Emanuela Duca

Emanuela Duca, a fine jewelry designer based in Hudson Valley, NY, was born in Rome, Italy. While pursuing her degree from the School of Art in Rome and the European Institute of Design, Ms. Duca was involved in dance, painting and sculpture. But it was in jewelry design that she finally found the medium she had been searching for: the marriage of movement and sculpture. Ms. Duca’s earth-bound, highly textured surfaces are evocative of volcanic ash and the ancient ruins of her native Rome.  But their shape and combination, true to her New York sensibility, are clean, simple and minimal. Sculpted in wax, then forged and constructed in sterling silver and 18k yellow gold, the individual forms are shaped and manipulated through various techniques mastered by the artist through many years of experimentation.  It’s a very physical process, one that allows Ms. Duca to put an exclamation point on her unique design language as she creates the kind of primitive, highly sophisticated forms that are always revealing themselves in fresh, unexpected ways and for which she has become so well known.

­­Established in New York City in 2005, Emanuela has exhibited in numerous retail and wholesale shows throughout the country, including the Smithsonian, the Philadelphia Museum of Arts Craft Shows, Couture International Jewelry Show (Las Vegas), and “LOOT!” exhibit at the Museum of Art and Design in New York. She was also the recipient of the 2009 American Craft Council Award of Excellence. Ms. Duca has also been selected for the prestigious CFDA (The Council of Fashion Designers of America) “Incubator” program. The CFDA’s “Incubator” program was launched with Mayor Bloomberg on October 19, 2009, in partnership with New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) and Newmark Holdings, and it is designed to support the next generation of fashion designers in New York City.

Today Emanuela lives and works in Hudson Valley, NY and Rome, Italy.