Diana Pantea - Romania
Diana Pantea
Designer biography:
Born in Târgu Mureș, Diana Pantea is a contemporary jewelry designer. She abandoned her studies in architecture to pursue a career as a jeweler after discovering her passion for the craft. She attended Alchimia, School of Contemporary Jewellery in Florence for three years, specializing in the field. She has participated in group exhibitions both in Romania and in several countries across Europe, as well as in New York. Since 2016, she has been living in Sibiu, where she runs a contemporary jewelry studio. At times, she experiments with creating decorative objects derived from jewelry, giving the impression of miniature artistic installations. She is also passionate about sharing the secrets of jewellery making with new students. She is part of Brukenthal von Studio Association and she curates the contemporary jewellery section of various events organised in Sibiu by this group of eclectic artists. As a contemporary jewelry designer, she blends traditional craftsmanship, design, and art. Although abstract, her forms are conceived in direct relation to the human body, leaving room for dialogue between the viewer, the wearer, and the creator.
Collection concept:
Anger embellished with pearls and leather (an intro into geometric shapes in outer space)
This intro to a collection is an exploration of nature through human nature by releasing the feelings of pain, anger and exclusion into the work. It borders on positive or negative by how I treated the metal and how I embellished it. I kept feeling the frustration of trying to follow old rules that don't apply anymore, made me struggle for a long while and found myself in the situation of inventing my own rules, and I kept isolating myself from the world. The study of edges and thickness, of ephemeral and forever materials and the unseen things that give an extra value to aesthetics without understanding the immediate subtleties is a focal point in this collection. Also trying to understand how humans connect with everything around us by touching and observing, and knowing on a molecular level we are the same as nature and even stars. All the metal pieces are hammered giving them natural edges and various thickness throughout each piece, and all the natural materials I learned from and used will give space in time to the precious materials to thrive forever.
Contemporary art jewellery pieces are treated differently by the buyer because some of them might lose the integrity of their materials, but by bringing traditional craft into my pieces I give them a long term story of transformation and durability at the same time. Also trying to understand how humans connect with everything around us by touching and observing, and knowing on a molecular level we are the same as nature and even stars. This collection has a broad range of jewellery pieces from totally unwearable to everyday jewellery in order to cover this transformation from art pieces to regular ones. I struggle.
