Today's featured designer's passion for creating jewelry dates all the way back middle school, only you won't catch Megan Steer making beaded jewelry or friendship bracelets. After studying jewelry design for years, this NYC-based designer now creates timeless handcrafted jewelry out of sterling silver, bronze and 14 karat gold.

Tell us a little about yourself and your work. My name is Megan Steer and I'm a jewelry designer based out of New York City. I work primarily in sterling silver and bronze with precious and semi-precious stones. I fell in love with wax carving many years ago, so almost all of my pieces are created using the lost wax method.

How did you get started as a designer? I always knew I'd be a designer in some capacity. I was blessed to go to a girls' school that offered a jewelry design program. So, I started formally training in jewelry when I was 14, and this medium really got under my skin. However, as much as I loved jewelry, I initially moved to New York to study fashion design at Parsons. After a few years of this, I realized that my heart still lay with jewelry and always would.

What inspires your work? My first love has always been the Art Nouveau period. Those undulating, whiplash lines are so seductive! I'm also inspired by vines, glam rock and mythology, among other things. An inordinate number of my ideas come to me in dreams.

Who are your favorite designers? In jewelry, my favorite designers working today are Cathy Waterman, Stephen Dweck, Gurhan and the glorious, micro-mosaic work of Le Sibille. In fashion, I will always love Yves Saint Laurent. I'm also a great fan of Jean Paul Gautier, Narciso Rodriguez, Stella McCartney and Albar Elbaz for Lanvin. And you can never go wrong with Valentino.

Any advice you would give to aspiring designers? It may sound a bit cliche, but I think passion and courage are incredibly important. When someone is excited and passionate about their work it's infectious! Everyone wants to be around that kind of energy. As for courage, the jewelry design world tends to be made up of introverts who have to learn to be more extroverted -- this is daunting (at least to me), but necessary if you want to run a business.

Where can people find your work? www.LuraJewelry.net

Anything else? I make sure that I always think really beautiful or positve thoughts when I create my jewelry. This seems to have an effect: I have gotten many letters from customers telling me what a wonderful energy they felt from my work, or the auspicious events that have occurred when wearing one of my pieces. I can't think of a better compliment!

We love all of the amazing independent designers out there and we wanted to find out more about what makes these creative types tick. If you do too, check out more of our Indie Designer Interviews.