Gabriella Kiss

Biography
Gabriella Kiss
In Gabriella Kiss’s work master craftsmanship blends with a poetic imagination in jewelry that draws people into the small scale. The results are finely detailed art pieces. Gabriella has always been compelled to create work that represents the underlying layers in our world. This harkens back to a vivid memory from grade school, watching Charles and Ray Eames’ film, The Power of Ten. The nine-minute documentary would provide lifelong inspiration.
 
The daughter of a physicist, Gabriella studied sculpture at Pratt Institute, where she learned the ancient process of lost-wax casting. Carving in wax lets her capture the intricate details her designs command. Collectors of Gabriella Kiss’s jewelry are intrigued and enthralled by the various layers and range of her work. Earlier designs in her collection are influenced by anatomy. Hand carvings in pins, earrings and rings reference art history, as well as symbolic gestures. The “Love Token” series was inspired by the 19th-century tradition of giving a painted eye to a loved one. Gabriella extended this idea with bas-relief carvings of the five senses coupled with Latin inscriptions. More recently, she has taken inspiration from the delicate and nurturing nature of birds, as well as fruit, snakes and insects. Gabriella Kiss and her husband, furniture designer Chris Lehrecke, live and work out of their respective studios in upstate New York.
Works