Our ensuing conversation was as relaxed and unrestrained as I could have hoped. And though the vibe of our time together was easy breezy, the content of our discussion was full of nuggets of joy, insight and wisdom. Below are some key highlights that will forever live rent free in my head.

Laura was born into a family of jewelers in Vicenza, a famed goldsmithing region of Italy. Predestined to work in the industry, she initially joined the family business before she recognized that her perspective on what jewelry should be and how women could adorn themselves made her an outlier. Rather than thwarting her ambitions, the realization inspired her to strike out on her own and, along with her husband Piero, she launched Nanis.

Laura described the dynamic between her and Piero as “…the Yin and the Yang,” explaining that she is more “explosive” and creative one while his mind works more like that of an engineer. While accepting and respecting one another’s points-of-view, the friction when they’re not-yet-aligned seems to add to the vitality of the work. “Most of the time I am very creative, but also sometimes even too avant-garde,” she told me. “So sometimes I need to be taken a little bit down to earth. And that’s what he does…sometimes he does it too much!”

When it comes to a good-natured showdown with one of their skilled artisans acting as referee however, you can bet Laura gets what she wants! “I’m very consistent in asking, so they do it. And I can bring the coffee, I am very sneaky, but where I want to arrive, I arrive, believe me,” she told me with a sly smile.

While working in jewelry was pre-ordained, when I ask her why she ultimately chose to express her creativity through the artform, it was obvious that her passion is rooted in her very soul. She loves that its ornamental, but she also reveres its permanence. Speaking about gold, she waxes poetic, “It’s warm, it caresses your skin, it’s directly in contact with your skin so it really becomes part of you…and also, it’s something that you can leave to your beloved.”

Laura’s creative process is extremely physical. While she does sketch renderings of her work, she prefers to take the prototypes in her hand and feel the weight, see how the pieces drape with the body. This infuses her jewelry with a level of intimacy and luxury that Laura likens to cashmere, telling me, “You don’t wear cashmere for others, others don’t even understand you’re wearing cashmere, but it caresses your skin and that’s the most important thing.”

Laura took this physicality to new heights over two decades ago with the creation of several pieces of spectacular body jewelry. Originally created for a catwalk show in Vicenza, she transformed signature elements of her collection into bespoke ensembles.

She juxtaposed the full body effect with the models also shown wearing pieces from her existing collection. The sexy, awe-inspiring results were touted for their ingenuity and imaginativeness. And I have it on record on our podcast that Laura is going to be bringing some of these beauties back into the mix!

Vestiges of this head-to-toe adornment persist throughout her collections. Transitional pieces that can be worn in a variety of ways allow women to express a mood, a moment or an attitude through her work. A lariat that becomes a belt, necklaces that can be worn in multiple ways, rings that flip between pavé and cabochon and earrings with removable drops create a flexibility for the wearer, resulting in an ease and confidence that can only come from expressing ones’ authentic self.

The Nanis company culture is singular. It’s not just the epic holiday party she throws each year, which goes all night and well into the morning, that gives it its appeal, it’s that Laura feels as if all of her employees are members of her family, and they feel it in return; they all fight to travel with her! A working mother herself, she distinctly remembers the challenges of raising a young family while earning a living.

A recent re-design of the facilities provided everyone with more space, more light, and a kitchen stocked with nourishing food. Encouraging her team to work the hours that work for them, she enthused, “I want people to come in to Nanis specifically because they feel good, they want to really be a part of it. It’s not about money, which is good, okay, but I don’t want them to be there for that. I want them to be there because they fight for Nanis!”