In this episode of Out of the Clouds, host Anne Muhlethaler interviews the creative fine jeweler Nina Runsdorf. The two know each other well, having first been introduced by a mutual friend in 2011, and are currently working together on developing Nina’s business.
The super chic designer, who has been at the head of her eponymous brand for a little over 15 years, talks first about her roots in family and design. She has essentially been making jewellery throughout her life, first starting at her parent’s upstate farm in New York age 11, then in college with a friend, before launching Niana, a small brand with her sister Ann, with the mild support of their grandmother and the rest of the family.
After a few years working in retail, then as accessories director and then fashion director, Nina landed in jewelry again, this time in the diamond business. One thing led to another and her own brand was born. In this interview, the fiercely passionate New York native extols the virtues of being true to herself, how lucky she was to be taught by her mother about the importance of searching for treasures in unlikely places and why her jewellery is never too precious to wear – to be worn with a white t-shirt and jeans or with a ballgown.
Nina’s vibrant and artistic approach extends to her relationship to her clients and her atelier on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. She knows what her clients want, because, as she explains, she is her own client!
Nina also candidly shares about the challenge of losing her husband and the support she got from friends and family, in bringing up her two daughters Alexa and Kate, while running a brand-new business. Anne and Nina end up as always on Out of the Clouds, discussing what brings happiness. A moving,light and wide-ranging conversation.
Selected Links from Episode
Find Nina at Ninarunsdorf.com
or on Instagram @NinaRunsdorfJewelry
Or Facebook @NinaRunsdorf
Nina Runsdorf signature Flip Ring
Stanley Korshak in Dallas
Nina Runsdorf Phoenix Collection of Slice Diamonds with enamel
Couture Jewelry Show in Las Vegas
Nina’s article in WWD about pioneering Sliced diamonds and coloured slice
Just One Eye in Los Angeles
Nina Runsdorf on collecting in the Financial Times
Nina’s closet shot by the Coveteur
Breguet, Swiss watches
Nina’s interview in Forbes about travel
Nina Runsdorf All That Is Collection
Salvatore Ferragamo, the biography
Full Episode Transcript
Nina Runsdorf:
Hi. Hello. Bonjour. Namaste. This is Out of the Clouds, a podcast at the crossroads between business and mindfulness, and I am your host, Anne Muhlethaler. Today, my guest is Nina Runsdorf. Nina is an exceptionally talented creative based in New York City, and she is at the head of her eponymous brand, which she launched in 2005 after creating her trademark design, the Flip Ring. Nina and I have known each other for about 11 years now, and I have been supporting her as a consultant in her business for about three years. So it’s fair to say that we know each other really well, especially since we have traveled together. Remember that time when we could do that? It was an absolute pleasure and a different kind of exercise to interview someone whose story I know relatively well. But as in anything, when we spend time listening to each other, interesting things pop up. So I hope you’ll enjoy our conversation as much as I enjoyed it. Without further ado, I give you Nina Runsdorf.
Nina Runsdorf:
Nina, hi. Welcome to Out of the Clouds. Thank you for being my guest today.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Thank you for having me. I feel so honored to be part of your podcast, Anne.
Nina Runsdorf:
We obviously know each other pretty well. I like to invite my guests to tell their story very freely and pick up wherever they want. So Nina, maybe you can start by telling our listeners who you are and what you do and where you come from.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Of course. I would love to.
Nina Runsdorf:
I was born in New York City, of two parents that were also born in New York City. When I was eight years old, my parents decided to drop out of the New York lifestyle and move my sister, brother, and I to a farm in Upstate New York where we were raised until I went to university. A few things that I really love about my childhood is that because I was born in New York City, I never lost the connection with New York, but I was also raised in the country and I was raised around trees and plants and gardening and very, very normal to me … I mean, maybe to a person, growing up in the country is not normal. But I always say that my childhood made me always have two feet on the ground. I had a very balanced childhood, and because of that, I think it gives me a lot of inner strength. Growing up in the country and just being around nature has been a huge inspiration in my life and part of who I am.
Nina Runsdorf:
I always say I’m a farm girl, although I’m in the luxury jewelry business. But I also always say never take anything too seriously, as long as it’s not hurting anybody else, and I think that transpires into the motto of my brand, “Never too precious to wear.” When I was growing up, my mother used to say, “Go out and play with your sister and brother,” and I would be like, “Can we buy the magazine at the local grocery store?” Because I used to sit and tear fashion and accessories from a very early age. So when I was around 10 or 11, my mother saw that I loved to work with my hands, and so she put a jewelry bench in the kitchen of our farmhouse where we were allowed to watch a half an hour of TV a day, which was always I Love Lucy, because it was so funny. Then at night, I would make jewelry, my sister would read, my brother would play with this chemistry set, and it was a very, very normal childhood.
Nina Runsdorf:
We weren’t on the computer. We didn’t have the ability to have cell phones and computers in those years, although I’m dating myself. And so I think that’s why I’m so grounded. I also think having parents that loved artists, musicians, architect … Even though we lived in New York, the president of the Met had a country house nearby, or my mother’s best friend was a very famous potter, or we would have people coming to visit who were always sculptors. So from a very early age, I was really involved in art. Not so much fashion, although my mother when I was growing up also had a fashion company called [Oola 00:04:33], and so I really was brought up with art and fashion all around me from the beginning. So that’s kind of who I am, I guess.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Actually, that reminds me. Your mother is friends with quite a few famous artists, and I believe that there’s some really fun group texts in your family. Can you share anything around that?
Nina Runsdorf:
There are. Yeah, sure. My father was actually really, really friendly with a very famous artist and he would go to his studio and he would sit, and they would go to the garbage dump together. But now, because my father’s gone and passed away, my mother’s kind of taken over the handle of the Instagram and just on every single post of anybody that we know, famous or not famous, she’s writing to them like crazy on the Instagram.
Anne Muhlethaler:
That is quite fabulous. Actually, I think it’s great that we are on her, because she, I remember you telling me before, has been a major influence in your life, first and foremost because she identified your talent or your desire to make things with your hands when you were a child. Tell me about how she made that choice to put that jewelry bench in the kitchen.
Nina Runsdorf:
Well, I think when you grow up in the country but you’re also from the city, my parents didn’t want me going to the local pub and hanging out. So what they did was, they gave us opportunities to grow and to mold who we are as people. One of them for me was jewelry. The other one for me was to be a horseback rider. So was my sister, and we both competed until we went to university. So we treated it as if it was a job, not as a hobby, and I think that’s the same with the jewelry. It was treated as a job, not a hobby. We were taught to get up out of bed, make our beds, empty our garbages, clean the stall of the horses. We were brought up with a lot of different rules so that we realized what was important and not. And so becoming a good rider, being able to work as hard as you can, made us realize that when you work hard, you can really accomplish anything. Or with the jewelry, designing a line of jewelry at 11 that my two daughters say is relevant now, which I’m not so sure, but somebody else can judge.
Anne Muhlethaler:
I say it’s relevant. I’ve seen it. I think it’s fantastic. Watch out, world.
Nina Runsdorf:
Watch out, world.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Can you tell me about what that was as an experience for you to make that for the first time? Did you find it easy? How did it come to you?
Nina Runsdorf:
Well, my mom introduced me to a few sculptors, actually, that taught me the lost-wax process so that I actually could carve the wax pieces first, and then we would bring them to New York because we didn’t have a casting company in Upstate. Then we would bring them here, cast them, then I had my own polishing wheel, my own solder machine. I really learned to make jewelry from beginning to end. So when I went back into the jewelry business later on and launched my company, I understand how things are made, and I think that’s really important. As a designer, you really need to know all the processes.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Did you wear it?
