Elizabeth Locke's father has always maintained that his daughter was born with jet fuel rather than Virginia blood in her veins. How else can one explain a childhood spent in the Shenandoah Valley, a degree in Modern Italian Literature begun at Duke and completed at the University of Florence, an avant-garde furnishing accessories business in Italy, a stint in Manhattan, return to a farm in Virginia, six years as a contributing editor of Town & Country magazine covering everything from greyhound coursing in England to carnival in Venice, a degree in gemology, and, since 1988, a business that requires constant global forays to search out the components used in her jewelry designs?

Elizabeth tirelessly travels the world in pursuit of the uncommon elements that make up her designs: coins from classical Greece and Rome or from forgotten empires; richly colored Venetian glass intaglios made from 17th-century molds; antique carnelian and sardonyx seals; luminous South Sea pearls; cabochon stones of vibrant hues; minutely intricate 19th-century micromosaics from Italy; and 18th-century gambling counters carved in mother-of-pearl. Each piece is individually designed by Elizabeth Locke and completely handmade in 19k gold.