My family has always visited Acqui Terme, Italy for as long as I could remember, every summer we would go to visit my Italian Nanna, Albertina. She was about as Italian as they get, she was sassy, confident and giving. I remember the times when I'd say I wasn't hungry for her to make me a huge bowl of minestrone anyway. In the centre of Acqui, there was a water fountain designed by the architect Ceruti and constructed in 1870. The fountain is famous for its high mineral content and due to its chemical composition is defined as sulphur-bromide-iodine thermal water

The locals and our Nanna would urge us to drink it for our health. To me, it smells awful, like rotten eggs. This is where 'Fontana' came from, Fontana means fountain in Italian.

​My Nanna was my oldest client ever. At the age of 94, shortly before she passed she finally allowed me to paint her nails. I will forever remember her smile when she looked down at her nails.