Nina Runsdorf:
Of course I wore it. In fact, I just a couple of weeks ago had to travel and I wore the silver jewelry so that I wouldn’t have to bring fancy things with me, and it felt good.
Anne Muhlethaler:
That’s amazing. You’re going to have to share some pictures.
Nina Runsdorf:
Okay. I will.
Anne Muhlethaler:
I know that your dad was obviously also a big influence on you, and he’s no longer with us, as you mentioned. Can you tell me about what you feel is a lasting mark that he has left with you and your siblings?
Nina Runsdorf:
I think the most important thing that my father taught me was that money doesn’t make the person, and that he was incredibly understated. He never wore anything with a label. He really preferred farming and doing things like being in the country than being a Wall Streeter. He was very entrepreneurial. When we were children, he worked in television. He had a editing company. Everybody in our family played an instrument. My father was the trombone. He had a great love of music, as does my mother, who plays the piano. I played the clarinet, my sister the flute, and my brother started with the saxophone and ended up with the French horn. So we were our own little walking band.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Oh man.
Nina Runsdorf:
So pretty cool. So he also taught us a love of music. He was incredibly kind. He loved people from all different stations. It didn’t matter how much money you had. He was a very, very kind person, and so I think the balance between my mother and my father was a very, very good one for me.
Anne Muhlethaler:
He sounds like a beautiful person.
Nina Runsdorf:
Beautiful.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Thanks so much for sharing that. So tell me a little bit about what happened when you were in college. I remember you telling me that around that time, you started making some fancy jewelry. I think it was bracelets at the time?
Nina Runsdorf:
Yes. What happened, actually, was that I had this roommate who was from New Jersey, and her parents went to flea markets and they would gather all of these pieces of things and they would sell at flea markets. So it got me thinking about making jewelry again after I left home, and obviously didn’t bring my jewelry bench to college with me. And so I said to my friend, Lori, my roommate, “We should start a new business and we should start making things. I’ll go to New York and I’ll buy some gold wire and some things and we’ll make some creations. Maybe your parents can sell them. Maybe we can sell them to friends, to schoolmates.”
Nina Runsdorf:
So I went to New York and I bought all the stuff. In those years, it was like these wild … Earrings were really big and really wild and sculptural, so I had this crazy idea and I would take very thin gold wire and I would wrap it around a broom handle, literally. Then I bought these gold beads and I would string these spiral … it almost looked like planets … and they would be really long and really big, but really, really light. I would wear them all the time, and in those years, I had a cousin who had a house in Malibu. So any time I could, I would go with one of my friends from college and I would go to Malibu and I would wear the jewelry.
Nina Runsdorf:
Once I was at the Beverly Center and Lisa Hartman was in the elevator with me. I think at that time … I don’t know if she’s still married to one of the guys from KISS. I was like 20 years old. She asked me about my earrings, and then she was my first client and I started making earrings and sending them to people like Lisa Hartman. It was really hysterical. And then we would make things and Lori and I would sell things to our classmates at university. And so we kept going with that for four years and we’d just make jewelry and sell it. We had our little cash side business going there.
Anne Muhlethaler:
I mean, that’s very smart of you. I appreciate that. I remember you telling me a few weeks ago that you’re an earrings first company, and now I can see the link back all the way to your big wire earrings. That’s amazing.
Nina Runsdorf:
That’s really a true story. But I do love now also … I really love big rings at the moment. You can see I’m into layering emerald pieces. I kind of go through phases in my life where I change, and I change my accessories and my handbag and my shoes every single day. I don’t wear the same handbag, shoes, coat. Every day, I change.
Anne Muhlethaler:
You have a decent collection, so …
Nina Runsdorf:
That’s true. That’s true.
Anne Muhlethaler:
… you have to make a most of what you have.
Nina Runsdorf:
But I think also to me, dressing is a form of artistry.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Yeah, it’s self-expression.
Nina Runsdorf:
Exactly. I always feel that way.
Anne Muhlethaler:
You’re in college, you’re leaving, you’ve been selling jewelry for a few years. Next thing you know, you are launching a company with your sister.
Nina Runsdorf:
Yes. My sister, Ann, graduated the year before I did. She’s 13 or 14 months older than I am. She graduated Colgate and moved to New York, got a job, was working … I can’t remember for who. Some television station or something. I came to New York and I said to my sister, “You know what? Let’s be roommates and let’s start a jewelry company.” So we decided we were going to do it. My mother said, “You can do it, but I’m not helping you with rent. Forget about it.” So we went and asked my grandmother if we could live on her floor on 56th Street, and my grandmother was very kind, so of course she said yes.
Nina Runsdorf:
And so my sister and I would literally … we would go to 47th Street, we would buy jewelry, and in those years, things were more like Austrian crystals and watch pins and all these crazy things that we could make with glue. You didn’t really need to solder. Or string beads, which I have a collection that my mother just sent me of Austrian crystals and things she’s saved over the years. And then we would literally have jewelry parties at my grandmother’s house like Tupperware and make enough cash to make the next piece of jewelry. How we slept at my grandmother’s … We had these really thin mattresses that were very, very light, and in the night, we would pull them out of the closet and lay them on the den floor, sleep like that, and in the morning, we would push them back into the closet so my grandmother would feel like we weren’t there.
Nina Runsdorf:
So we did that for a number of years, and then one day, my mother said, “You should really try to take your samples and sell them to a store and not just privately.” In those years, you could either go to Bergdorf Goodman and go to the counter or go to … What was the store on 5th Avenue that was so famous?
Anne Muhlethaler:
Bendel’s?
Nina Runsdorf:
Bendel’s. They had a line where as a new designer, you can wait on line at Bendel’s. And so we went to Bendel’s. The line was crazy long, so I said to my sister, “Oh, let’s just go to Bergdorf’s and show the people at the counter.” And lo and behold, we went. We showed the first watch pin that we made, and Bergdorf’s bought it and they put it in their catalog and they were our first retail store.
Nina Runsdorf:
That went on for a few years, and then one day, my mother felt that we were sleeping too late and she called and it was like 10:30, 11:00. She told us we were lazy, still living at my grandmother’s, and she pulled the plug and wouldn’t help pay for samples. So she said, “Go get a real job.” My sister landed a job with Telemundo, Spanish television company, and I landed a job at Ralph Lauren.
Anne Muhlethaler:
I love that story of how you got that job at Ralph Lauren. Would you tell us how that happened?
Nina Runsdorf:
Sure. My favorite outfit in the early 80s was 501 jean Levis, cowboy boots always, from being at the farm, a white T-shirt, and a blue blazer. In those days, that was the outfit.
Anne Muhlethaler:
I really want to see a picture of that.
Nina Runsdorf:
And then when we were kids, there was a Ralph Lauren outfit in Albany, New York. So my mother used to take us and we would buy, whenever we could … or they would give us for Hanukah or whatever … a backpack from Ralph Lauren or whatever, something that … Because we were obsessed with this man that had a company that was based on a horse, because we were horseback riders. So we had this crazy connection with the Ralph Lauren Brand. My mother bought for me a Ralph Lauren backpack, really large one, and I used to wear it on my back. And 72nd Street, Rhinelander had opened and I said, “I’m going to go and go shopping. I want to look at Ralph Lauren men’s blazers,” because I was dying to have a tweed jacket to wear. Even though I couldn’t afford to buy one there, I figured if I saw one, I could send pictures to my mother, she could go to the outlet and see if she could find it.
