Imagine if Michelangelo took one look at the Sistine Chapel ceiling and decided it wasn't worth the trouble to spend years on his back to paint it. Or if Emperor Shah Jahan planted a tree as a symbol of his love - instead of building the Taj Mahal.

These are just some of the questions raised by diamond manufacturer K. Girdharlal's creative print advertising campaign seen in various jewelry industry magazines. The answer is simple: Passion seldom follows reason.

K. Girdharlal takes the same approach in the way it conducts business and manufactures diamonds, says company executive Rashmi Shah.

"Our business is not only about making diamonds, it's about passion," he says. "We want to achieve the best in every aspect of our business. And because we love diamonds, we've always been involved with the medium-to-higher-quality product."

K. Girdharlal is about sharing that passion, too. The company recently donated $150,000 toward GIA's Endowment for Education in India to support the Institute's ongoing educational efforts there. It's also the company's way of continuing the momentum of growth in India's gem and jewelry industry, Shah says.

"This gift will help GIA provide state-of-the-art infrastructure in India," says Shah, who, along with his brother Nitin, will be inducted into GIA's League of Honor in September. "This will help create a world-class talent pool in the country."

A highly educated workforce has become essential over the last decade as India has evolved into a major player in the diamond and jewelry manufacturing industry, Shah says. In the 20 years he's been with his family business, he's seen many who started as small traders grow to become major manufacturers with factories that house cutting-edge polishing technology.

More recently, the trend has been for manufacturers to move into the downstream market by creating and selling finished jewelry lines for retailers. Others have even opened their own retail outlets.

K. Girdharlal is among them. About 10 percent of its business is devoted to developing finished jewelry for the U.S. market at its factory in Surat, but the company primarily manufactures loose diamonds, Shah says.

It's a family business Shah's grandfather, Mohanlal M. Shah, started in 1967. Like others in India, K. Girdharlal grew from a small diamond trading company into a global organization. It began its international operations through a subsidiary, Aspeco NV, in Antwerp by the early 1980s and became a Diamond Trading Company sightholder in the '90s, when it also started in-house diamond manufacturing. Today, the company also has offices in Mumbai, New York and Hong Kong.

Company expansion has been wide in a relatively short amount of time, Shah says. But much like Michelangelo and Emperor Shah Jahan, he attributes the family's success to their love for what they do. 

"We keep searching in a tireless manner and apply new ideas because we think there is always more to what we can do," Shah says. "What can take us there is sheer passion."