Biography
Cassandra Vitiello was raised in Montreal, Quebec; a city brimming with art and culture. She began academically pursuing art at CEGEP John Abbott College, where she explored media such as paint, printmaking, and sculpture. She here discovered that she had a love for detail and building objects. This love lead her to the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design University, where she earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts majoring in Jewellery Design and Metalsmithing. Vitiello has a passion for silver and gemstones, which she uses to create jewellery with mechanical qualities.
Artist Statement
Cassandra Vitiello employs traditional fabrication and casting techniques to achieve her designs. She loves to work in silver because material is versatile and allows her to experiment with large scale form. Colour is worked into her designs through the use of gemstones and enamel, with very little escaping without at least a hint of colour.
Her designs often begin as doodles of shapes and lines, which quickly evolve into a series of equations; calculating and positioning each element in the design.
Currently, Vitiello is focusing on lockets. She takes interest in how the exterior fulfils jewellery's traditional purposes of adornment and expression, while the interior is more intimate and personal. She challenges this interior space, allowing the wearer to choose what will reside in some of the lockets, as she chooses what will inhabit others. She also loves the challenge of moving parts, making the lockets' hinges an exciting challenge.
Want to see some of her jewellery?