Nina Runsdorf:
So I went to Ralph Lauren and I was all dressed in my outfit. I went to the men’s department and I started trying on blazers, and a gentleman came up and he asked me my name. His name was Richard Schinto, and he was the manager of the women’s floor. He asked me what I did for a living and I said I was looking for a job, and he ushered me to the fourth floor, sat me down, and started to interview me. I was beside myself because my dream was to work for Ralph Lauren.
Anne Muhlethaler:
That’s so cool.
Nina Runsdorf:
And so he asked me what I wanted and I kind of named … I had a lot of chutzpah and I named my price, and I walked out of there with a job offer. It was as a salesperson for the women’s floor, which used to be on, I believe, the third floor of Ralph Lauren on the Rhinelander side, and Richard would be my boss. I remember running to the corner where there was a payphone on 71st and Madison and calling my mother and saying, “You’re not going to believe it. I landed a job with Ralph Lauren.” And then I was with him for a few years, which was an incredible experience. It taught me that the client comes first always, no matter what. He also taught me that somebody else has to always look over the budget because when you’re making something, you don’t ever compromise quality. He taught me to always speak my mind. If I like something, say it, if I don’t, say it. Because a lot of people in those years were afraid to say what they really thought. They thought maybe better to just agree with what he thought.
Nina Runsdorf:
Then I ended up going from the women’s department, because I was a selling machine … I basically made a deal with them that said, “If I can sell five red suede shirts in a month, can I have one as a clothing allowance?” So I literally worked for my clothes, and I was dressed head to toe. I was wearing all of this turquoise jewelry that I collected. So when I ended up meeting Ralph Lauren for the first time … because he had never met me, I was hired by Richard … he was like, “You collect jewelry?” In those years, he was background the Double RL Ranch in Telluride, so we became connected and I started to collect turquoise jewelry and things for him where I would call my dealers, they would send me a box, I would go to 55th Street … because in those years, it was still privately owned and they were working out of a townhouse … and I would go and show him what I had and he would pick what he wanted for his house. It was really a great experience.
Nina Runsdorf:
So I did the turquoise with Ralph. Then I went to men’s roughwear, and then because I met this gentleman whose father was in the diamond business, they knew that I was a little bit educated on antique jewelry, diamonds because first of all, I had my business before, which they knew. But I had my own company, and then I married a man whose father was in the diamond business, so they wanted me more involved in the jewelry area at Ralph Lauren, so they moved me to work for this woman, Dina Cohen, who before she was actually the head of jewelry at Ralph Lauren, she was the secretary of Ralph and Peter Strom and used to answer the phone when it was a very small company. So she was very, very connected to Ralph and to his business partner.
Nina Runsdorf:
And so she was an older lady, she was Jewish, and she took me under her wing and she really taught me so many things and was really tough on me. It was tough love. I learned a tremendous amount from Dina. I was making these bracelets out of the blue that she asked me to make as gifts for three people, and she gave the gifts to these three people and I didn’t know who they were. One was Tasha Polizzi, who was, I believe, the design director or creative director for Ralph Lauren for a million years, who had just left and gone to work for Banana Republic as creative director. She opened the box and said, “Who made this bracelet? I would like her to do accessories for Banana Republic.” So Dina introduced me to Tasha. I went for an interview, and then Tasha introduced me to Mickey Drexler and we met and we got along like a house on fire, Mickey and I, and he hired me on the spot.
Nina Runsdorf:
And so I ended up leaving Ralph Lauren and going to work for Mickey. They were both mentors to me, but I would say even more Mickey than Ralph. I was with Banana Republic for two and a half years as accessories director for the brand.
Anne Muhlethaler:
What kind of stuff were you making for them at the time?
Nina Runsdorf:
Well, they were changing the brand from what it was, which was safari, to more sophisticated. So I was trying to take the design team into a new look. So we were designing everything from what it was, giraffes and animals, to more slick things, and it was everything from handbags to shoes. It was all accessories for Banana Republic. But also at the time, Banana was owned by The Gap Corporation, and they were doing licenses for other brands. One of the licenses that they had was Ralph Lauren’s luggage. They were sampling to these women called the Wathne sisters, who were Icelandic. They were the people that had the license for Ralph Lauren gift with purchase, so they did all … It was a gift with purchase company where Ralph would go to them and say, “We need a gift with purchase for the perfume we’re giving,” blah, blah, blah. So they did it with many, many brands. They were these three Icelandic sisters that their dream was to create a brand that was a lifestyle brand.
Nina Runsdorf:
And so through me making samples at Banana for Wathne, it was a woman, Erin, who really believed in my talent, introduced me to the three Wathne sister, and they asked me if I could come to work for them and create a brand that was a lifestyle brand. And so they hired me away from Banana Republic, from The Gap Corporation, and I went to work for the three sisters. For 10 years, I was fashion director for this brand and literally, I went around the world to the hardy reels in London, and they were making private label. Barber was making private label waiters coats for me. All the button factories in those years, even Hermès, was making their buttons. I was making the buttons. It was really an all-inclusive. We did hot air balloons. I was fashion director, so I oversaw every aspect of the design process of every single category.
Anne Muhlethaler:
That’s a big job. I know, obviously, part of the reasons why you decided to migrate away from that, and that would be to look after your daughters. Tell us a bit about the importance of Kate and Alexa and family in your life.
Nina Runsdorf:
When I met Jim, it was a true love affair and we did everything that was the dream was to do, was to fall in love with a man, similar background, get married, obviously get a dog. Then once the dog was our first child, Havana. Then when I was at the Wathnes, I always say there’s 24 hours in a day, but we were working 30 hours a day. I mean, it was just insanity. Then I got pregnant with Alexa, and when she was born, I decided that as my mother was also home part time, and how I wanted to be a hands-on mother but I also didn’t want to give up my career. So for a number of years … I think for two years … I tried to balance between being a fashion director and being a mother of two and also a wife, and all the other hats women have to wear. And so I asked the Wathnes if I could work three days a week and they were fine with it, and so I started to work three days a week.
Nina Runsdorf:
So I was home in the afternoons with Alexa where I could put her up for a nap or take her to the park. I always had help, so it was a really beautiful balance. Then when I got pregnant with Kate two years later, I asked the Wathnes if I could work one day a week so that I could really be home with both of my children. Because the one thing I noticed is when somebody’s two and there’s a newborn, that two year old still needs their own time. It’s not like you can just throw them into one. The jealousy becomes too big, so I needed enough time for both children. Then I realized that I really couldn’t give them what they needed, the Wathnes more than my children, so I thought I was taking advantage and I basically said, “I love you, but it’s time for me to go.”
Nina Runsdorf:
And so, knowing that I couldn’t be a full-time mother because I always need to do something with my brain and also work … it’s just who I am as a person … And by the way, I love motherhood and there’s nothing wrong with that if that’s the choice somebody makes. But in my case, I always have to work. So I left the fashion world and I went to work part time for my father-in-law so that I could learn the jewelry business, and I worked on the trading floor.
Anne Muhlethaler:
So tell me a little bit about that. Because for people who are not from New York and who don’t know about the jewelry trade or 47th Street, do you mind describing the trading floor and what that entails?
Nina Runsdorf:
Yes. It is a very, very small world. It is a very interesting world, because it’s very man-driven, because a lot of the diamond dealers are Hasidim, which is great, but you have to learn how to work together as a woman with somebody quite religious, which is a very interesting experience, and also to have them gain your respect as a woman. I learned a lot being on the trading floor. It feels like … if you could just imagine the stock market, but with diamonds. Trading and trading and trading and yelling. And some of them are actually like that. It’s not civilized really at all. You stand behind these tiny little counters and you really meet all walks of life, everybody. And it’s very interesting and it’s very inclusive in a lot of ways because people used to come to 47th Street for a deal.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Negotiation deals.
