Annamaria Zanella

Annamaria Zanella was born in Padua, Italy in 1966. Her jewelry design practice is both typical and a unique product of her education at the Istituto d'Arte Pietro Selvatico in Padua, where she began rigorous training at age thirteen. Like many other jewelry designers of the Padua School, she returned to the Istituto as a teacher of metalcraft and jewelry-making after graduating (1987-2000). Jeweler and educator Mario Pinton, the inspiration behind the Padua school, encouraged his students to broaden their artistic and intellectual horizons. Zanella deviated from the school's tradition of working with gold and embraced new materials in her works. Conflicted about the many implications of gold—the... more.