme).
Today, after having taken over his late father’s business, he only has time to oversee the work of his seven craftsmen working behind his shop.
“Crafting Indian jewellery is a very time consuming process and it was just not possible for me to pursue the art and run a business at the same time.
“But I was still very keen that we should produce 50% of our own jewellery so I sourced for talent in India and found one 34-year-old craftsman, Seenivasagan Achari, to lead my team,” he said.
According to Arumugan, ‘Achari’ is a common last name used by Indian artisans and many would begin their careers at a young age.
Engraving work: Ayappan working on a silver head piece for a Hindu temple deity. For Seenivasagan, his calling came at age 12.
The workshop in Arjuna Jewellers was a hive of silent, concentrated activity during this interview.
In one corner, Raj Kumar Achari, 30, looped golden links together into a long chain. Another artisan, Ayappan Achari, 34, was engraving a silver head piece for a Hindu temple deity while their colleague, Maheswaren Ponnurameh, 34, had his nose within inches of a hacksaw blade as he cut a gold plate into the shape of a $ sign for a ring face.
“We chose to come here because we didn’t want to go to school,” joked Maheswaren, a local craftsman with 12 years of experience, on how they ended up as jewellery makers.
On a serious note, however, Maheswaren pointed out that he had yet to hear of any formal training course available for those interested in pursuing this trade.
So, it was inevitable that one had to take in everything by observation.
Learning the manufacturing techniques, said Maheswaren, may take up to three years.
The beginner would need to familiarise himself with welding and stamping techniques, which would involve engraving the complete design on a tool and then making copies by stamping them onto gold sheets.
There would also be the delicate process of mixing gold with silver or copper to add strength to the metal because gold by itself is too soft to use as jewellery.
If not combined as an alloy, one gramme of gold can be beaten into a sheet of one square meter.
In addition, one would also have to look into gauging techniques to get the basic gold wires needed for jewellery making.
Lastly, there would also be techniques to learn on the finishes.
Dazzling: A handpiece fashioned in-house at Arjuna Jewellers. One method of achieving a satin finish involved rubbing the surface of the jewellery with a fine scrapper.
Herein, Arumugan pointed out that it was the exquisite handwork of these artisans that made Indian jewellery stand out from the rest.
“In our work, the machine only does 25% of the work. The rest is all up to hand skills,” said Arumugan.
On what his thoughts were about the machine-versus-human issue, Arumugan opined that chain links, for example, have tighter loops when done by hand.
And besides, handmade jewellery had a mark of exclusiveness about them.
“Twenty-five per cent of my customers come to us with their own designs and ask us to make it specifically for them.
“These are normal everyday people and yet they want to own something that nobody has,” smiled Arumugan, confident that the ancient trade will survive the competition from modern mass-produced jewellery.
“The Indians have always liked gold. So do the Chinese and the Malays, except that they wear it in different patterns.
“I see the buying of gold jewellery as an investment. For example, when times are tight you can pawn it for cash.
“And when times are better, you can redeem it again. Now, doesn’t that make gold a wise buy?” finished off Arjunan with a twinkle in his eye.
And lastly, how does one know if one’s jewellery is made of genuine gold? Put it to the acid test, said this expert. Nitric acid, he affirmed will confirm its presence.
Arjuna Jewellers is located at 69, Jalan Tengku Kelana, Klang, Selangor (03-3371 0425).
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