Design Masters: The High Jewellery-Making Expertise of Smart Arts

When it comes to crafting supple and fluid jewels, my thoughts are often pulled towards Smart Arts, a Bangkok-based specialist in hand-joined, flexible jewellery set with natural diamonds and coloured gemstones. Since its establishment in 1999, Smart Arts has grown into a high and fine jewellery powerhouse you can discover at international trade events, such as Vicenzaoro and Jewellery & Gem World Hong Kong. Recently, I had the pleasure of trying some of its pieces for myself, including sumptuous bracelets and necklaces that flow like silk across the skin. Let’s dive deeper into what sets Smart Arts apart in the world of high jewellery design and manufacturing.

The Smart Arts story begins with its Founder and Creative Director, Pradeep Lodha, who started his career trading and manufacturing diamonds in the late 1980s. Over the years, his family-run business has steadily built a library of knowledge around fancy-shaped diamonds and coloured gemstones, which is also influenced by the culture of Bangkok – a place geared up for mineral expertise and trading. I have learnt that the pieces leaving the Smart Arts facility end up in the hands of jewellers, retailers, distributors and private labels in over 30 countries internationally. But rather than staying behind the scenes, the business is ready to share its story with the jewellery world and highlight some of the pieces that exemplify its signature style… and that’s where I come in! 

Meticulous Manufacturing

It is rare to find a business that balances design creativity with the technical skills and manufacturing expertise to bring that creativity to life. Each and every Smart Arts piece is given the care and attention of the owners. Listening to all the services that Smart Arts specialises in is enough to make one’s head spin, but there are some things that grabbed my attention. The first is its emphasis on metalwork and perfectly cleaned and polished àjour patterns. These are decorative, openwork metal backdrops for stones to allow light through from the reverse side of a jewel. Although a lot of manufacturers use these techniques, few can boast such a high level of finishing (and few are willing to invest the days needed to create designs using this technique). 

Smart Arts also has specialisations that are not commonplace in the industry. For example, it has a real strength in precision cutting baguette diamonds into custom shapes with ideal proportions, allowing them to be placed into Art Deco-inspired channel settings that are timelessly elegant. Another point to note is that Smart Arts is adept at calibrating diamonds according to size, colour, clarity, and fluorescence, among other factors, which is an important skill for diamond-centric high jewels. 

Finally, there’s its expertise in hand-raised pavé diamond work across multiple styles, such as French pavé with V-shaped grooves that add texture, ‘bright cut’ pavé where polished metal walls frame the diamonds to boost light reflection, and U-shape pavé where individual diamonds are set into archways resembling the letter. If you are not familiar with such terms, just look at the photos below to understand the complexity and technicality of them.

Signature Style

Smart Arts draws from three key sources of design inspiration – nature, art and architecture. Personally, I like the mix of classic, contemporary and subtle hints of retro that come through in some pieces, like a bracelet with triangular yellow gold links, 4.24 carats of diamonds and 6.02 carats of heated blue sapphires. This piece was inspired by a door handle, which shows how niche some of its references are! Another example I love is a pair of earrings that evoke the shape of a flamenco dancer with 10.92 carats of marquise and round diamonds alongside marquise-shaped Burmese rubies, totalling 17.90 carats. 

These dancer-inspired earrings are just one of many examples of Smart Arts’ expertise in crafting hand joined jewellery. This is a method of construction that produces light, supple and extremely flexible bracelets, earrings and necklaces that flow across and around the body rather than sitting clunkily atop it. Look at the 18k white and pink gold bracelet with 12.65 carats of diamonds and 17.43 carats of Mozambique rubies to appreciate how it curves around my hand. Another example is a sensational 18k white and yellow gold bracelet that flowed effortlessly with 25.41 carats of diamonds and 14.49 carats of Zambian emeralds.

Dazzling Diamonds

During our meeting, Pradeep shared that Smart Arts’ love for jewellery began with diamonds, which it has been manufacturing and trading since 1985. No wonder then that once you open Smart Arts website, the first things you see is their signature fan-shaped diamond earrings. Called ‘Ventus’, they stand out from many diamond designs I have seen thanks to their seamless blend of brilliant-cut round diamonds and step-cut baguette-shaped gems. The style is reminiscent of folded fabric caught in a breeze and dipped in sparkling round diamonds for a tassel effect. Pradeep explained that to achieve these earrings, Smart Arts’ master craftspeople had to recut each baguette diamond to the perfect dimensions so as not to disrupt the flow. Clearly, the work was well worth it, as they ended up in the ears of the one and only Beyoncé! 

As you can see from this article and the company’s website, there is much emphasis on fancy shaped diamonds, like pears, tapers, princess, marquise and emerald cuts. I believe they help to create something unique with strong character and a pair of long, Art Deco-style earrings draped in diamonds, with slender baguettes and tapered shapes alongside round brilliant-cut stones are a great example. There’s also a sensational necklace that deserves a mention! It is embellished with a line of baguettes running parallel to alternating pear- and round-shaped diamonds, leading the eye to an unusual Cadillac-cut five-sided diamond and a pear-shaped emerald drop.

Coloured Stones and Pearls

Everyone knows that sapphires, emeralds, rubies and pearls are historically important gemstones that have been appreciated throughout centuries. So, it comes as no surprise that they are still so much in demand and are an integral part of many a jewellery design, including Smart Arts’ creations. When emeralds, rubies and sapphires arrive at its manufacturing facility in Bangkok, some 30-40% of coloured gems are recut to maximise lustre and improve their suitability for high jewellery creations. A good example is vivid green Panjshir emeralds (no oil) totalling 20.37 carats set in a necklace, crowed with a 3.69-carat hexagonal emerald. I also loved an 18k white gold necklace with 22.52 carats of pear-shaped, princess- and round-cut diamonds, all leading the eye to a 6.71-carat blue sapphire. It is also worth mentioning that Smart Arts is no stranger to inlaid opaque stones, such as earrings with lilac chalcedony injected with oval-shaped diamonds and octagonal Colombian emeralds for a creative colour combo.

I feel that I only had a chance to scratch the surface of what this manufacturer has to offer, both in terms of the depth of its experience and the variety of its jewels. Fortunately, I will see the team again at future trade events, including Vicenzaoro and Jewellery & Gem World Hong Kong, so there is plenty of opportunity to explore what’s new, innovative and exciting.