Nina Runsdorf:
A lot of negotiation and a lot of very quick moving things. And at the time, I was really learning the business from my father-in-law, who was … I think I’m seventh generation. Or my children are seventh, I’m sixth. Is that what it is? I don’t remember. And so I learned from Lee, who learned from his mother, and it was very interesting, who learned from their parents. And so I think my husband’s family’s business started on Orchard Street in the diamond exchange, then moved to 47th Street. So I learned the diamond trade literally from that. I became certified GIA. I also went and studied color, so I did the color … sapphire, emeralds, ruby … so I really got educated on the pricing, the colors, how it should work, and just how to work in a trading with commodities. I mean, it’s a commodity. Stones are a commodity. So it was very, very interesting.
Anne Muhlethaler:
And then one day you created the Flip Ring.
Nina Runsdorf:
I would make jewelry for my father-in-law’s booth on 47th Street, and one day, I started designing different things for the window and I saw a rose cut diamond and I thought, “Wouldn’t it be fun to have a rose cut diamond …” Because rose cut diamonds always look like it’s flickering in candlelight, and so I thought, “Wouldn’t it be fun to design a conversational piece that flips back and forth that catches the light that people can talk about that moves?” Because I love things that move. I love diamond beads. I just love the fluidity of the rose cuts. And also, it’s the same thing with the fringe ring that we do, and many things, like even the necklaces. I like things that are not stiff so that it really kind of moves with you, and that’s how the Flip Ring was born.
Nina Runsdorf:
The woman came in who happened to work for, I believe, W, and she was like, “Wow, that’s amazing,” put it in W. We got our first press, which was so funny. Then a girl that I knew that was repping jewelry designers came in. I had known her from Ralph Lauren. She came in and she said, “I’m flying to Stanley Korshak in Dallas for another jewelry designer. Can I take a few Flip Rings to show Stanley Korshak and Melissa?” And I said, “Sure.” And so she took them, and the next thing I knew, I was on a plane going down there and doing my first trunk show. It was incredible. They were incredible. It was an incredible opportunity. I met some real characters down there in Texas, and I came home and my husband said, “You really should leave my father’s business and start your own company,” and that’s how Nina Runsdorf was born in 2005.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Yeah. I love the fact that you named the company The Other Jewelry Company, LLC.
Nina Runsdorf:
Yes. Well, actually, that’s Jim. That was Jim. That was Jim, because he was like, “My father’s company is Runsdorf, Inc, so we’ll just call it as a joke The Other Jewelry Company.” It’s really funny. So we did do a DBA, Nina Runsdorf, so we don’t truly use The Other Jewelry Company much. But Jim was such a huge personality and was so funny that it is just so funny.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Yeah. I’m not sure whether or not you want to talk about Jim, because obviously, I know that just a few weeks after you incorporated the company, he passed away from a boating accident.
Nina Runsdorf:
Yeah, we can talk about it. I mean, it’s been almost 16 years. It will be 16 years October 24th this year. It has been an incredible journey. I know a lot of people tend to make people sound better than they were when they pass away, but the truth is about Jim was he was an incredible, incredible man. A great father, funny, smart, gregarious, totally believed in who I was as a person. I used to say, “I can’t decide who loves me more, Jim or my mother.” Literally. It’s like, Enid or Jim? I’m not quite sure. He really would call me 10 times a day to tell me how much he loved me. He would just say, “I love you,” and he’d hang up the phone. That’s craziness. But also supportive and believed in me and really is the reason that I started the brand, because I didn’t have the confidence that he saw in me. He saw something in me that was much different than I see in myself.
Nina Runsdorf:
I always say it’s hard to imagine our understand why these things happen, but I do say that he gave me the platform to be who I am supposed to be for the rest of my life, and he gave me two incredible daughters who are just beyond extraordinary humans. So I’m incredibly grateful for the life that I had with him and the life that I have now.
Anne Muhlethaler:
What a beautiful legacy. So there you were with a brand new company and two girls and on your own. How did you make it work?
Nina Runsdorf:
I think that it goes back to my childhood. I didn’t realize how strong I was. That’s when I say my feet are planted very securely on the ground, and somehow, I had the strength to get up every morning. My mother slept in my bed with me for about six months and finally I said to Mom, “We have to wean and you’ve got to go home.” I swear, the Jewish mother that she is, she literally slept in my bed to the point where I was like, “Mom, it’s time. You need to go home.” So it was about six months. And I got up every morning and I put the girls on the school bus. I think they saved me in a lot of ways, because I realized that I had to be strong for them and be normal and make their life as normal as possible.
Nina Runsdorf:
So after one week after his death where we went to the country and we slept in the same bed, the girls and I, I said, “We’re going back to New York in one week. You’re sleeping in your own beds. I’ll sleep with you in your bed.” I had gone to a therapist, my girls went to therapy, and I just went back into life as if it was okay. And somehow, with the people that I had working for me and just the strength and also the support from my family and friends, I was able to just keep going, put one foot in front of the other with a smile on my face. So somehow. Yeah. And it actually has made me a much better person than I think I ever would have been in my life. I think that I would have never accomplished what I’ve been able to accomplish because I would have been also the role of not only mother but also wife, and it just became different. I became the mother and the father and also the head of my business.
Anne Muhlethaler:
One of the things you said to me yesterday was that Slice Diamonds is the stones that have put your company on the map. You often describe your company as stone driven. Do you want to tell me a bit more about that?
Nina Runsdorf:
Yeah. So my favorite thing is to either go to Tucson or go around the world, travel, look at diamonds, look at stones in India or Germany or wherever I go to buy stones, and then buy them not necessarily knowing what I’m going to create. However, I would like to say that I also usually kind of have a feel for what stones will be the next category that people want, the next trend, but without being trendy. There are certain stones that come in and out of my designs because it is feeling more trendy to me, and then there are certain stones that are always part of my line because it’s just a staple in my collection. For instance, emeralds are always a staple in my collection as color. I would say that opals from all different parts of the world are always something that is in Slice Diamonds always. Rose cuts, beads, gray diamonds.
Nina Runsdorf:
And then I would say that different stones like aquas and more semiprecious, depending on what we’re doing with the Flip, or if I feel pearls are a category for the season, I can go in to design a capsule collection for what will go with fashion, and then there’s a collection of what I really believe is really the brand pillars, I guess.
Anne Muhlethaler:
So where did you discover Slice Diamonds for the first time? Where were you? Were you in India? Were you in New York?
Nina Runsdorf:
Such a crazy thing. The first time I ever saw my first pair of Slice Diamonds were loose. I was doing the couture show in Las Vegas, but they also have other tents where people come from around the world to sell loose stones. I went shopping at one of the tents and I found the first pair of Slices I had ever seen in my life. I didn’t know what I was going to do with them. They, at the time, were not that expensive, but they were really big pieces. They were about … I would say an inch and a half each. I just was blown away by the fact that they still had faceting on the top even though they’re flat, but they still have a quality that looks like nature, but that they’re still diamond. And that they were industrial quality, but I really wanted to create something that just looked like nothing anybody had ever seen, and I was blown away by this pair of stones.
Nina Runsdorf:
So I brought them back to New York and I made my first pair of Slice Diamond earrings. I remember the first time that I went to a trade show, I was wearing them and a woman came up to my booth. I was a young designer in a tiny little booth. We would stand behind this little tiny counter. She basically came up and she looked at everything I had and she said, “I want to buy what you’re wearing.” I said, “They’re not for sale.” And she said, “Then why are you wearing them at a trade show?” And I said, “Well, I’ve never worked in this material before and I’m not interested in selling them.” She said, “Well, then, you really shouldn’t be wearing them.” So I put them away and every day she came to the booth and every day she said, “I want to buy those earrings.” And so of course, by the last day, one of the girls at work with me said, “We need to pay for the booth. We need to pay for this. We need to pay for that. They’re $60,000,” or whatever it was. She was like, “Sell the earrings.”
