Viren Bhagat: A Life Beyond the Ordinary

I was introduced to Viren Bhagat in 2009 or 2010 by a mutual friend during one of my occasional visits to Bombay, now Mumbai. I’m a journalist, and I was there to write about something or other—not about Viren, in any case. So, this was a purely social introduction, a happy accident. We hit it off immediately. The conversation flowed easily. Naturally, we talked a lot about jewellery, but we talked about all kinds of other things as well—mainly Mumbai, which I love but know only superficially, and which he loves and knows deeply. Other meetings followed, in London and back in Mumbai. Eventually, in 2012, I wrote a longish story about him for the magazine I was working for at the time. Viren was already famous by then, a legend in the jewellery world, and his reputation has only continued to grow in the years since.

People often ask me what he’s like as a person and what I think of him as a jeweller.

As a jeweller, Viren’s one of the very best and, like all the very best, exists in a category of one. He’s often compared to JAR (Joel Arthur Rosenthal) or Jacques Cartier, and such comparisons are perfectly understandable—though I’d say they’re better understood not as comparisons, exactly, but rather as compliments, as a measure of brilliance and originality, not likeness. These jewellers have transcended the profession of precious craftsmanship to some extent, and have paved the way for collectors to reimagine what ‘jewellery’ actually means.

You could study photographs of Viren’s lean, expressive face and extrapolate from his eyes and features a combination of seriousness, soulfulness, and amusement.

This would be entirely accurate. And the amusement is, I think, crucial. He’s got a great sense of humour and, though he’s a kind, solicitous, and generous man, he occasionally enjoys a gentle practical joke. For example, on one of my trips to Mumbai, I joined Viren and his wife at a cocktail party at the Gymkhana…

Read the full story in the special ‘Joaillerie Market’ issue of LuxeTrope, on stands now.