Anna Porcu

The daughter of antiquarians, Italian jeweler Anna Porcu inherited the knowledge of antique artifacts and an eye for rarity and fineness to detail. After receiving her Master’s degree in art history, she did archival work in the Gucci archives in Milan and at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. Inspired by these experiences, she began to create her own jewelry using rare antique cameos in 2011. 

Porcu, who is based in Pienza, Italy, searches the world for museum-quality cameos in materials including shell, ivory, amber, agate, and lava. She has become an expert in this type of art which, carved in extremely low relief by master artists, dates back to ancient Roman times and often included mythological or pastoral narratives. She reinterprets these cameos, re-crafting their original settings, adding sterling silver and  gold, and then placing them on a contemporary backdrop of leather. The completed works blend her artistic vision with the enduring values of Italian handcraft, balancing passion and expertise, devotion to traditions and the courage to reinvent them.