Nina Runsdorf:
So I ended up selling my first pair to this woman who still has them, and that’s how I discovered them. However, I think two years later or a year later, I went to India and that’s when I started buying up as much large Slices I could, because as it became more of a trend, the prices were going up. And so I started collecting larger pieces and creating full lines out of it, and now it’s become a category in the jewelry world, Slice Diamonds. But I really think that for my brand … I mean, the Flip Ring is extremely iconic to me, but people have worked in rose cut diamonds before. Maybe not a Flip Ring. But nobody had worked in the Sliced Diamond material, and I think that’s why it became so special for my brand.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Yeah. I’m so happy that we still have this great article in WWD that dates back … I can’t remember if it’s 2007 or 2009, I’ll have to look it up … by our friend, our common friend, the person who introduced us all those years ago, Sophia Chabbott, who was then covering fine jewelry and accessories for Women’s Wear Daily. I remember reading the article that she said you were also working in colored slice, so you had also dabbled in sliced rubies and other stones.
Nina Runsdorf:
Oh yes, yes. After I started the Slice Diamonds and people started to work with Slice Diamonds, I thought, “Wow, how interesting. People like sliced.” Then a lot of the dealers started to come to me with sliced rubies and emeralds and sapphires, so that also became a category where I was working with it, but then I stopped working with sliced color because I felt it became too commercial. I always had the Slice Diamonds, but I gave it a little bit of a pause for a couple of years and started to work in all different other materials. Then I think, what was it, two years ago, we redid the Phoenix because I thought it would be really fun to do Slice Diamonds and bring them back with a fresh coat of paint. So we did them and added enamel.
Anne Muhlethaler:
They’re very architectural. I’ll make sure to put links to this collection so people can go out and discover them for themselves. Really very, very special line.
Nina Runsdorf:
Then I want to tell the story of how I met you.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Oh, sure.
Nina Runsdorf:
This is such a fun story. How Anne and I actually met is so organic and so wonderful. Because I think when things like this happen in life, this is how it should happen. With everything in life, really, nothing should ever be forced. Everything should always be organic if possible. So Sophia, who wrote this article and it was so sweet and she said, “People are going to copy. You need to be known for the Slice Diamonds,” blah, blah, blah … To thank her for writing the article, I gave her as a gift a Flip Ring. I think it’s a light pink Flip Ring in yellow gold or something, and she just wore it all of the time. And at the time, Anne was working with Louboutin. I forgot your title at Louboutin.
Anne Muhlethaler:
This was in 2011. I think I had two of them at the time. I was both general manager in the UK, but I was also starting to look after global comms, because the 20th anniversary of the brand was coming up.
Nina Runsdorf:
Right, that’s what it was. They were sitting across from each other at Saks 5th Avenue at a board meeting for Louboutin and Saks and Anne just kept looking at Sophia’s ring saying, “Oh, what’s that?” So after, as she tells the story … then after the meeting, she said to Sophia, “Okay, great, great, great, great, but I just want to know, where’d you get your ring?” Right? Tell the story.
Anne Muhlethaler:
I think it was the meeting of the minds, because I need to say the meeting was really boring, okay? That’s fine. It was ten years ago.
Nina Runsdorf:
It’s up to you. It’s up to you.
Anne Muhlethaler:
No one was owning the meeting. And then Sophia, me and her, it was like lightning at the table. There was a spark. Then after, I couldn’t take my eyes off her hand. Talk about a conversation piece. I mean, my attention was really entirely on the ring. And you know shiny things, they capture your attention, and I just didn’t expect that she would say, “Oh, do you want to meet the designer?” I didn’t know what to say. And I don’t know why I said yes. I had really little time. I was visiting from London, I was there for work. But you weren’t far away and she was like, “Yeah, it’s around the corner.”
Nina Runsdorf:
We were literally across the street, exactly. And you walked in and you’re like, “Wait, why aren’t you showing your jewelry at NET-A-PORTER? Why aren’t you at MatchesFashion? Why aren’t you here? Why aren’t you there?” And I said, “Well, I don’t know. I don’t really have a line. I just have a lot of jewelry.” And you started to make phone calls, do you remember? Next thing I knew, I was on a plane, I was going to visit Alison, I was going to visit Matches, now I’m in Matches, now I’m in NET-A-PORTER. I have no structure for it, but the jewelry is everywhere. And so that’s how we met, right?
Anne Muhlethaler:
Yeah.
Nina Runsdorf:
And then I was waiting for you to start your own company so that you could come and help me, so that’s amazing.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Oh, well.
Nina Runsdorf:
And here we are.
Anne Muhlethaler:
And here we are. You know what’s really funny as well? When I was in Los Angeles on a work trip, I bought a really simple but beautiful bracelet in rose gold with a sliced diamond, and I didn’t even know what it was. And so I think that when I got into your showroom back then, I realized that this was something that I already had a lot of appreciation for, but I’d never looked it up. I wasn’t particularly interested in jewelry, to be fair. And so there was a sort of a recognition of a material that I’d already fallen in love with two or three years prior. For me, there was something exotic and mysterious about the organic nature of the diamonds. But actually, that’s a really nice transition, because I wanted you to tell me about what is special about organic diamonds or rough diamonds? I don’t feel like a lot of people know about rough diamonds, and yet I find them mesmerizing.
Nina Runsdorf:
Yeah. I think the thing is is that most people that are educated or know about diamonds know about white diamonds, obviously. Some maybe know about yellow, blue, all the precious colors that were considered precious. But what’s happened over the years is that a lot of people want to wear bling without it looking like bling, and I think that part of the icy diamond, the gray diamond, the rough diamond, even the Slice Diamond, it gives somebody the opportunity to wear something in a much more casual way. So you can wear a gray diamond bead ring where a white diamond might look much flashier than a gray. It just has a different feel. I always say it looks like Cucinelli colors, like their brand.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Oh. [inaudible 00:43:41]
Nina Runsdorf:
Like a Cucinelli kind of color. It’s got that grayish feel that doesn’t hit you over the head, but you’re like, “Wow, what is that? It’s so shiny and precious.” And I think that’s what I love about it, that they don’t look like headlights. That’s also why I love old diamonds. I love European cut, I love old mine diamonds for the same reason. Rose cut diamonds. They are bling without being bling.
Anne Muhlethaler:
So that’s kind of matching your brand motto, right?
Nina Runsdorf:
Yes. Never too precious to wear.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Never too precious to wear.
Nina Runsdorf:
And I honestly feel the same way with my bags, with my shoes. I never believe that you need to cover your furniture or take your shoes off. We need to live our lives. And listen, with COVID, you really don’t know what’s going to happen the day after tomorrow or tomorrow. You might be walking across the street and something happens, and so I think you have to live every day to the fullest. You have to live your life and you have to love what you have and appreciate it, but live with it and enjoy it. Because what’s the sense of owning things that you don’t wear or enjoy?
Anne Muhlethaler:
Yeah. I appreciate that. But I was thinking about it earlier today. We were talking with one of my colleagues, Manfreda, about the nature of your collections, and I think that lot of people put their jewelry in a safe exactly because of what you said. They don’t feel like they have the right occasions to wear it because it looks so blingy.
Nina Runsdorf:
Fancy.
