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She is the first woman to have launched designer jewellery in India. No two Poonam Soni designs are the same. Each one is specifically crafted to suit the features of the wearer, says
Dolly Sagar
Poonam Soni as a jewellery designer has set many a milestone and now her jewellery line called Monochromes (that features art-work of Laxman Shreshtha) has just been featured in the limited edition Italian book, Trends for jewellery forecast 2009, and is being called the first of its kind in the world. No small honour when you consider the fact that brands like Tiffany, Cartier and Bulgari are also featured in the book. This new jewellery line consisted of pendants with original miniature paintings often 3 cm by 2 cm. She is the first woman to have launched designer jewellery in India. For many, she is still the only designer who makes exclusive jewellery in India. No two Poonam Soni designs are the same. Each one is specifically crafted to suit the features of the wearer. How does she go about it? "I start with the premise that jewellery constitutes an important element of a woman’s beauty," she explains. "Not any and every piece of jewellery will suit everybody. As a designer, I need to spend time with every customer to figure out what goes best with her." So you don’t meet Soni without prior appointment. She checks out your occupation, lifestyle, needs, skin colour, facial features and, of course, budget. She then throws up a few options and before long, you are presented with a piece of her Signature line of branded jewellery. "Innovation and versatility are the twin pre-requisites for designing jewellery," Soni points out. "You have to assume the responsibility of being able to deliver what is right for the wearer. At the same time, the wearer must be happy with what she gets."
Soni has come a long way from being a designer of junk jewellery with Egyptian motifs to one who has a wide range of creative designs, distinctively hers. Apart from her Moghul and Greek range, she is known for a trousseau line of studded jewellery of different dimensions and textures. Gold jewellery is hand-crafted; the distinctive feature being the bold figurines. These images are carved above a base of unique, coloured stones, unlike the traditional way of setting gems likes rubies and emeralds into the gold. Soni has experimented with different colours of gold, too. She adds shades and sheen to them to create new dimensions visually. She has also introduced chemical textures that generate unusual shades of green, rust, mauve, black and white. "In my earlier days, people used to tell me that my designs are very beautiful but they were too chunky to be worn. This set me thinking and that’s when I introduced a delicate range of glass set in gold," narrates Soni. The range bore a "very European look", but it helped her create an identity of her own in a hitherto unheard of segment of fusion jewellery. From that stage, she worked towards marrying Indian motifs into western craftsmanship—a process that has become very much her style. "Personally, I do like to wear India rewa or veni styles," she confesses. "So I have given them a different interpretation, such that my Indian styles look different from the traditional. They are modern and westernised." While drop-cuts are not new, Soni’s styling gives them a different look. "It is new in the manner of mounting and the technical detailing that is done," she explains. "This way you are able to dynamise the look of the ornament." Soni has also pioneered various unconventional styling details like lace, tissue, coin and crushed paper look in gold. She reveals that at one stage, she used to be influenced by the intricate detailing of Michelangelo’s paintings. "I am an artist first, then a designer," she says. "Once I have decided on the shape and form, I get into the research aspect and finalise the technical aspects. Even the occasion, for which a piece is designed for, becomes important in its conceptualising." Soni believes that once a piece of jewellery becomes common, it loses its charm. "Jewellery is beautiful only if it is limited," she explains. "Every store sells jewellery and if I get into mass production like them, the artist in me will be killed." With a clientele extending from filmstars Aishwarya Rai, Madhuri Dixit and wives of industrialists like the Jindals and Ambanis, Soni is assured of her pre-eminence in jewellery designing. "The competition does not bother me," she says. Soni’s two daughters Kritik Soni and Esha Soni are also international award winners in the jewellery designing world. At the same time, she explains that her best is yet to come. "I do not think I have reached anywhere as yet," she points out. "I believe that if you have to succeed in your profession, you need to be in love with it. That is the secret of my success." Stones like rubies, emeralds and south sea pearls are in demand. Other popular stones are tourmalines and corals. Your jewellery should either have big stones or no stones at all, just diamonds. Remember, whatever the trend, wear jewellery that suits your personality. Choose coloured stones that complement your skin. Even the polish of gold matters. — MF
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