If two things have impacted Kimberly Pucci, it’s safe to say they have been the Italian region of Tuscany and the art of producing finely crafted goods, such as high-end jewelry and genuine leather bags.
It’s the kind of slow, detailed craftsmanship that can only be learned firsthand from experienced, skilled masters in tanneries and factories, which she has. Italy is also where Pucci developed an appreciation for this way of designing, creating and developing products she can then offer to American clients with pride.
The tagline for her company, Kimberly Pucci LLC, which has a storefront on Newport’s Thames Street, is “American luxury with Tuscan heritage.”
Her website offers items such as diamond drop earrings, made of 18-carat white gold for $12,000; an amethyst doublet ring of 18-carat rose gold for $5,800; and wine totes of premium pebble leather inside and out for $950.
“My craftsmen create for every luxury brand,” Pucci said. “I am not only an entrepreneur, but I know how to sell what I make. My target market? It’s me. We offer these items without compromising, right down to the zipper on a handbag, or a prong or shank on a ring. No detail is overlooked.”
A Narragansett native, Pucci was an English major who graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a minor concentration in Italian and art history.
She spent her junior year abroad in the Tuscany region of Italy, immersed in art and culture at the Università degli Studi di Firenze in Florence. Where she lived was a cultural environment as well – her host family handcrafted frames for Renaissance paintings at the Uffizi Gallery.
‘We offer these items without compromising. … No detail is overlooked.’
KIMBERLY PUCCI, Kimberly Pucci LLC owner and creative director
After graduation, she planned to attend law school in the U.S. But that plan was disrupted.
“I couldn’t get Florence out of my head,” Pucci said.
After graduating, she instead moved back to the city she loved, nannying to make money.
Like a layered painting, Pucci gained education in classic art and crafts from various perspectives. She made it a point to chat with goldsmiths, woodworkers, painters and sculptors who frequented her favorite Florence cappuccino bar about their commissions. She took classes and worked as an archivist at an art school. Pucci took any opportunity she could to see beauty in the making, sneaking into the Renaissance-era Pitti Palace – now a museum – to see a friend restoring dresses, for example, or visiting any city spot where she knew artists were working.
Jobs at Ferragamo and Gucci followed, as well as a position at a jewelry shop on the Ponte Vecchio, its owners from a family of jewelers dating back to the 1300s, Pucci said. Clients of the store included American senators and African kings.
She became retail director, working there for 11 years while designing on the side.
“There, I was initially weighing gold for 10 hours a day,” Pucci said. “Now, when I go to pick up pieces from suppliers and estimate its weight, they laugh because I am able to tell. But we didn’t have digital scales back then.”
After getting married and having her first child in Italy, missing family in Rhode Island brought Pucci back home in 2006. Her daughter was 1 year old.
But she certainly didn’t leave the luxury goods industry behind. What she calls “slow luxury” – taking time to produce fine jewelry and leather goods with care and create products its owners love – stays with her.
More than a passion for Pucci, the work has also become a comfort. She tells of being diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma at age 33, soon after moving back to the U.S.
“I put opening my business on hold,” she said. “I’d make business calls from the chemo chair and that’s how I got through it. As soon as my health was going in the right direction, I said to my doctors, ‘Can I fly to Italy?’ ” This gave her a goal and helped her through a challenging period.
Pucci and her husband still have their home in Tuscany. Their daughter is now 17, and their son is 12.
More recently, on the corporate side, Pucci found the COVID-19 pandemic to be challenging, as have many business owners.
With people quarantined, Pucci decided it meant a change in how the market was using luxury goods. They may not be going to posh restaurants, gala award shows or gallery openings, she reasoned, but rather spending time at home in flat sandals instead of designer heels – whether that be at their house, backyard, vacation condo, private plane or boat.
And so, the Kimberly Pucci Casa line of home goods, including leather placemats and leather pillows, was born. Brand collaborations, such as with The Brenton Hotel in Newport, opened another way to market her products, with partnerships with heritage brands such as Maison Haviland + Daum taking it global.
“We showcased our beautiful state in photo shoots on boats, picnicking outside, showing how we would be wearing luxury in a different way,” she said. “It doesn’t scream ‘luxury’ but says it very quietly.”
