Bec Clarke is feeling old. It's been two years since the 35-year-old set up Astley Clarke, the online luxury jewellery site, taking the fashion and jewellery industry by storm in the process.

And although it's been an exhilarating journey – one that's really just begun to take off – it's also one that she and her core team of two, which grew to ten this year, have felt every step of the way.

"We've all aged considerably since starting out," laughs Clarke, chief executive, and namesake of the business (her full name is Rebecca Astley Clarke). "I looked like I was about 18 two years ago, now I'm very different."

She puts this down to the stress and worry of starting a new business. Astley Clarke spends tens of thousands of pounds on jewellery months in advance of selling it 'while not knowing exactly how things are going to pan out'. "Until you've built a significantly profitable business, it's scary every day," she admits. "It's still scary now, and we're two years in."

To those looking in, none of this is apparent. Firstly, Clarke is stunning with long blonde hair, clear skin and big blue eyes – maybe not 18, but not looking much older. Secondly, there's Astley Clarke's early success to draw on – it won Walpole's Luxury Brand of Tomorrow award in 2007, is name checked regularly in Vogue and The Sunday Times Style magazine, has a loyal customer following and has carved out its niche as the online luxury jeweller to buy from.

"Traditional luxury jewellers haven't sold online because it wasn't thought 'classy' enough. Well, if you're part of the online generation, a shop isn't necessarily a classy thing anymore."

Clarke says she is delighted about these accolades, but is careful to point out that a number of businesses had 'already done the hard work for us'. She's referring to fashion businesses like Boden and Net-A-Porter, companies who 'inspired us to provide a luxury product and luxury service online'.

"In the jewellery market, traditional luxury jewellers have stayed clear of selling online because they've always thought it wasn't classy enough. Whereas, if you're part of the online generation these days, a shop isn't necessarily a particularly classy thing anymore."

Astley Clarke struck gold. It currently gets 100,000 hits a month and has an ever-growing list of clients. "We had Nicole Kidman shopping with us recently, but equally we've had a little old lady in Scotland buying gifts for her grandchildren."

The online medium continues to catch on – as does Astley Clarke's same-day delivery policy in London, its next-day delivery elsewhere in the UK, and its extravagant packaging that they insist must be 'better than Bond Street'.

This high end, high speed offering particularly appeals to male City workers, Clarke has found. "We get an email from them or they ring up regularly saying 'It's my anniversary tonight, I need a present!' It's always the same day," she laughs. "So their jewellery gets dispatched and it's always last minute. But they're extremely generous customers, and the whole office is like 'Oh, I wish my husband did that'."

"We're always thinking 'This time, it's going to be glamorous', but it never is. It's economy to New York, sharing a room if not a bed and then it's cramming in the jewellery fairs."

For the less technologically advanced, there's a phone number you can call to purchase pieces and a catalogue to look through, plus they recently opened a London-based showroom where customers can pick up bespoke pieces or try jewellery on (by appointment only).

Though an avid jewellery buyer herself, Clarke insists she's only working in the industry because of the strong business proposition Astley Clarke presented. As she puts it, with a background in e-commerce (she previously worked for tesco.com): "If it wasn't jewellery, it would be something else in the luxury online sector."

Armed with a marketing director who came from Sainsburys online, a buying director from a large jewellery company in the US, and backing from venture capital group Venrix (who also backs Smythson) and Local Globe (owner of Agent Provocateur), they were determined to make the business work. And work they did.

For the first year, they stretched limited funding to build a luxury website, spent time marketing it to a high end fashion industry and encouraging designers who previously didn't believe in selling online to sign up with them.

On top of that, there was the day-to-day business to run. "One minute we'd be finance directors, the next jewellery buyers, the next box packers, fundraisers, PRs. That continues to be the challenge and also the fun part here. Everyone is multi-tasking all the time."

Sourcing their intricate jewellery takes huge time. Astley Clarke only sells fine or designer pieces made from silver, gold, and real gemstones, and the jewellery is updated online every two weeks.

To do this, they're constantly travelling the world, visiting jewellery fairs and designers in Switzerland, Vicenza, the JA Show in New York, India, and more. It certainly sounds glamorous, do they get to tag on holidays?

"Nooo," she laughs, "that's a dream one day. We're always thinking 'This time, it's going to be glamorous', but it never quite works out that way. It's economy to New York, sharing a room if not a bed, and then doing fairs which take a long time. And because we're a small team, we can't afford to be out of the office for long, so we cram everything in. Still, it gets better every year. Next year, we're going to have our own rooms!"

It's this hard work and dedication that's made Astley Clarke a roaring success. In fact, their reputation only gets stronger, launching the search for Jewellery Designer of the Year 2008 as part of Coutts London Jewellery Week this month.

This will be judged by Clarke, her buying director, and industry heavy-hitters Michael Wainwright, CEO of Boodles, Jess Cartner Morley, fashion editor of the Guardian, and Vivienne Becker, contributing editor of the FT's How to Spend it Magazine.

Excited about announcing the winner, she's just as enthusiastic about the whole Coutts London Jewellery Week event - one that's hoped will rival the fashion equivalent. "Jewellery has been a slightly neglected industry until now, with no one making it a cohesive thing. So it's an excellent thing to pull together and if everyone contributes to it, we can make it a really successful, annual thing."

With a force like Bec Clarke behind it, it already has a head start.

For more information on Astley Clarke and their jewellery collections, visit www.astleyclarke.com

By Barbara Walshe