A trip to Italy at a young age inspired Elizabeth Locke’s lifelong fascination of Italian culture. She went on to study Italian literature in a graduate program in Florence. Upon returning to the United States, she worked as an editor for Town & Country magazine where she did a story on shopping in Thailand. This was another pivotal moment in the designer’s trajectory and led her to a degree in gemology. She started her own jewelry company in 1988, employing Thai goldsmiths to craft 19 karat gold hand-hammered pieces inspired by Etruscan, Greek and Roman pieces in her own signature neoclassical design.