Stefano Marchetti, born in Padua, Italy, in 1970, is a jewelry artist whose practice merges traditional craftsmanship with daring material and conceptual experimentation. Trained under Francesco Pavan at the Istituto Statale d’Arte Pietro Selvatico and later in sculpture at the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice, Marchetti describes himself as a synthesis of goldsmith, sculptor, process innovator, and teacher.

His work is characterized by an archaic visual language of ruptured fragments, a painterly sensitivity to color, and a relentless pursuit of technical innovation that challenges the boundaries of contemporary jewelry. Deeply experimental in his approach to materials, Marchetti has developed groundbreaking techniques such as plastic gold — a compound of gold dust and synthetic resin that is both malleable and structurally distinct. He has also explored chemical corrosion to produce golden “skeletons” of pieces originally made in silver and gold, a process he likens to working as a “blind sculptor.”

His more recent research focuses on drawing with palladium on silver, pushing the limits of metal interaction and surface expression.

“It is not the material that creates the result,” Marchetti states, “but our ability to fertilize it with ideas.”

For Marchetti, jewelry is not merely ornament, but dialogue — a conversation between the soul of metal and the artist’s imagination. Through this alchemy, he transforms raw material into evocative narratives that blur the line between object, experiment, and emotion.