How Jadau Jewellery Is Made

Jadau jewellery takes its name from the Hindi word jadna, to embed. It is not a material. It is a technique: uncut diamonds and gemstones set into gold using heated lac and pure gold foil, with no claws and no adhesive. Jaipur Gems has made jadau jewellery in its own workshop since 1974. This article answers the question we hear most often - what is jadau jewellery - before walking through the process our karigars practise, stage by stage, how it differs from kundan and polki, and what to look for in a finished piece.

Quick Answer: What Is Jadau Jewellery

Jadau jewellery is a setting technique, not a material — uncut polki diamonds and gemstones pressed into lac-filled gold using pure gold foil, with no solder, glue, or claws. At Jaipur Gems, every piece is made in-house across five hand-worked stages.

A karigar's hand shapes, fills, engraves, enamels, and sets each piece individually
Kundan is the gold-foil setting method; polki is the uncut stone — both are part of jadau
No two pieces are identical, since each setting is pressed to fit its own irregular stone
A finished piece typically takes two to three weeks for studs, up to six months for a full bridal set

What Is Jadau Jewellery?

It is a setting method rather than a single material - the oldest and, among karigars, the most demanding way of fixing an uncut stone into gold without solder, glue, or claws. The technique arrived in India with Mughal court patronage and settled in Rajasthan, where Jaipur and Bikaner remain its principal centres.

A jadau piece holds its stones mechanically. Softened lac fills the hollow gold form, the stone is placed on it, and thin ribbons of refined gold are pressed around the stone's edge until it is gripped in place. That pressed gold is kundan, which is why jadau and kundan are so often spoken of together, though kundan names the gold-setting work and jadau names the entire craft that produces it.

The uncut, unfaceted diamonds most jadau pieces carry are polki. Understanding jadau jewellery, then, means understanding three related terms at once: the technique, the setting material, and the stone.

One consequence follows from this construction: no two jadau pieces are identical. Each stone is irregular, so each setting is cut and pressed to fit that stone alone. This is also why genuine jadau jewellery cannot be mass-produced; every piece depends on a karigar's hand at each of five stages, and no two karigars press a stone in quite the same way.

Jadau, Kundan and Polki: How the Terms Relate

The three words are often used loosely, as if interchangeable, but each describes a different part of the same piece of jadau jewellery. Jadau is the umbrella term for the entire technique, from the raw gold frame to the finished, enamelled piece.

Kundan refers specifically to the pure gold foil pressed around each stone during the final setting stage; it is a material and a method within jadau, not a separate category of jewellery.
Polki refers to the stone itself - an uncut, unfaceted diamond, set for the way it holds and returns light rather than for symmetry of cut. A single jadau necklace, in other words, is built using kundan setting to hold polki stones.
Knowing which word describes which part of the piece makes it easier to answer what is jadau jewellery versus what is simply kundan or polki alone, whether reading online or standing in a showroom.

The Five Stages of Making Jadau Jewellery

Ghaat: shaping the frame

Work begins with the ghaat, the skeletal gold framework of the piece. A goldsmith raises the outline of the necklace, bangle or earring in 22 karat gold, forming the hollow compartments that will later hold each stone. Proportion decisions happen here, before a single stone is set.

A choker such as the Ethnic Circular Gold Choker that sits wrong at this stage cannot be rescued later, however skilled the setter who follows. Every subsequent stage of jadau jewellery depends on the frame being right at the outset.

Paadh: filling with lac

The hollow frame of the jadau piece is filled with lac, a natural resin, warmed until it is workable. The lac gives each compartment a solid core for the stones to rest against. It also gives jadau jewellery its characteristic warmth in the hand; the piece feels dense rather than hollow, a quiet signal of how it was made.

The amount of lac used varies by compartment, judged by eye rather than measured, since each hollow in the ghaat is shaped slightly differently.

Khudai: engraving

Engravers cut pattern into the visible gold surfaces of the piece: floral vines, paisley, lattice. On a fine jadau piece the khudai continues on surfaces the wearer rarely shows anyone, including clasp backs and bangle interiors.

That habit of finishing hidden surfaces is one of the quickest ways to tell a serious workshop from a casual one. This stage rewards patience over speed; a rushed engraving line is visible the moment light catches the gold at an angle.

A piece such as the Kundan Gold Earrings shows this setting work on its own — the same pressed-foil technique, without the uncut stone that turns it into jadau.

Meenakari: enamelling the reverse

The back of a jadau piece is usually its most colourful side. Meenakari enamellers lay ground glass pigments into the engraved channels and fire the piece so the colour fuses to the gold. Red, green and white dominate the classic Jaipur palette.

The enamel serves a practical purpose as well: it seals and protects the reverse of the jadau jewellery. A bride sees the polki; her jeweller judges the meena. The firing has to be judged carefully, since too much heat clouds the colour and too little leaves it fragile.

Jadai: setting the stones

Last comes the setting that names the whole craft. The setter warms the lac, seats each polki diamond or gemstone, then presses fine strips of near-pure gold foil around every edge with a steel stylus.

The foil, burnished tight, both grips the stone and forms a reflective bed beneath it. This is slow work. A single large polki can take hours; a full bridal necklace of jadau jewellery carries dozens, each one seated and burnished individually rather than fixed in a single motion.