Anne Muhlethaler:
So I think that you are part, I would say, of a different generation of jewelers that use stunning stones and beautiful settings, but the products that you create are easy for people to wear. They don’t look like they’re dripping in jewelry.
Nina Runsdorf:
I always use this big diamond pendant that I made on a long chain. Even though it’s almost a million dollar necklace, you feel like you could wear it with a T-shirt. I want my jewelry to always be approachable and incredibly wearable, to wear, I always say, T-shirt and jeans or a ball gown, it can go in either direction. Because otherwise, with our lives, the way we move, a lot of the time we go from thing to thing. You might change your shoes to put a high heel on, but you might not want to change your jewelry. You want to wear what you wore all day in to the evening. So I want to always be able to layer, which I find so important. And of course, believe me, I love a good pair of diamond chandeliers for evening. We make that as well. But the whole idea is never too precious to wear, and you could wear it at any time in any place and not feel that you’re overdressed.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Sure. I mean, I wish our listeners could see what you’ve layered around your neck just this minute, because she’s wearing some amazing emerald. And guess what? She is wearing them with a white T-shirt.
Nina Runsdorf:
Yeah. And jeans. And jeans.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Oh, there you go. Living the life. True to yourself.
Nina Runsdorf:
That’s the other thing. Always be true to yourself.
Anne Muhlethaler:
So tell me, about, I don’t know, four or five years ago, you decided to open an atelier on the Upper East Side, and you chose to make the shopping experience private. Can you tell me a little bit about your thinking around that?
Nina Runsdorf:
It might sound silly, but I am my own client, and because I’m my own client and also because I think I was in fashion and I was a fashion director for many years, I have an instinctive feeling of what’s happening next and whether that’s color or what stones to use or what the jewelry should look like. So I design for myself. So being my own client, I would walk into department stores and I would be like, “I don’t want to do this anymore. I really don’t like it anymore.” I stopped even going to Bergdorf’s. And of course, I would go to Barney’s because it always felt a little more boutique, but I would really go to the stores of the brands instead of multi because everything felt too big a machine. Everything became too commercial. And even online, I was very careful not to over saturate.
Nina Runsdorf:
I wanted to have a much more private experience, and I noticed that when I was going to certain stores … and stores that are multi brand, but very, very specialized, and I know their taste, and I know that they’re going to show me things that I’m going to like, and that it feels that I know the person that’s selling it to me. It was about a different way of selling. It was about having a connection with the person, and so I wanted to create that feeling where, “Welcome to my living room. Welcome to my home.” And so we pulled out of really all of the big department stores and stayed only in specialty where I felt that they were giving a similar feeling to their client as we give at the atelier. And I brought it upstairs because I felt that a lot of people that also buy jewelry don’t necessarily want to buy it in front of other people. They want privacy, and privacy is a huge luxury, as you know. It’s probably the biggest luxury of life now.
Nina Runsdorf:
And so we created this wonderful place where people can come, hang out, feel free to have a glass of wine if it’s evening, chat, they have lunch, not necessarily buy, or buy whatever. I love the fact that they come and I know their families and it’s like we go back to family doctor, family jeweler. It just feels more like I’m going back to my roots where it started, and it just feels better. But with that being said, with COVID, we’ve had to kind of also rethink a bit and become more digital, which has become very interesting. And I’m much more open than I was before, and COVID has a lot to do with that, I would say.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Sure. Yeah, that makes sense. I wanted to ask you about jewelry online, but also about the future of retail. How do you imagine retail in general evolving? Because you said to me, “So many stores have closed in New York City.” Right? And we know that this is true about lots and lots of places, whether we talk about Milan, Paris. A lot of retailers have been very deeply hurt. So do you think retail can bounce back?
Nina Runsdorf:
I think it can bounce back to a point. I think that a lot of people are so tired and so starving to get out that I have a feeling that when people feel comfortable going and shopping, they will go back to the stores. But I also do feel that in our industry and also at a certain level of not only sales, but a certain level of merchandise, I think that the stores who will survive the best are the stores like Just One Eye and Serenella and people that the owners know their clients so well that they’re getting into a car and they’re taking it. I still think that the more private way of selling will always be better, including online. Because I feel that what happens, what I’m noticing online, is that if the client knows the brand, then it doesn’t matter the price point. They’ll buy it online because they trust it. So once a client knows the brand, I do believe that e-commerce, it is as easy … or a Zoom call, because we’re doing a lot of that now, right? I think it’s going to depend a lot on the brand and people’s trust.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Yeah. I was discussing this with another client only a couple of days ago. In building legitimacy with your followers, with the people who are interested in the product you sell, building that sense of trust, the next frontier for a lot of people.
Nina Runsdorf:
And I see it already because my private clientele base is exactly that. I mean, they literally will call me and say, “Can you pick something for me to give my wife?” Or, “What’s the next thing that I should own?” So I think that will transpire into any platform if the client knows the brand. That, I think, is the most important thing. And we’ve seen it where we weren’t on e-commerce as much as we ever were before, because I was in a way against being too commercial. Now we’re on a lot of e-commerce brands, but we also are very careful not to overlap the one-of-a-kind pieces. They still have to look special. And that’s also super important, not to overexpose, I think.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Oh, absolutely. Now, let’s switch things up a little bit. I was rereading the interview that you did with the Financial Times last year, and you said that your mother taught you to hunt for treasures. That interview in particular was really about your passion for timepieces and the watch collection that you inherited from your great uncle. That’s pretty special, and that started you as a collector. Can you tell us a little bit about that?
Nina Runsdorf:
Yeah. My uncle was actually on my father’s side, was a watch collector. But my mother loves, loves, loves to just go to all of the antique fairs and the flea markets, and so from a very early age, my mother would take me hunting for treasures. That’s how I made my first bracelet, with the beads that was given to Tasha. That’s how I got my job with Mickey. It all transpired. And even when I was in my 20s when I moved to New York, I would spend every Saturday on 26th Street at the flea market running into Andy Warhol and all these incredible people …
Anne Muhlethaler:
What?
Nina Runsdorf:
… that also were always hunting for treasures. Yes. And that’s how I found my first crazy watch that I love that I made into a pin. That’s how Nianna started, was from these crazy ideas that I found from flea markets, and it’s really my mother’s hunting for treasures. And it’s so funny, because I’ve passed that down to my children. Both of my girls love vintage clothing, accessories.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Amazing.
Nina Runsdorf:
Yeah. So my mother really taught me that. And she’s always hunting, whether it’s a opal strand of beads or a amazing chair. It’s anything. It’s not just jewelry. And that’s how the watches started. So I would go to these flea markets and I’d find these crazy broken watches, and then my uncle would teach me about them. Then when he passed away, he left me all of his watch collection, which is extraordinary. So I learned all about watches from him, and I’m obsessed with the way watches work inside, with the movement of watches. And so when I first started Nianna, I was making these crazy pins that were out of the inside of watches. I’ll have to dig them up and show them to you.
Anne Muhlethaler:
I would love to. I remember seeing a couple of archive press articles, but that would be great. I remember you telling me that you were thinking maybe one day collaborating with a Swiss watch brand. It would make a really special collection for you. Is this something that you’re still considering?
Nina Runsdorf:
It’s something that I would absolutely give my eye tooth for. I would love to do a collaboration with a watch brand.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Which brand calls to you the most?
Nina Runsdorf:
It’s Breguet. It’s the Breguet watch brand, and for two reasons. One is, my late husband’s favorite watch, which I’ve been wearing for years, that I gave to Alexa on her 21st birthday to put away until she’s older, is the first flight watch from Breguet. It’s a moon phase. But one of the other reasons is because they were the first traditional watch company to ever make a wristwatch for a woman. I would love to do a woman’s watch for them. Maybe they’d let me do the watch face out of Slice Diamonds or some-
Anne Muhlethaler:
Oof, that’s lovely and exciting.
