Laying more emphasis on aesthetics, she started marketing the jewellery on per piece basis and not by weight, which was the norm. A new trend was born and unconventional design was the focus of the jewellery.

Soni started designing in June, 1989. She started out with one craftsman who used to make her designs. Her first clients were from Delhi. "My first order was for a ring from an industrialist's wife, which she left entirely to me to design. This faith gave me tremendous confidence. The charges were nominal since this was the first client and also a new venture," says Soni.

For a long time her business grew by word of mouth. As her clientele expanded, she realised the need for a larger showcase and had her first show in 1993 at the Taj Mahal Hotel, Mumbai, which was a huge success.

It was in 1997 that Soni launched India's first customised jewellery boutique, Signature Line, an octagonal penthouse salon at Fort in Mumbai. Signature Line has a unique ambience with Greek and Egyptian motifs, etched figurines and a spiral glass staircase in off white and matte gold. The door has an imperial Arabic lady etched on glass with three dimensional effects and crystals. The interiors are exotic and match the exclusive pieces of jewellery. Each piece of jewellery is a singular composition with a signature. Here the designer meets clients only by appointment and each piece is custom-designed to match their personality, height, features and dressing style.

Soni's first jewellery collection which bought her fame in India and abroad as well were the Greek and Egyptian lines. "These were created as an influence from the Sistine chapel in Rome. Figurines were carved on gold and mounted on semi-precious stones. It was a daring concept treated very artistically," says Soni. An offer from Nina Ricci to market these pieces was her first international offer. Romola Bachchan also approached her to put up a show in the UK. However, Soni has been selling from her own outlets and exporting to select clients abroad under her brand name.

Soni is perhaps amongst first to introduce the concept of customised jewellery, who also made trousseau jewellery her forte. She became a name to reckon with in designing entire trousseaux of jewellery.

To her name also goes the credit of designing Silver Edge, a collection of exclusive sterling silver jewellery which is retailed from the Taj chain of hotels.

Three years after the opening of Signature Line, the House of Soni went on for further expansion with the launch of Jewel Inn, an exclusive accessory store in the plush Atlamount Road area of Mumbai. Her list of clients reads like the who's who of Indian industry, NRIs and film stars.

Besides looking keenly into the expansion of the House of Soni, she has also been involved in several other activities. These include judging various jewellery designing contests (DeBeers Swarnanjali being one of them) and giving talks on jewellery and accessories (Indian Merchants Chamber, Rotary and Cosmopolitan magazine events). Soni has also participated in prestigious international fairs like the London Jewellery Fair where she was the only Indian jewellery designer.

"The House of Soni made waves internationally in 1999 when Kriti Soni, my daughter at 22, bagged the prestigious International DeBeers Award for the Millennium. The award was presented at an exclusive ceremony at the Louvre Museum in Paris and was attended by several international celebrities. These awards are the veritable `Oscars' of the jewellery industry,'' points out Soni with pride. Meanwhile, her younger daughter Esha wants to study fashion in the US.

Soni herself is clearly a pioneer in the field of designer jewellery and one of the few jewellery entrepreneurs in the country.