Artist Highlight

After more than a decade working as an architect, Francesca came to the realization that she might find more fulfillment in designing her own jewelry, than designing homes and buildings for others. Architecture has a very slow timeline in the sense that it typically takes years for a project to go from a vision to a reality. With jewelry, it’s nearly instant gratification! Francesca can design a piece or just have an idea in her head and immediately have a tool in hand and begin forging a piece into fruition.

Much of Francesca’s jewelry design is influenced by her background in architecture. Several key principles that she attempts to incorporate in her designs relate to both fields. Design principles from architecture, such as scale, proportion, form and how it follows function (or vice versa) are all important aspects of jewelry design as well. Giving things multiple functions is another of her key design principles. Many pieces can be worn multiple ways (i.e. pendants with multiple bail options, reversible pendants, necklaces that can be worn as bracelets, rings that can be pendants, etc.).

Each piece is designed and treated as a tiny sculpture that can be admired by both the wearer and someone simply observing them. Many of Francesca’s pieces are kinetic, meaning that she has incorporated movement into the design. Some pieces are reminiscent of Calder mobiles while others have abacus like features or spinning elements. The idea is to allow the wearer to interact with the piece and have the piece respond to the wearer’s movements.