Nina Runsdorf:
Right?
Anne Muhlethaler:
Yeah.
Nina Runsdorf:
You could carve in the numbers and do … you know how the old watches had those glow-in-the-dark numbers? That could be painted on top of the Slice Diamond and it could be so extraordinary.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Ooh, I didn’t realize you had ideas already. Okay. Well, here’s something to cross our fingers for for the future. I also wanted to ask you about art. I understand that your parents were surrounded by a lot of artists and they themselves were art lovers and musicians. You have become a collector. I feel like you’re a serious collector in the sense that you really think about your purchases, so I see you being emotional about some of them, but also very tactical. Can you tell us how that started and how that’s working for you?
Nina Runsdorf:
Yes, of course. Well, it’s one of my favorite passions, is collecting art and sculpture and porcelain. I love, love, love to collect art. I always have. I think a lot of it starts just with my feeling the same way I feel about forecasting fashion. I have a thing about the next thing that’s happening in art. I also buy what I love. I don’t buy for investment, and I never buy to sell. Because if you buy to invest and sell, then it doesn’t feel right. I also like to try to know the artist, unless they’re not alive, so that the energy around me is really positive. And I collect what I love. That’s it. I just collect what I love, and I’ve been very lucky.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Where do you go for inspiration? If you wanted to advise someone to get started or get knowledgeable, where would you send them to?
Nina Runsdorf:
I would send them to all the museums to look at all the different collections, whether it’s contemporary, modern, Renaissance. I would get completely educated in what you love and then start going through the art galleries and going through the internet and just really trying to get a feeling for what you love. Because for me, it has to move you. I live with my art, so I live with everything around me. To me, everything around me is art, whether it’s my table or … I look at everything as art when I look around the room. I don’t buy things unless I feel like it’s artistic. It’s just I can’t.
Anne Muhlethaler:
A true esthete. I don’t know how to say that word in an English accent. I apologize.
Nina Runsdorf:
It’s okay.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Actually, remind me. There was this amazing artist that your friend Amelie put on your radar last year. You bought one of her paintings? She’s based in Europe, I want to say.
Nina Runsdorf:
Oh, Sarah Hughes. Sarah Hughes.
Anne Muhlethaler:
That’s beautiful.
Nina Runsdorf:
Amelie just wrote to me the other day, “Make sure nobody brushes by them,” because she’s doing incredibly well. She’s really gone up in value, so Sarah Hughes.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Oh, her stuff is amazing.
Nina Runsdorf:
Amazing. Colorful. Amazing paintings.
Anne Muhlethaler:
I know that you’re a really big traveler. You’re a proper, spends months out of the year out of the country kind of traveler. And obviously, that hasn’t been the case for a while. In a Forbes interview from a few years ago, you were asked what was your favorite city outside of New York City and you couldn’t give an answer. Is there more clarity for you now, now that you’ve missed traveling so much? Is there one location that you would do anything to go to?
Nina Runsdorf:
I think country-wise, Italy.
Anne Muhlethaler:
All right, good for you.
Nina Runsdorf:
Because I just love the Italians, and I love their sense of humor. I mean, I love Rome like crazy. I mean, I love Florence, but I really love Rome. I love the history. It just blows my mind when I see those artifacts. I do also really love Istanbul. I love the East and the West, and there are a lot of places on the list I haven’t been. I also love London because it is so civilized. I would say probably, if I had to go anywhere, just because it’s also summertime, it would either be to get on a boat and sail Greece and Turkey or Italy. Any of it sounds great to me. I’m dying to travel. But however, I also have really loved being home the last year, and what it’s taught me is I feel more grounded, like I did when I was a kid, because I haven’t been traveling and I’ve really built my life here, which I hadn’t done in a lot of years.
Nina Runsdorf:
So it’s a very interesting time. I don’t need to rush to go anywhere. I pray that very soon, all of Europe is open and healed so that we can enjoy each other everywhere in the world. I mean, I love the Middle East. I can’t wait to go back. I want to go to Mongolia. I want to go to Vietnam. I have so many things on my list.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Amazing.
Nina Runsdorf:
Yeah. I love to travel. I think it’s super inspirational to meet other cultures, other people, see other architecture, art. I mean, everything. The food, everything.
Anne Muhlethaler:
I could not agree with you more, especially about the food and the people. I know that some of your most loyal clients love your style as much as they love your jewelry, and I was rereading the Coveteur and there was a really lovely line from the writer, which I don’t think I’d ever read the article before. And she was saying. “We’re simply waiting for the day where we hopefully learn to be even half as chic as Nina.” So-
Nina Runsdorf:
Oh my goodness.
Anne Muhlethaler:
I know.
Nina Runsdorf:
I didn’t read that either. Wow, that’s very nice. She’s very sweet.
Anne Muhlethaler:
So I’d love for you to tell me about your story and style. Have you ever had a fashion faux pas?
Nina Runsdorf:
Oh, I’m sure I have. I’m sure I have.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Well, I don’t know. I mean, I haven’t seen any yet.
Nina Runsdorf:
I’m trying to think. I mean, I don’t think of myself-
Anne Muhlethaler:
Maybe I need to call your mother or your sister.
Nina Runsdorf:
You might have to. I don’t think of myself the way she thinks of me, so I don’t look at myself as this chic person. Just I am who I am. I’m me, so whatever that means. I’m my own worst critic, truthfully, so I’m hard on myself. I’m trying to think. What’s my biggest fashion faux pas?
Anne Muhlethaler:
I would say it’s fashion, but I did see some fantastic images from the 80s where you had a fabulous hairdo.
Nina Runsdorf:
Can you believe how big my hair was?
Anne Muhlethaler:
No, not quite.
Nina Runsdorf:
Crazy, right? Oh my goodness. I had such curly hair. So funny.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Yeah. So is there anyone in particular you would love to dress? I mean, and when I say dress with you, we’re talking about jewelry.
Nina Runsdorf:
Well, I think it also depends on which piece of jewelry. For my big pendant, of course, I want Beyonce to wear it because I feel like I made it for Beyonce, okay? So that’s like-
Anne Muhlethaler:
Oh, you did.
Nina Runsdorf:
I mean, who else would wear that, to rock it like that?
Anne Muhlethaler:
J Lo. J Lo would do a good job.
Nina Runsdorf:
Oh, J Lo could do it. I love J Lo.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Both women with splendid cleavage, so yeah.
Nina Runsdorf:
I think that movie stars or models or comedians, I want people to wear the jewelry that have a similar outlook on life that I have, and that’s important to me more than their name or getting the jewelry out there, that I want whoever wears the jewelry to be part of my brand values. That’s super important to me.
Anne Muhlethaler:
I think that what we could end on before I ask you a few of my closing questions is you often speak about wanting to have a line that really spans across generations. Can you talk to me a little bit about that, and how you’re going about it today in your brand as the way that it’s set up?
Nina Runsdorf:
A few years ago, actually … because you had asked … we had only made the Flip Ring for years in diamond because we always wanted to keep the design super elevated. And I guess a few years ago … I forgot when it was … but you and I made a decision to make it semiprecious, which would make it not just more wearable, because even the diamond one is wearable, but more approachable for a younger generation. We added a mini size because my two daughters wanted Flip Rings and they were too young to wear something flamboyant big and flashy, so I wanted them to have mini ones.
