Business Women Awards 2022
Achievement Honoree Kimberly Pucci Kimberly Pucci LLC
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.
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.”
She spent her junior year at the University of Rhode Island abroad in the Tuscany region of Italy, immersed in art and culture at the Università degli Studi di Firenze in Florence.
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.
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.
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.
