Jewelry is the space where playfulness and creativity intersect. My love for jewelry started at a young age and was influenced by classical Italian culture. Years of living in New York have given me an appreciation for improvisation and the whimsical nature of contemporary jewelry, where creativity is unbound and experimentation is the norm. Living between two worlds and cultures — Rome and New York — so antithetical to each other and unique, inspires my art and stirs my imagination to this day.
My profession as an anthropologist further informs my creative process, as jewelry is part of our bodily expression, ingrained in our culture and sense of beauty and adornment. I think of jewelry in relation to lived experiences, as objects that become precious because they remind us of precious moments, of celebrations and rituals that refresh fond memories of our lives. Jewelry is precious because it is relational. The pieces we choose to wear, like people and cultures, reflect who we are.
When I work to create my pieces, I follow an idea, and whether it comes from nature or from antiquity, the result is something new and surprising, perhaps embodying a dialogue with the past. My pieces, even if organic and sculptural, bear signs of the pulse of urban life and decay. They appear marred, weathered by tools, barks, or other objects that infuse new life into the images I started from. The final piece is reminiscent of a classic form, as if it had aged and acquired new life throughout the creative process, as all things in nature do over time. The result is often something that looks rough, irregular, jagged; it communicates the irony of perfection where perfection is just a concept dictated by trends and culture.