Ms.Poonam Soni-Founder,Poonam Soni jewelry Brand

Poonam Soni is a gold medallist from the Delhi University with a background in the armed forces. She was married at 18 and became a mother to 2 girls at a very young age . Being a perfectionist, She focused on raising  her kids and maintaining a beautiful home. Later ,with more time on her hands - her ambitions surged, and the focus of her life shifted to art, aesthetics, and beautiful objects. She got into fine jewelry by default as she started manufacturing unique pieces for personal wear and this caught the eye of buyers and collectors.

She started making jewels for them as a hobby which later culminated into a full fledged business. She designed, innovated, took inspiration from her environment, and tapped her inbuilt aesthetics..

Her brand became a rage - and became known as the pioneer jewelry designer of India in 1989. She boldly labeled the brand after her name and with a meagre investment of 3 lakh rupees she built a global legacy without investors or loans.

Passionate and Focussed 

Poonam strongly relied on intuition, which has always paid off for her. Her  inspiration is beauty, color, and aesthetics. She has drawn inspiration from art, paintings, architecture, and nature to create historical jewelry collections.  Poonam’s family has played a pivotal role in her life. She is connected to positivity and the universe. 

An ardent lover of Design

She loves designing, creating new pieces like a scientist, and meeting new people and her clients.

Her work is her passion. Also, she is not easily defeated or swayed by someone else's success story to diversify.

Being a focused person, she worked on her conviction and have a brand that is jewelry centric. Her brand has been built as a jewelry business, and she is yet to enter other areas of Design.. Her mission is to grow this designer brand as a strong jewelry legacy globally . 

Handcrafted with Uniqueness, 

Her jewelry products are  individual with unique materials and techniques. Some of her Collections have created history, like “Gaudi  Revived” inspired by the architecture of Antony Gaudi. She used handpainted stained glass, and the collection got patent rights and Spanish patronage.

She even created jewelry with miniature canvases of artist Laxman Shreshtha and Cuffs of handpainted leopards by Nawaz Modi Singhania. Her first collection was made of handcrafted figurines inspired by the Sistine Chapel in Rome.

She brought unique shades of color to jewelry and was way ahead of the times. Her jewelry Collections were featured in the Italian Trends book with Cartier, Black book library, Forbes, Eco Art of Prince Albert, and the Rolls Royce Coffee Table book.

She became a Celebrity overnight, featuring on BBC Jet in London and gracing the cover of Indus in Paris , Millionaire in London and Ahlan Masala in Dubai.

Intricate Designs with Varied Colours 

The jewelry collection is colorful, multidimensional, and handcrafted, incorporating materials unheard of in jewels like leather, canvases, etc. The work commands a single price point and may include a simple stone to a very expensive emerald which is priceless.

A backdrop of the Company

Her brand operates by appointment and she started this trend 33 years ago. Operating from the 2nd floor , the brand has an exclusively designed boutique for the client's comfort and service. Despite the specialized interiors -the environment of the flagship store- the client dealings are warm and friendly, embracing and comfortable. While they serve the client's favorite cheese with olives-they also serve simple 'dhaba' style coffee. The clients enjoy the experience, the jewelry, and the spirit of friendship. Soni boasts of customers the brand has retained for 3 decades; some have more than 100 pieces of their custom-designed jewelry.

A strong Luxury Jewellery Brand

They have created a strong luxury brand in jewelry that is very exclusive. They market only through their store and private shows to a select client. As a luxury brand, they were the first to go global-opening Incredible India in Paris, getting auctioned by Prince Alberts's charity through Sotheby's or promoted by Michael Kors to display at the Carlyle hotel in New York. 

The brand has received over 150 awards and is India's leading luxury jewelry brand featuring in all prestigious Coffee Table books. 

She started the concept of Collections in jewelry, single price points, luxury Collaborations, and Celebrity endorsements with Juhi Chawla in 1989. Moreover, she started using semi-precious stones in precious jewelry and fashion shows in jewelry to a select audience. 

The concept of eponymous branding by naming the brand 'Poonam Soni came into existence. Lastly, and most importantly, the Poonam Soni brand is the recipient of the DeBeers Millennium international Award given at the Louvre in Paris by Oppenheimer himself to young Kriti Soni - the future of the brand. 

Memorable Moments

Poonam says”My most memorable moment was in Abu Dhabi on the island of Sheikh Al Nahyan, where the Sotheby's director hosted the auction of Prince Alberts's charity”. The invitees flew in chartered planes to the venue-Royalty and the likes of Sir Richard Branson. I sat under the sky watching the large screen flash my falcon brooch, and the hammer went down to sell it at the second highest price.” 

Biggest Challenge 

Her biggest challenge was being an outsider entering the closed hierarchical jewelry industry, which was unwelcoming to new ideas, Concepts, and thoughts. She broke every industry rule with courage, ambition, and conviction. Today, everyone is emerging as a designer emulating her story and naming their brand on their name.

Thoughts on Industry

This industry is vast, money churning and controls, to an extent, the economy of this country. While it is more systematic with hallmarks and trademarks to ensure the customer's security, the design scenario needs to be more transparent without plagiarism and the tendency to blindly follow a success story instead of creating their own. On a positive note, Design is more innovative, and branding has become vital to compete in a global market.

Words of Wisdom

She advises budding entrepreneurs to tap and recognize their potential in Design and marketing and excel in their field without trying to be someone else. Inspiration is good, but it should not be an obsession. To continue a strong legacy of Design, new Collections are in the offering which is appropriate to today's style of living.

Further forays into global markets focus on exclusive Wedding Collections. The collection 'Metamorphosis' has become a household rage as it converts unused locker jewels into Collection pieces to avoid hoarding and help recycle without melting the jewelry piece , to help preserve the environment.