Crowning glory: Tumkur glitter for beauty queens

P V SRINIVASULU / TNN / Mar 4, 2007, 01:52 IST

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The 22-carat Femina Miss India pageant tiaras coveted by many, have a distinct Karnataka glitter to them.

Crowning glory: Tumkur glitter for beauty queens

TUMKUR: The 22-carat Femina Miss India pageant tiaras coveted by many, have a distinct Karnataka glitter to them — they are made at a quiet jewellery unit tucked away in Tumkur town, 70 km from Bangalore.
Swarn Mandir, a jewellery unit owned by P Kishor Kumar with 80 skilled workers from West Bengal, has been chiselling out the intricate nuances of gold tiaras for Miss India-Universe, Miss India-World and Miss India-Earth winners since 2004, except for a year's break in 2005.They are also making silver tiaras for the 18 finalists of the beauty pageant.
Kumar said the tiaras, which are based on individual themes, consist of 22-carat gold, finest cubic zirconia (CZ) stones, diamonds and precious coloured stones.
"We use only three branded CZ stones in tiara. We made all the 21 tiaras (including 18 for the finalists), with each passing through seven stages in just 21 days." Leading jewellery brand Tanishq, an associate sponsor for the beauty event, confirmed that it outsources manufacturing of three top tiaras to the Tumkur jeweller. Tanishq VP (retail and marketing) V Govind Raj said the three gold tiaras together cost Rs 75 lakh. It's a long journey before 46-year-old Kumar runs his expert fingers over the most-valued beauty crowns.
Five generations of the family have been in the business. Kumar's forefather Johraji came to Tumkur from Rajasthan 150 years ago. The next four generations made Tumkur their home. After running a jewellery shop for 15 years, Kumar struck gold when he set up the 17,000-square-foot Swarn Mandir six years ago.

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