PUNE: Couplepreneur, Dr. Amol Patwari and Pallavi Mohadikar are disrupting the Indian jewellery industry with their direct-to-customer (D2C) startup, Palmonas. The startup offers quintessential designs of demi-fine jewellery that looks like gold, feels like gold, and stays gold. The name Palmonas was derived from a combination of names Pallavi, Amol, and their daughter Anaya. Palmonas uses ‘surgical stainless steel’ or sterling silver, plated with 18-carat gold, with a product range including bracelets, rings, chains, and earrings.
Dr. Amol and Pallavi’s vision for Palmonas is to establish it as an international brand, particularly targeting the thriving demi-fine jewellery segment in the US and UK. Starting with 30 unique designs, primarily focusing on necklaces and earrings within two categories, Palmonas has expanded significantly with 1000 different SKUs available on their website. In the jewellery they create, the base metal is gold-plated. Unlike other gold-plated jewellery that requires careful handling, avoiding contact with water and perfume, Palmonas’ aim was to ensure that the plating remains intact. They came up with a concept of New Age Gold, having 18Karat gold vermeil plating. In typical flash-plated jewellery, the gold layer is only 0.5 microns thick. However, in Palmonas’ jewellery, they use a layer that is 2.5 microns thick, making it significantly thicker than regular gold-plated jewellery. As a result, their jewellery looks identical to the gold and has a premium finish.
Pallavi says, “In India, people are fond of gold, buy it on every occasion but often keep it locked away, only to wear during special occasions. Gold jewellery becomes a stagnant investment with limited use. On the other hand, imitation jewellery, which is available cheaply on the streets for around Rs 50-100, is neither skin-friendly nor elegant in appearance. For the millennial crowd, college-going girls, and working women, wearing gold is a status symbol. They want to appear affluent and expensive. People often choose gold as it does not cause adverse reactions like rashes or skin-turning green. This was an ‘aha’ moment for us, and we delved into research to find artisans who could craft jewellery using surgical stainless steel. We pondered over the idea of creating something that closely resembles gold but comes at a fraction of the price.“
Pallavi and Dr. Amol derive their D2C go-to-market strategy and experience from their earlier successful ventures like IndoFash and Karagiri. “In our first two ventures, we were ahead of our times as we had attempted to create a marketplace model while competing with giants like Amazon and Flipkart. Later we pivoted to the brand model and got strategic market insights. Considering the evolving market trends, we now want to scale up our direct-to-consumer (D2C) sales and marketplace presence. In about a year, we are considering launching 9 Karat and 12 Karat gold products designed for daily wear, incorporating international designs and at affordable prices.”
“In the next few years, the millennial population in India will not necessarily view gold as an investment but would instead opt for gold bonds and allocate the saved making charges towards purchasing multiple pieces of Demi-fine jewellery. This indicates a changing trend in the jewellery industry, where Demi-fine, the new age gold jewellery which looks like gold, feels like gold and stays gold, represents the future due to its affordability, elegance, and wider range of designs and aesthetics,” the duo added.
Palmonas is disrupting the Indian jewellery industry with its affordable luxury for everyone. Their vision is to establish Palmonas as an international brand, targeting the thriving demi-fine jewellery segment in the US and UK. With their New Age Gold concept, Palmonas’ jewellery looks identical to the gold and has a premium finish. The changing trend in the jewellery industry indicates that Demi-fine, the new-age gold jewellery, represents the future due to its affordability, elegance, and wider range of designs and aesthetics.
 startup offering affordable demi-fine jewellery that looks like gold, feels like gold, and stays gold. Their vision is to establish Palmonas as an international brand, targeting the thriving demi-fine jewellery segment in the US and UK.){kind=link}