She shows us how to mimic nature—with her bare hands.

Laura working the rawhide hammer and pick.

When it came to creating these earrings, Laura Lombardi brought together the driving forces behind her two most recent collections. “Spring is really focused on simulating shapes, textures, and sound in nature without actually using natural materials,” the Chicago designer explains. “And for fall, I wanted to explore mineral and sediment deposits.” The result? These layered pieces that would go just as well with Laura’s uniform—a tee, black jeans, and wedges—as with an LBD. Here, she takes us through the process of making a hundred of these showstoppers. —jiayi ying

These earrings are going to go fast—we can feel it. Click here to grab one of the 50 pairs before they’re gone!

“I got these pieces from a vintage source in New York. They all come to me as individual triangle folds, so the first step is to create little indentations in the middle of all of them with this pick-like tool and rawhide knock.”

“Then I take each piece over to the drill. I use flat tweezers to grip the piece with one hand and press down on the drill to make the hole where the dent was in the center. Assembling the actual pieces is very fast—it’s the drilling that takes a while.”

“When that’s done, I stack four of them and loop the headpin through the hole. Then I’ll attach the wing and lastly the ear wire.”

“My nails chip a lot when I’m working, but if I’m looking at my hands all day, I don’t want them to look gross. I grew up in New York with nail salons around every corner. My mom took me to get my first manicure when I was eighteen months old—I know that sounds a little crazy. But it’s something I’ve been doing since.”

“I usually create them all in a batch, working several hours at a time, but I’d say it takes about ten to fifteen minutes to make one single earring.”

Photos courtesy of Kyle LaMere.