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Cheeranveli P G Jose, who hailed from Trichur and founded Muttar Jewellery at Ponkunnam, in Kottayam district, in 1933, used to supply traditional Kerala ornaments to Chennai Malayalees.
Kerala can boast of a rich tradition of ornaments, which are unique in appearance. Elakkathali, worn by the royals of Travancore, is foremost among them. It has many glittering gold leaves. Palackkal necklace, made of stones of different hues, is Palakkad district’s contribution to Kerala’s golden tradition.
Kerala Jewellers had all these items and many Malayalees frequented the shop. The shop contributed greatly to popularising Kerala ornaments among Chennaivasis.
George Joseph Wilson became the proprietor of Kerala Jewellers in 1986 and in 1988, they moved to their own building in Ranganathan Street.
As “we are very particular about making quality ornaments”, Kerala Jewellers became very popular among everyone in Chennai and this popularity is reflected in the form of a third outlet. They started ‘Kerala Gold Palace’ at Pondy Bazaar in 1998. Kerala Jewellers claims to have a wide range of fashion and traditional jewellery. They have a good collection of traditional ornaments from all the southern states. Imported items and all kinds of stones are available here to cater to the metropolitan customers.
Well, the touchstone of time has proved the quality of Kerala Jewellers. Where thrust is on tradition, all that glitters is gold. Published on 22nd April 2002 Salil Jose
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Copyright
2009, Chennai Interactive
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As long as man can breathe, or eyes can see, so long will live man’s passion for gold. This passion is shaped by the opposite forces of fashion and tradition. The pull of tradition is more powerful when one is in an alien land. And this soft corner becomes a way for success for others. This is what the experience of Kerala Jewellers teaches us.
In 1958, Jose visited many jewelleries in Chennai and found that none of the shops had Kerala items. So he decided to open a jewellery shop here and started Kerala Jewellers in Ranganathan Street in 1959.
There is kashumalai, which is made of small coins with the impression of goddess Lakshmi on each of them. Then there are many other ornaments like poothali, maanga malai, nagapadam and pulival
mothiram.
In 1972, P G Jose’s son George Joseph Wilson joined the business and in 1978, his second son Princeson was also roped in. However, Princeson left Kerala Jewellers and started his own jewellery shop in 1984 (Prince Jewellery, Panagal Park).
Though there was a lot of challenge in the ‘80s, Kerala Jewellers overcame all the problems and started another outlet in 1991 (at Pondy Bazaar).
George Joseph Wilson says 35 per cent of the customers of Kerala Jewellers are Malayalees. He says, “Now we are established here. We are one of the leaders in the city”.