The Materials Used in Jadau Jewellery

Four materials do most of the work behind any piece of jadau jewellery. Gold, typically 22 karat for the body and near-24 karat for the kundan foil. Polki, diamonds left uncut and unfaceted, prized for their soft, watery reflection rather than the faceted brilliance of a cut stone.

Coloured gemstones, with emeralds, rubies, spinels and pearls the traditional companions to polki in jadau work, chosen to complement the palette of the meenakari on the reverse. And lac, the resin core that holds everything together beneath the gold, doing the structural work that a modern setting would ask of prongs or adhesive.

The specific materials used in jadau jewellery vary slightly by region and workshop tradition, even where the core technique stays the same. Gold purity, lac composition, and stone choice all reflect small, deliberate differences between ateliers rather than a single fixed formula.

Bullets:

Gold purity: some workshops use 22 karat gold for both frame and foil in their jadau jewellery, while others reserve near-24 karat, higher-purity gold specifically for the kundan foil, since softer gold burnishes more readily around a stone's edge
Lac composition: a mix of resin, ground brick dust, and beeswax, adjusted by each karigar for climate and season — lac too brittle cracks under gold, lac too soft won't hold a stone's weight
Stone choice: coloured gemstones set alongside polki in jadau jewellery are almost always uncut or cabochon rather than faceted, in keeping with the craft's raw-form aesthetic — a faceted ruby or emerald would look conspicuously out of place beside an uncut diamond

Jadau Jewellery Compared to Claw-Set Jewellery: Wear and Repair

A claw-set piece holds its stone with metal prongs, which can loosen with impact or years of wear, occasionally releasing the stone without warning. Jadau jewellery behaves differently: the stone sits mechanically within pressed gold foil over a lac core, distributing pressure evenly rather than through a few contact points. This difference in construction shapes how jadau jewellery should be worn, cared for, and repaired over its lifetime.

Claw settings are usually repaired by re-tightening or replacing individual prongs, work most jewellers complete in a single visit
Repairing jadau jewellery is closer to re-setting than tightening: warming the lac, lifting the foil, and re-pressing it around the stone, which asks for the same specialist hand that made the piece originally
Jadau jewellery is less suited to daily wear than a claw-set ring or everyday earrings, since heat and repeated flexing can, over years, affect the lac core
This is one reason jadau jewellery is traditionally kept for bridal and occasion wear, rather than everyday rotation
We recommend professional inspection every few years, rather than assuming jadau jewellery behaves like a claw-set piece

How Long a Jadau Piece Takes

A pair of jadau studs may pass through the workshop in two to three weeks. A bridal necklace of jadau jewellery with meenakari on the full reverse typically takes two to four months, because it moves through at least four specialist hands: goldsmith, engraver, enameller, setter. We tell clients commissioning full bridal sets to allow up to six months, and custom commissions typically take two to six months, since the finest pieces are never rushed through a single stage to meet a date.

A commissioned piece typically begins with a design conversation, moves through the five stages described above, and returns to the client only once every hand involved has signed off on their portion of the work. Explore our polki sets to see what that time buys.

How to Recognise Well-Made Jadau Jewellery

Once you know what is jadau jewellery and how each of the five stages works, recognising a well-made piece becomes far more straightforward. Turn the piece over first. Crisp, unmuddied meenakari on the reverse of a jadau piece signals patience everywhere else. Check the kundan lines around each stone: they should be even, continuous and bright, with no gaps between foil and stone.

Feel the weight; lac-filled gold has a density that hollow casting cannot imitate. Finally, look at the polki itself. An uncut diamond should read as a soft mirror, not as glass. Each of these checks points back to one of the five stages; a flaw at any stage tends to show up somewhere on the finished piece.

Jadau at Jaipur Gems

Every jadau piece we sell is designed and made in-house, as it has been since 1974. Jaipur Gems is a member of the Gem & Jewellery Export Promotion Council (GJEPC), India's apex trade body for the gems and jewellery industry.

The same workshop serves our stores in - Chennai, Coimbatore Mumbai(Turner Road), Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and the Nuvo Polki and Jadau collection online or, for the kundan setting alone, the Kundan Gold Earrings .

For those who already know what is jadau jewellery in outline, visiting a store fills in the rest - handling finished pieces, and, if a commission interests you, meeting the process described here at the design table.

Frequently Asked Questions About Jadau Jewellery

What is Jadau in jewellery?

Jadau is the setting technique behind polki and kundan pieces - stones pressed into lac-filled gold with fine gold foil, using no glue or claws.

Are Jadau and Kundan the same?

No. Jadau is the full craft; kundan is the pure gold foil pressed around each stone. Every kundan setting is part of a jadau piece, not the reverse.

What is Jadau material?

Jadau uses 22 karat gold, lac resin as a core, and uncut polki diamonds or coloured gemstones - no adhesive, solder, or metal claws.

How to identify Jadau jewellery?

Check the reverse for enamelling, the kundan lines for even pressing, and the weight, which is denser than cast jewellery of similar size.

How to clean Jadau jewellery?

Wipe with a soft, dry cloth only. Avoid ultrasonic cleaners, soaking, and chemicals, which damage the meenakari and lac; have it professionally cleaned in-store.