Nina Runsdorf:
And then I think the first collection that I ever designed to span the generations, even though we made Flip Rings in smaller versions, was The Artist collection. So to take the Flip collection but to do it in enamel with no diamonds to make it really approachable. And now, we’re adding even little stackable necklaces, little charm earrings. One of the reasons is that my older daughter came to work in the business during COVID. She lost her position at a design company, so she started to work in this company, and because of that, I think we are even going to span the generations more, which I’m super excited about.
Nina Runsdorf:
I also think what’s really important is that the mother can buy for their daughter as well, or the grandmother can buy for their granddaughter. The whole idea about the brand is that it is never too precious to wear, but it should span generations and it has enough fashion, but it’s still classic. So it’s like a modern classic design.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Heirloom?
Nina Runsdorf:
Heirloom. So it goes generation to generation so that … Like the Kelly bag. I love using Hermès as an example, or the Kelly bag mostly. When you think about the generation after generation, or any of the Hermès bags that are collectables looks most of the time where it can be an heirloom piece. That’s how I came up with this All That Is collection, because I wanted something that was more heirloom. It came out just at the right time, really, because it was inspired by my diamond collection, which I wear all the time. See, I’m wearing the old diamond earrings, and I had made a necklace. But I wanted to do a more modern, classic version of the European cut diamond collection.
Anne Muhlethaler:
It’s got that feel that it’s a talisman, that there’s something-
Nina Runsdorf:
You can wear it all the time, like you got it from your grandma.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Ah, you just reminded me of something. Probably the only piece of jewelry that I have that used to belong to my father’s mother was a pinky ring and it was gold and pretty tiny diamonds. How funny.
Nina Runsdorf:
Interesting.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Actually, I forgot to ask you. Can you tell us about your love of pinky rings and how you decided to create that two-karat pinky-
Nina Runsdorf:
Three karat.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Three karat.
Nina Runsdorf:
Three-karat pinky ring.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Oh man. That baby was quite special.
Nina Runsdorf:
I’m a strong believer in engagement rings. If you get engaged, married, want a diamond on your left hand, on your ring finger. But I always wanted to create a diamond ring that I could wear from myself, that I could wear for myself from myself. So the diamond pinky ring from the All That Is collection was kind of born because I wanted to wear a large diamond for myself. And really, when you wear it on your pinky, it doesn’t mean that somebody gave it to you. It doesn’t mean that it’s a marriage ring. It doesn’t have anything to do with a relationship with anybody but yourself. And so I love, love, love the idea of a diamond pinky ring on your left hand. I also wear a pinky ring on my right hand, but that’s my initials, and with my grandmother’s diamond band behind it. My one grandmother.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Aw.
Nina Runsdorf:
Yeah. So I have an obsession with pinky rings. I think they’re super fashionable and chic.
Anne Muhlethaler:
I was never a big fan, and I feel convinced, but I think that happened to me when I saw that mini khaki green Flip Ring that you did, that you use as a pinky.
Nina Runsdorf:
Oh. That little mini Flip.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Oh man.
Nina Runsdorf:
Yes. Oh, it’s so cute. And you know what? The medium Flip Ring as a pinky ring is so chic, and you can pile it with stuff and put a pinky ring in front of it and it just moves and it’s cool.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Yeah. People really need to see the stack of rings that you’ve got going on today as you’re talking to me. I’ll make sure that we have a few images. So, quick fire questions. The first one is, I’d love to know about an act of kindness that has impacted you in your life.
Nina Runsdorf:
Maybe this is too intimate, and I don’t know. But when I remember the first time that I put my children on the school bus after my husband passed away, his father came to the school bus and hugged me and said to me that they want me to go on with my life and they want me to be happy and they want me to meet somebody.
Anne Muhlethaler:
That’s beautiful.
Nina Runsdorf:
That was an incredible act of kindness.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Thanks so much for sharing that. Now, what did you want to be when you were a little girl?
Nina Runsdorf:
An Olympic horseback rider, which my mother said, “Absolutely not. You’re going to college.” So that’s what happened there. But I really did. Either that, or in fashion. I wanted to either be an Olympic horseback rider or work for Ralph Lauren. Those were my two dreams.
Anne Muhlethaler:
That’s good. Well, you achieved one of them.
Nina Runsdorf:
I got one of them. Exactly.
Anne Muhlethaler:
If you could say something to yourself, like if you could send your young self a message, what would it be?
Nina Runsdorf:
Love yourself. Love thyself and don’t be so hard on yourself.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Wise words.
Nina Runsdorf:
Hard to learn, but wise words.
Anne Muhlethaler:
What book is next to your bed, or what book do you have on your desk?
Nina Runsdorf:
What book do I have now, or what book do I … I love Catcher in the Rye. I know it’s a classic. The Ferragamos gave me the book on his father. I love those types of stories. I love the book on the Cartiers. That’s such an inspiration to me. I would say that’s probably one of my favorites that I’ve just read.
Anne Muhlethaler:
And to finish, my favorite question, what brings you happiness?
Nina Runsdorf:
Well, what brings me happiness is watching my children be happy. Love. Beautiful weather. Being free to be who you are. Trusting yourself. I love being loved and loving others. I would say that probably is what makes me happiest. Designing jewelry. I love traveling, once we can again. Being outside in the country. Being at the beach. Being at peace with myself, I would say.
Anne Muhlethaler:
That’s lovely. I believe Ganesh said that last week, “Being at peace with myself.”
Nina Runsdorf:
He did?
Anne Muhlethaler:
Yeah. That’s so funny.
Nina Runsdorf:
That’s funny. But I think that if you can find peace within yourself, we’ve learned so much with this pandemic and about our … I mean, I know I’ve learned so much tremendously about myself and others, because you really become more aware of everything around you, that I feel even more connected than I’ve ever felt in my life. I feel closer to my childhood than I’ve ever felt before, and I think part of it also is because I’ve spent so much time in the country because we had to move out of the city. I feel like I’ve gone back to my roots in a lot of ways.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Thank you so much, Nina. That was such a beautiful conversation, and I love the fact I learned some new things about your life and stories. There is a part of me that felt like I knew it all, but clearly, that’s not the case. We still have to find a picture of one of your fashion faux pas, so feel free to put me in touch with your sister or your mom.
Nina Runsdorf:
No, actually, you should ask … I think Kate. Kate is the one who has all the photos and she’ll embarrass me terribly. So ask Katie. Kate has all the photos.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Thank you so much for your time.
Nina Runsdorf:
Thank you. I feel so honored, Anne. Thank you for interviewing me.
Anne Muhlethaler:
This was a beautiful interview. I will put links to everything that we’ve talked about so people will be able to find visuals of what we described in our conversation. People can find you online at ninarunsdorf.com and on Instagram @ninarunsdorfjewelry. But again, I will put all of that in the show notes.
Nina Runsdorf:
Thank you so much.
Anne Muhlethaler:
Thanks again to Nina for being my guest on the show today. You can find out all about her on her website, ninarunsdorf.com, or you can find her on Instagram @ninarunsdorfjewelry. Links are, of course, included in the show notes, especially the ones for you to discover Nina’s latest collections.
Anne Muhlethaler:
So that’s it for this episode. Thank you again for listening, and I hope you’ll join me again next time. Our theme music is by Connor Heffernan. The artwork by Brian Ponto. And special thanks to Pete and Joel for editing and sound. You can soon find all of my episodes … I promise … and find out more about my projects at annevmuhlethaler.com. Please sign up to receive updates. Also, you can follow the show on Instagram @_outoftheclouds. If you can, if you’re so inclined, I would love it if you would rate and review the show on iTunes. Now, until next time, be well, be safe, remember the hand washing, remember the mask, the social distancing, all of that good stuff.
