daniela boari

Meet the Artist

• About This Artist

  Life is an experiment, and so is making jewelry. I immigrated from Italy to New York, leaving my career as a public relations professional for an opera theater to pursue my passion for jewelry design. I am a self-taught artist, constantly seeking ways to challenge myself creatively.

• Q&A With This Artist

  Q: Tell us how your work is made.

  A: My work comes to life as I quietly observe the world around me. My creativity seeks isolation and withdraws from the day’s noise. I draw to keep things in mind but my process is fluid and entirely handmade. I add more complex hollow forms to flat fabricated shapes and fall in love with their tactile quality. I work both in metal and wax. The animation of the surface is a vital concern, textures and finishing are fields of large experimentation.

  Q: What makes you passionate about the medium and materials you work with?

  A: I am interested in bringing color to my work and I'm studying enamel and resins at the moment. In my everyday practice I rely mostly on silver -often oxidized- and brushed gold which enhances the inner beauty of gemstones. Diamonds are the best “conductor” of light; if a ring is a tale, a diamond is the hero that brings hope against a black pool of silver. But no matter the material I use - expensive or inexpensive- it always feels special to be able to share the tiniest of objects with a customer.

  Q: What is something unique or unexpected about you or your work?

  A: Sometimes I allow myself to scrape and score my pieces. When the work would otherwise be seen as “ready”, I start roughing it. I stab, melt, scratch - whatever feels right. I aim to find something, a path that won't and can't be repeated. In those moments of quick decisions, I'm entirely and absolutely free of conventional aesthetics limitations. I do not feel I have to sell all my pieces nor fear wasting precious resources. I will share some of these works, listed also online in different variations (Passaggi), for the Baltimore show and display them for the first time.

  Q: Craft can bring with it the experience of delight and moments of wonder in the making process. How does wonder play a role in your practice?

  A: Wonder is what brings me to my workbench each day. There is a sense of potential yet uncertainty that compels me to sit at the bench. Creativity and ideas are not the only way to advance in the craft; discipline, dedication, and daily work in the studio are an absolute necessity. In the battle between delight and disappointment, between pain and joy, I often wonder if this devotion to the craft is madness or a path worth living. I don’t have an answer…

  Q: Is there a person in your life who inspires your work or who has helped shape your artistic practice?

  A: Observing and experiencing life is what is most inspiring. New York is a vast ocean and I process what punches, irritates or lands in my stomach and heart. The same chaos lives within me when I sit at my bench. I'm free to pick up a beautiful tourmaline the color of cyclamen, or a piece that has troubled me for some time, like the ring “Stay With Me” in Paul’s memory. Both pieces demand my attention, nudge my creative process and keep me at work throughout the night.