MATERIAL IN MOTION
Glass, Stone and Metal shaped into jewellery for the moving body
For Francesca Marcenaro, jewellery is not a fixed image or an inert object. It is a form of sculpture brought into an intimate relationship with the body — one in which surface, curve, weight and reflection remain visibly active.
Material in Motion lies at the centre of her practice. Glass catches and transforms light; curved forms alter as the body moves; weight gives an object physical presence; textures invite touch; and carved stones retain the trace of the gesture that shaped them. Movement may be physical, visual or perceptual, but it is always integral to the way the jewel is conceived and experienced.
Francesca works directly with metal, glass and hand-cut stones, allowing their different qualities to determine both the structure and the character of each piece. Her self-developed Glass Granulation process is an essential part of this material language. Glass is neither applied as decoration nor introduced simply to make the object appear different. Integrated with the metal, it becomes part of the architecture of the jewel, creating relief, rhythm and changing reflections. As the body moves, the surface comes alive.
Stone cutting is approached through the same principle. Rather than adapting a design to a conventionally cut stone, Francesca cuts and interprets the material in response to the volume, balance and direction of the work. Glass, stone, metal and structure are sometimes developed together, allowing the material itself to participate in the evolution of the form.
“Italy is my country. London is my hometown”
Francesca’s understanding of materials and volume was shaped by the artistic landscape of Tuscany. Living between Carrara and Pietrasanta placed her close to marble quarries, sculptors’ studios, foundries and specialist workshops, where cutting, modelling and transforming matter are part of an everyday visual culture. Florence provided a complementary understanding of jewellery’s history, proportions and goldsmithing traditions.
She later developed this knowledge professionally in London, where she began working as a goldsmith in Hatton Garden. The experience connected her Italian cultural and artistic background with the discipline of the jewellery profession, while London’s international character allowed her work to evolve within a broader contemporary context.
Alongside this material and sculptural research runs a more elusive imaginative world. Francesca’s classical studies fostered an enduring engagement with mythology, symbolism and metamorphosis, from which the fairytale quality of her work emerges. Nature, myths and fairytales are not illustrated literally; they appear through organic growth, changing forms and the suggestion that matter may contain another, less visible life. Venice, with its layered atmosphere and inseparable relationship with glass, belongs to this same landscape of light, ambiguity and transformation.
For Francesca, jewellery is more than decoration. It is an authored, cultural and emotionally resonant object — a living relationship between material, maker, body and wearer. Its movement does not end when the making is complete: it continues through light, touch and the experiences of the person who wears it.