Rossella Cigognetti Tornquist

Rossella Tornquist was born in Italy in 1954. After having graduated at the Art Institute of Salò, she continued her studies at the Istituto Europeo di Design, Jewellery Department in Milan. She has taken part in several solo and group exhibitions on an international level, both in private galleries and museums such as the "Giovio", Como and MOC, museum for contemporary jewellery, Castello di Sartirana foundation, Italy. Early in her career, she worked with fashion designers, such as Basile, designing and creating jewellery for their collections. Her work is particularly inspired by natural elements, such as surfaces like bark, wood, or structural elements from the animal kingdom, like animal bones. At an earlier stage, these types of materials were incorporated in her jewellery, whereas her more recent work has seen major use of precious metals per se. The forms still refer to natural elements, but adjust themselves to more essential schemes. It can also be said that the relationship between object and body has acquired more importance in time.