Who We Are
"It all began with my mother…" says Shehzad Zaveri. "It was my mother, a visionary, a single parent and a daring dreamer, who, departing from traditional gold and enamel jewelry, pushed me towards diamonds in which she had seen a bright future, twenty years before Incredible India happened. Design and Quality - two strong signatures imbibing from my mother and starting with a small makeshift shop in 1982, I created a collection 'Flowers in Fire' inspired by my thoughts at the time. Working intricately with a team of two artisans, I tried to bring out the charisma of colors inherent in precious, semiprecious stones and fiery diamonds.
It instantly captured the imagination of my clients and it is their kind and continued patronage that led to opening of our first boutique at Heera Panna in Mumbai. This was the first page in my book of life, which gave me a deeper understanding of design; it showed me how I had to evolve to ensure patronage of my discerning customers. I was just 17 when I got this initiation, thus started my trajectory with a princely sum of 1200.00 US$. To date my journey continues; it has taken me from palatial homes of Napean Sea Road, Mumbai to palaces of Sheikh's of UAE and into Castles of Monte Carlo. Each experience has given me joy and shown me learning curves; this has been a satisfying and successful journey on all counts. Lending me a helping hand was my octogénaire friend Sabadini whom I met in Italy.
He taught me the nuances of design, marketing and retailing. With every collection I have kept these features in mind to convey it all. Launching my 'Queen's Jewels' made me realize that it wasn't the wealth of resources but the wealth of vision, commitment and quality that makes the mark. Today, when I win design awards, read or hear from my clients that we are premier jewelers, trendsetters; it strives me to push the envelope to create even better designs and ensure quality. It is my amazing customers who have made Minawala into a multi-million dollar company; today we service our clients through over four stores in Mumbai & Bengaluru. We also sell in store-in-store formats through other stores globally.
Our patronage comes from leading socialites and style purveyors. We have been covered in the editorial section of several magazines like Vogue, Verve, L'Officiel, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, Conde Nast Traveller, etc. both national and international editions. Our recent partnerships with Bollywood and Hollywood have helped firming up the faith of the discerning client in Minawala's philosophy.
Over the years I have questioned myself on the secret of our success and what has helped in getting our client's patronage consistently. I believe it starts from our profound understanding of customers and trends, a commitment to quality and my team's expertise in creating artistic statement jewels. For me creating jewels for a woman is about communicating her innermost expression in visual form; it reflects and communicates her personality, first to herself and then unto others. For us at Minawala we create with the firm belief "Jewelry is truly an extension of a woman's subtle inner-self in an outward manner using the visual language of design. The magic of jewelry gives a preciousness to form that transforms a woman into her true, beautiful self." It is different for men; when a man buys jewelry for his woman, he sees it as the reflection of the woman's outer personality. So we at Minawala try to sync the yin with the yang.