ARTIST INFO

FRANCESCA VITALI
Dallas, TX

METALS | Paper Jewelry

Penland Affiliation | Penland Instructor 2023, Penland Studio Assistant 2017

Artist Information | Studio artist; exhibitions: Smithsonian Craft Show (DC), Philadelphia Museum of Art Contemporary Craft Show (PA), MAD About Jewelry (NY)

Artist Statement | I began my journey designing contemporary jewelry after having already started a career as a chemist. In my vision, art and chemistry have found an intersection point in the alchemy of paper jewelry. In ancient times, alchemists have been ambitiously trying to convert common matter into gold. Sharing this grand aspiration, I strive to transform paper, a humble and ordinary material, into precious objects.

Generally, I work with high-quality paper sourced from local mills such as Mohawk paper, but also I love to use recycled paper because the idea that fragments of someone’s life will live forever in my paper jewelry adds such an emotional value to each piece. In the past year especially, I have focused my work toward creating more pieces that not only function as sculpture for the body but also carry memories or a story. And I tried to do so by giving your happy memories a new voice, a new shape, a new life, and ultimately a new way to be cherished and experienced time and time again. Just thinking about how paper is part of our everyday life continuously and in multiple forms: magazines, maps, shopping bags, mail, love letters, every piece of paper has a story and I love the idea that history is carried over through my work. This is why some of the most fulfilling pieces I have created were made out of my customer’s paper and memories.
Technical Information | Folded paper, coated with acrylic medium