Ana Wagner, visual artist and founder of the Wagner Arte atelier, returns to AUTOR 2025 after being awarded the Milano Fashion & Jewels Award last year. Known for her fusion of porcelain, precious metals, and storytelling, Ana brings to the 22nd edition of the fair a new refined collection, created in collaboration with jewelry ateliers in Milan. We spoke with her about her return to AUTOR, about inspiration, and about what wearable art jewelry means in her vision.
AUTOR 2025 will take place at Unirea Shopping Center, Bucharest, between May 10–11.
You’re returning to AUTOR 2025 after winning the Milano Fashion & Jewels Award. How
does this moment feel for you?
Coming back to AUTOR 2025 gives me a very pleasant feeling—that of belonging to a creative and professional universe of the highest standards. I’m always happy to participate in this event because it is the only platform of its kind that generates a very special and vibrant energy, flowing optimally between creators and viewers/visitors/collectors. It’s an alchemy of energies that I encounter only at AUTOR.
The fact that I received the Milano Fashion & Jewels Award last year, due to my participation at AUTOR with the new collection The Journey in the Mirror, confirmed that the creative path I’m on is the right one. It gave me the strength and energy to keep going on this road, one defined by exercises in authenticity and the pursuit, essentially, of Truth.
Your new collection continues to explore your favorite themes. What’s new this time?
The new collection, The Journey in the Diamond Mirror, brings to life the fruits of the journey that began when I won the Milano Fashion & Jewels Award with The Journey in the Mirror.
The original collection, let’s call it the “mother collection,” found its ideal partner in Milan to continue its story. There, I established precious collaborative relationships with Milanese haute joaillerie jewelry houses and master jewelers. Together, we continue to create unique pieces.
My jewelry pieces, known for blending key elements such as porcelain, silver, and all kinds of precious stones, now include two components I’ve long dreamed of: gold and diamonds.
This new collection, crafted in collaboration with jewelry ateliers in Milan, elevates my existing mix—hand-decorated porcelain with gold and platinum, silver, gemstones, and often pearls—through the refined addition of gold and diamonds. They create an unexpected and surprising dialogue that brings harmony and subtle elegance.
What does the AUTOR platform mean to you?
AUTOR is the platform where I feel like a fish in water. It’s the space and event I genuinely look forward to every year.
AUTOR is an international event that constantly brings fresh energy, and I always find it at high standards of quality and organization. It’s an event that inspires me, gives me the strength to keep going in my creative journey, and offers recognition from a refined and insightful audience.
What makes the pieces you’ll present in May stand out?
What’s new in the collection I created both in Milan and in Bucharest is this unexpected mix of materials, this surprising dialogue between silver, gold, diamonds, and porcelain. You’ll also find semi-precious stones, mirror elements, or pearls. Technically, it’s a kind of peak. Combining these materials requires complex craftsmanship and many hours of detailed handwork.
I believe a jewelry piece tells its story all the better when its making is technically complex.
The conceptual side of a jewelry piece is enhanced by solid, well-resolved technical craftsmanship.
Thus, the idea of “wearable art” or “statement jewelry” has strong foundations and is supported from every perspective—Concept and Technique, from which Uniqueness emerges.
How do you think the audience will respond to The Journey in the Diamond Mirror?
I expect the audience to be both surprised by the novelty of The Journey in the Diamond Mirror, and gently led—like in a dance—by the way the previous collection flows naturally into this new one.
The creative and aesthetic universe remains in the same area, drawn from the same inspirational pool. The surprise elements, such as gold and diamonds, bring fresh energy and raise the pieces to a higher level—haute joaillerie.
This upgrade will probably spark a new perspective among viewers and collectors regarding the already well-known style of jewelry created under the Ana Wagner / Wagner Arte name.
What role does the emotional dimension play in your creative process?
In my work, without accessing the emotional dimension, the act of creation wouldn’t be possible. The pursuit of Truth, Harmony, and Authenticity—how could that be achieved without feeling emotion?
The stories I tell through my creations are inspired by life experiences or moments of spiritual connection with nature. The emotion experienced in this process is a key ingredient of my creative act, which I constantly practice.
Emotion is one of the essential ingredients in creating wearable art jewelry—or really, in any type of creation.
Come meet Ana Wagner and her world at AUTOR 2025, May 10–11, Unirea Shopping Center, Bucharest.