Giovanni Corvaja

Bio

Born in 1971 in Padua, Italy, Giovanni Corvaja began work as a metalsmithing at the age of 13 at Pietro Selvatico High School of Art in Padua under the tuition of Francesco Pavan and Paolo Maurizio. In 1988 was awarded the Diploma di Maestro d’Arte, and in 1990 – the Maturità d’Arte Applicata. In 1990, he joined the Royal College of Art in London to continue his studies in the field of art jewellery. After graduation from the Royal College with the Degree of Master of Arts in 1992, he returned to Padua where he pursued his artistic career in goldsmithing.

Statement

Everything started because of my passion and fascination about metals. Ever since I was a child I found metals to be very interesting: the way they feel to the touch, the way they reflect the light, the way they absorb so quickly the warmth of our hands, their malleability and ductility were like miracles for me. In the earth metals are very common, but, because at its origin the earth was hot and melted, most of it collapsed to the centre of it, forming the earth’s core: a giant ball of melted iron of thousand of kilometres in diameter. Most probably the heavier of those metals are in the inner core…I am convinced that the soul of the earth is a huge sphere of gold and platinum, or at least, that is how I like to imagine it.

I believe that manipulating and transforming gold is the most beautiful activity there is. It allows you to concentrate a huge amount of energy, details, dedication and passion into small objects.

Thanks to his solid background and training, for 30 years Giovanni has been probing the artistic, formal and technical aspects of goldsmithing. Inspired by Greek mythology and the study of Alchemy, his researches led him to the creation of his own Golden Fleece: by reducing gold and platinum to the dimension of one fifth of a human hair, he discovered a whole new world of expressive possibilities in the field of jewellery.