Since 2013 we have been with JOYA Barcelona in a journey marked by our common passion for jewelry. Even if the last two years have not allowed us to be physically close, we have continued the tradition of the AUTOR Award, given this year to Rita Martinez and her collection, Maledetta Primavera.
Because we needed a little bit of magic to rebalance our souls after all these uncertain times, we are glad to introduce you to this year’s AUTOR Award winner at JOYA Barcelona, Rita Martínez. Based in Verona, Italy, Rita masterfully blends stories, spirituality and bold ideas into her collection, Maledetta Primavera (Cursed Spring).
The concept behind the collection is truly unique, bringing back the alchemy theme, freeing the wearer, as well as the jeweler and the jewelry itself from their limitations. AUTOR had proudly awarded Rita Martínez and her collection. She will take part in AUTOR Fair 2022, as a JOYA Barcelona winner and will also benefit from our platform’s visibility, showcasing her work and talent, her innovative ideas and her `defying nature` collection.
With her Maledetta Primavera collection, Rita felt like a little alchemist, locked in her magical world. She was torned between the perception of nature awakening from the winter slumber and the darkness of the world’s present historical conjuncture. 
Starting from these two colliding ideas, the artistic rebellious outburst began. She elaborated a series of symbols (the nest, the bird, the flower), generally full of light and life, which now are instead painted in black. These elements assume a decidedly liberating ‘coloration’ of the inner malaise, of the demons that grip you and haunt the soul. But, once expressed, the malaise allows harmony and strength again. The harmony and strength we need to face the future.
Rita Martinez, the artist behind the Maledetta Primavera collection
The essential reason behind alchemy is the transmutability of common metals towards higher states of being. One of the most famous examples is the philosopher’s stone. In the process, objects can be brought back, transformed, and endowed with other qualities. Perhaps that is why the alchemical operation appears as an imitation and reproduction of the original creative process. We do not have any certainty, but we are about to discover by letting it flow.
When it flows, bodies are freed from their limitations, their weights, their corporeality. They open the way to the deepest state of consciousness, the deepest disorder, coming back again to a balanced state. It’s all a game between the triad of spirituality, magic and astrology. The triad changes and challenges our views about heaven and earth, balance and everything else we think we know.
This type of transformational magic has been associated with something dark and mysterious since the uprise of Christianity, which heightened its negative connotation. Even white magic, despite its healing properties and knowledge, had also been prohibited.
Black magic, regardless of the use you want to make of it, is complementary to white magic. It returns everything to its original cosmic dualism, a dualism that guarantees the balance of the entire Universe. For this reason, although black evokes darkness in its direct antithesis to white, both elements are indispensable to each other, they need to coexist.
Stay close to AUTOR, we are preparing an interview with our winner from JOYA Barcelona 2021 really soon. Until then, you can find out more about Rita Martínez and her collection by following her on Instagram, here.
