Heavy Metal

L+T: Which do you find to be more difficult: Designing jewelry or designing artwork?
Ippolita: I think every time you have to resolve an artistic problem you attack it with all the means you have at your disposal. Sometimes it’s easy, sometimes it’s hard, regardless if there is an immediate commercial application.

L+T: Tell us a about making the video component. Your jewelry designs and sculpture seems to be all about working with your hands. This is an entirely different process. How did you manage this change?
Ippolita: The projections on glass were very jewel-like so I approached it from a strictly aesthetic point of view with very tight narratives.

L+T: Do you envision incorporating video in your jewelry? Working with iPods or smartphones, for example.
Ippolita: No, that hadn’t occurred to me.

L+T: How do you think your Italian background manifests itself in your work?
Ippolita: Through my manic devotion to craft! Fatto a Mano (“made by hand”) is my motto.

L+T: If you could collaborate with anyone, who would that be?
Ippolita: [Serbian performance artist] Marina Abramovic

L+T: What is next on the horizon for you?
Ippolita: Going to Italy to work on a new top secret project. Check back with me soon!

Photography: Dusty Nakao-Haider