About

Daniela and Marzia Banci, both architect with a solid training in jewelery and applied arts, engage in an original way on the ancient traditions of the goldsmith the planning and attention to architectural construction volumes and shapes of the body and reveal a sensibility able to draw on different suggestions intellectuals.

Daniela Banci

The goldsmith and architect was born in Pesaro in 1961. She received her diploma in Applied Metal and Goldsmithing Arts from the Art Institute in Fano, which was already an important centre of experimental goldsmithing because of Edgardo Mannucci (Fabriano, 1904 – Arcevia, 1986), a great artist teaching at the school. During her high school studies, she attended the workshop of Alberto Giorgi, one of Mannucci’s pupils, thus refining her goldsmithing skill and developing her increasingly mature personal expressive language, strongly based on crafting and designing.

In 1981, after getting her diploma, she and her sister Marzia Banci set up the “Banci Gioielli” workshop where she designs and makes contemporary jewellery. She graduated with a degree in Architecture from the University of Venice. Architecture is the natural, inner language of Daniela Banci’s creative philosophy. Since 1995 she has worked with companies in the lighting and furnishing industry and has designed several collections, presented at international exhibitions in Cologne, Milan, Paris and Verona. Whether designing a piece of jewellery, a lighting element or pieces of furniture, her approach is never bound to a consumer product’s function, but focuses on creating a shape designed to enrich the human spirit. Her philosophy shapes noble metals and precious stones.

From 2006 to 2010 she was Chairwoman of the Goldsmiths-Silversmiths Category of the Craftsman’s Union in Padua, and a member of the board of the association. She organized a number of different events during that period, including:

• The “Nuovi orizzonti preziosi” marketing, export and culture conferences, Padua 2007;

• The “L’argento: il piacere dei sensi” conference at Palazzo Moroni, Padua 2008;

• The “Incontri preziosi” series of conferences at Palazzo Moroni, Padua 2009, for the “La scuola dell’oro” exhibition in Palazzo della Ragione, Padua 2009;

• The “Galileo e il Libro dell’Universo. Gli Orafi e Argentieri interpretano Galileo” exhibition hosted by the Centro Culturale San Gaetano, Via Altinate, Padua 2009. She designed the arrangement and managed the exhibition itself. Within the same event, she designed and managed the Regional Contest among Artistic High School Students to celebrate Galileo in the international year of Astronomy, overseeing both arrangement and exhibition.

She is a member of the “Gaspara Stampa” Lions Club in Abano Terme (Padua). Over the years, her jewellery has been displayed in individual and group exhibitions in the galleries of Italian and foreign art cities, most importantly in Venice, Vienna, Graz, Munich, London, Florence, Istanbul; Taipei, Paris, and Tokyo. A Daniela Banci jewel has been part of the Palazzo PittiNational Silver Museum permanent collections in Florence since 2011.

Marzia Banci

Marzia Banci received her diploma in Applied Metal and Goldsmithing Art from the Apolloni Art Institute in Fano (Pesaro-Urbino) in the late Seventies. During that time she attended the workshop of Francesco Facchini, a pupil of Edgardo Mannucci and one of the most innovative goldsmiths at the time. Realising that the expressive form that came to her most naturally and spontaneously was goldsmithing, she decided to continue her studies, graduating with a degree in Architecture (with a dissertation on Urban Planning) from the I.U.A.V. University of Venice. Architecture and precious art thus became valuable tools, carefully chosen to create both a personal and universal path into studies and research.

In 1981, together with her sister Daniela, she opened a gold design workshop, “Banci Gioielli”, in Montegrotto Terme (Padua), designed to be a place for study and experimentation. Designing jewellery was an essential need for Marzia. It was the result of studying the fundamental themes common to each human being. She studied myths, archetypes, biology, poetry, theology, philosophy and architecture in order to develop the essential cultural supports she needs to express her creations. She taught professional design and goldsmithing at the Adolfo Apolloni Art Institute in Fano, at Il Pietro Selvatico in Padua and Vittorio Veneto and, together with her students, received awards and acknowledgments.

Since 2007, as President of the Associazione Culturale Filosofia di Vita (www.filosofiadivita.it) she has organized major international cultural events, in particular:

• The “Viaggio con Te Venezia – Atene” conference on philosophy and architecture at the Technical University of Athens and the Italian Embassy in the Hellenic Republic with Mr. Cacciari, Mr. Moutzopulos and Italian Ambassador Mr. Scarante;

• The “Viaggio con Te Padova – Berlino” conference on philosophy and architecture at the Italian Institute of Culture in Berlin with Mr. Bolaffi, Mr. Curi, Mr. Tripodi, architect;

• “Viaggio con Te Venezia – Atene – Padova – Berlino” round table on philosophy and urban planning at the Great Hall of the University of Padua with Mr. Curi, Mr. Kollhoff, Mr. Wulf, Mr. Fintikakis, the Italian Ambassador Mr Scarante.

As she loves theatre, dancing and painting, she has been organizing exhibitions and events for years, paying special attention to everything from which the emotions of the spirit and soul can become a physical or spiritual body. Since 2005 she has also been creating and directing shortfilms inspired by the theme of genesis.

Marzia Banci is a member of the Academic Forum for Gender Politics and Studies at the University of Padua; a synergistic point of collaboration between local entrepreneurs and the University academic staff. Her lectures given at conferences of the Forum are published by “Il Poligrafo”, edited by Saveria Chemotti in “L’Orgia estetica, il corpo femminile tra armonia ed esasperazione” (2007). “Padri nostri, archetipi e modelli delle relazioni tra padri e figlie” (2010). “Affettività Elettive, relazioni e costellazioni dis-ordinate” (2012), currently going to print:” La Scena Inospitale” (2013), “La Cura come relazione con il mondo” (2014).

Over the years, her jewellery has been displayed in individual and group exhibitions in the galleries of Italian and foreign art cities, most importantly in Venice, Vienna, Graz, Munich, London, Florence, Istanbul; Taipei, Paris, and Tokyo. A Marzia Banci jewel has been part of the Palazzo Pitti National Silver Museum permanent collections in Florence since 2011.