Barbara Uderzo lives and works between Vicenza and Milan, where in 2010 opens her personal studio “The Blob House”.

She studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice and she has been creating jewels since 1990. She makes experimental jewels as one-off pieces that have been pubblished in books and magazines and exhibited in art galleries and international museums, such as La Triennale di Milano, the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin, the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, the Mart in Rovereto, the Museum of Jewellery in Vicenza. She took part in the First International Biennial in Beijing in 2013 and in the European three-year Exhibition of Contemporary Jewellery in Mons in 2014. Her jewels have been exhibited several times in the Oratory of San Rocco in Padova; some of her works are in the public collections of: Museo degli Argenti, Palazzo Pitti (Firenze), Museo d’Arti Applicate e Decorative Palazzo Zuckermann (Padova), Museo della Città e del Territorio di Mon-summano Terme (Pistoia), Fondazione Cominelli, Cisano di San Felice d/B (Brescia), Permanent Collection of the Triennale (Milano), Museo Casabianca di Malo (Vicenza).

She works with important jewellery companies, creating prototypes for new collections. Since 1999, in addition to artistic and design work, she teaches at design schools.

With a sharp eye on contemporary development, she has experimented with both precious and alternative materials such as plastic, wood, paper and ephemeral substance like chocolate, sugar, ice and snow, using various types of both artisanal and industrial techniques.

Uderzo's iconic collection BLOB-rings originated in 1992 and has undergone a process of increasing complexity and structuring; besides the attention to shapes and colours and the use of experimental techniques and materials in the manufacturing of plastics, the focus is on the creation of stories with a pop flavour.

IDEA. I create objects to wear, arising in particular from intuitions and ideas. My collections of rings, for instance, include the succulent rings -containing little plants to water – and the blob rings – plastic entanglement withholding objets trouvés. Among the necklaces are ondina infinita (wavelet chain) and catena montuosa (rockies chain) – in silver – or the bijoux-chocolat – jewels made of chocolate.

MATERIAL. I make my jewels not only with precious metals but also and above all with materials such as plastic, wood, paper, sugar… I like to work with raw materials, understand them and get suggestions to carry on further trials. I believe that every material has its own identity.

APPEARANCE. The common thread of my research, the visible link between all my jewels, is organicity, the magmaticity of the material and the sensuality of the surfaces.

ATTITUDE. My work means commitment but also game and fun; in fact, people say that my jewels are playful and ironic. This is attested by the little mouse that peeps out of a brooch, the huge real marshmallow necklaces, the image of Diabolik that seems to escape from a bracelet, the marabou feather on a ring.

ERGONOMICS. The making of my jewels inspire me to create ornaments to wear; although exuberant in forms and dimensions, they take into account wearability, they consider evaluating weights and balances against human morphology (incredible blob rings, deinos rings, bigolì…)

MUTATION. I have been exploring different paths, creating also so-called “ephemeral” projects, that I like to define “changing”: candycandles – wax monoliths meant to melt and release a silver ring, bijoux-chocolat – necklaces formed by great dark chocolate pearls which start to melt when they get in contact with the skin, free.zero – jewels made of snow that slowly turn into water.

PERFORMANCE. In recent years I have started to move to many cities with tasty suitcases full of sweets and other delicacies: I create live glucogioielli by threading rubbery candies that can be perforated with a thread and, selecting flavoured bonbons, I create jewellery for people.

The BLOB Collection by Uderzo Design

Uderzo's iconic collection BLOB-rings originated in 1992 and has undergone a process of increasing complexity and structuring; besides the attention to shapes and colours and the use of experimental techniques and materials in the manufacturing of plastics, the focus is on the creation of stories with a pop flavour.