Grazia Fortuna Ward

Introducing Grazia Fortuna Ward

Art is a family tradition for Grazia Fortuna Ward. Born in Vicenza, where she lives and works part of the year, Grazia spends the other in the US, confronting with the contemporary avant-garde.

After studying at the Academy of Fine Arts, Grazia Fortuna Ward dedicates her life to painting: an artistic journey that begins with the figurative and tonal realism and moves towards an abstract and informal style in the 90's.

She creates environmental dimension works for studios and private homes and collaborates with collectors and architects for settings and locations. Among them, the projects with famous architect Álvaro Siza stand like a remarkable moment of Grazia's artistic experience.

The transition from painting to jewelry creation is sealed by the cooperation of Grazia Fortuna Ward with the Guggenheim Foundation in Venice. Back then, the extraordinary story of “Art to Wear” has its start.

Poetry of Art to Wear

The creations of Grazia Fortuna Ward suggest the feeling that matter has been shaped in its pure essence to become a unique and unrepeatable work of art. If the genesis of Grazia, as an artist, finds roots in a materic, volumetric painting, in a style inspired by the materials of nature, the development of this originary inspiration can be found today in her jewels — interpreters of an unconventional beauty that combines the creative lightness of the painter's brush, the balance of a fine sculpture, the poetic charm of a woman's tale.

The artistic path of Grazia Fortuna Ward — hosted over time by a number of galleries in Italy and abroad — pours from the canvas into the object of design, the jewel, and brings art to a dimension to wear, sublime though accessible. Earrings are the first creative subjects of this transition: small jewels, almost an initial trial, shy but finally powerful in the result. The need to tell more and to expand the exploration grows: thus the necklaces and the bags, a production that allows a wider narrative space, a deeper search of art applied to jewelry.

The story that Grazia tells translates into the GFW brand which, each season, offers collections of hand-made sculptural accessories, always featuring a vibrant and original personality.

Natural resins and powders, combined with pure gold, give life to art objects that seem to emerge from the earth, from the bark of the trees, from the rocks, from the ripples of the matter. GFW jewels transfer emotions and complete the naturalness of the female body with elegance and unmistakable style.