Annarita Bianco - Italy
Annarita Bianco - Merıstėma Lab
Designer biography:
Annarita Bianco is a designer and silversmith, founder of Merıstėma Lab, an experimental design studio adopting a Research through Design approach. Her practice transcends conventional jewellery by creating critical objects that stimulate reflection on urgent global issues. She is currently pursuing a PhD in Design for Made in Italy at the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli, where her research focuses on jewellery and wearable accessories for interspecies care, addressing the political role of jewellery in relation to climate change and climate justice. She teaches Advanced Prototyping and serves as subject expert in Eco-Product Design and Fashion Design.
Collection concept:
Saprogenesis – Networks of Becoming reflects on the idea that matter, including the human body, is co-constituted by non-human life forms—bacteria, fungi, and yeasts—that live with and through us. Saprophytic fungi, which grow by decomposing organic matter, become the conceptual and formal engine of the project: decomposition, transformation, and rebirth made tangible through jewellery. Each piece is generated through differential growth algorithms, producing structures that expand, erode, and mutate—3D-printed in resin and embedded onto metal plates cut into fluid metaball shapes, a dialogue between algorithmic growth and traditional goldsmithing.
