ARTIST'S STATEMENT

I am a designer of couture and production jewelry, taking advantage of a number of technological advances and materials developed over the past decade. These include the digital design environment of 3D-modeling software, as well as a number of additive production processes that, in my work, allow for creativity in form and function unattainable with typical production means.

Saltwater mollusks inspired my initial digital creations, their soft bodies shifting in form while they move weightless in a fluid environment. The bilateral body symmetry exhibited by these creatures guided me to use a balanced odd-and-even numerical approach to my design decisions. Often these creatures have both soft bodies and rigid shells or connective tissue. My designs inspired by these life forms are created with silicone rubber to mimic soft parts, and high-grade nylon for shell-like parts. By combining these two materials, I devised a novel form of connection, allowing flexibility while maintaining the objects' integrity. In addition, these primordial creatures are often colorful, brightly or subtly, and my work reflects this quality. This body of work references a state of weightlessness, and relies on the movement of the wearer to change the object's perspective when viewed.

In my newest body of work, I continue to collaborate with fashion photographers to reach beyond the typical scenario of presenting objects of personal adornment in isolation. This work elicits a strong emotional reaction by placing the wearer in an unusual, fantasy environment. The styled environment is theatrical in nature and creates a visual dialogue with the object, encouraging a reaction in the model, changing her persona. At the moment of animation, all these nuances are captured in a photograph. Though the wearing event must end, the captured image endures and continues to communicate with the observer.

My most recent creations also explore the limits of materials and processes. In certain pieces I have eliminated the flexible components altogether. Instead, I rely on the characteristics of the material for maximum functionality of the object. By designing to a specific function, I allow the material to exhibit flexibility, and in turn create an elegant solution to wearability factors. This new work resonates with plant-like shapes that tendril, vine, and seem to grow. The feminine neck is a particularly interesting and challenging part of the body, with many possible shifts in movement and body framing possibilities. As I was creating this work -- combining organic forms, lack of color, and lacey patterns, along with this obsession with the neck -- I serendipitously began to reference Renaissance and Elizabethan fashion.

One piece, in particular, is unlike any that have preceded it -- the "Quad Loop" neckpiece. While pursuing technological advantages, I discovered an additive manufacturing process that starts with powdered metal. Using precise, high-intensity lasers, I can create objects in a completely new production scenario. The "Quad Loop" neckpiece is more flexible than a casting, more detailed than a forging, and more complex in profile than an extrusion. It is also larger than most one-piece metal objects intended for the body. It is of a single strand of metal that loops around in two spirals and back onto itself, accomplished with no solder joint, or connection point. It is an example of work created using the DMLS (Direct Metal Laser Sintering) process. I plan to continue exploration of this exciting technology in future work, as I believe it holds fresh aesthetic potential for important contributions to the art and design worlds.

COUNTRY OF RESIDENCE

USA

EDUCATION

M.F.A. Temple University, Tyler School of Art Elkins Park, PA, 2008

M.I.D. Domus Academy, Milan, Italy, 2000

B.F.A. The University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA, 1997

SELECTED EXHIBITIONS

Blickfang, Friends of Carlotta Gallery, Zurich, Switzerland, 2000

Technology Meets Creativity, Solo Exhibition, Wexler Gallery, Philadelphia, PA, 2009

An Exhibition of the First Five, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, 2009

Lark's 500 Plastic Jewelry Designs, book and national touring exhibition, 2009

Paper or Plastic?, Luke & Eloy Gallery, Pittsburgh, PA, 2009

The Stimulus Project, Sienna Gallery, Lenox, MA, 2009

Decorative Resurgence, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ, 2009

Jewelry In Motion, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, 2009

Graduate Alumni Exhibition, Tyler School of Art, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA, 2009

CRAFT USA National Craft Triennial, Silver Mine Guild Arts Center, New Haven, CT, 2008

Materials Hard and Soft, Greater Denton Arts Council, Denton, TX, 2008

SURGE, SNAG Juried Student Exhibition, Gallery S.P.A.C.E., Savannah, GA, 2008

SNAG Student Slide Show, Society of North American Goldsmiths Conference, Savannah, GA, 2008

M.F.A.Virtual Thesis Exhibition, Tyler School of Art, www. anthonytammaro.com, 2008

SNAG Student Slide Show, Society of North American Goldsmiths Conference, Memphis, TN, 2007

Graduate Candidate Exhibition, Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, PA, 2007

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

Visiting Design Educator CAD/CAM, Towson University, Towson, MD, 2008

Ongoing exploration in the field of the generative design process as it relates to the new medium of Digital Craft, Winter Workshop, PointB Design, Philadelphia, PA, 2008

Architectural Digital/Analog Collaborator, PointB Design, Philadelphia, PA, 2008

Digital Design Consultant, Anthony Tammaro LLC, Conshohocken, PA, 2008

Launch of an SLS Nylon production jewelry line using a Direct Digital Manufacturing Scenario, Paramount PDS, Langhorne, PA, 2008

Architectural collaboration using generative design software and typical metal fabrication techniques to create unique structures of both form and function, 2008

Graduate research in the field of Direct Metal Laser Sintering. Exploration and documentation of "E- manufacturing" of stainless steel jewelry using the EOS eosint 270, 2007

CAD/CAM Lab Assistant to Prof. Lechtzin, Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, PA, 2005 to 2007

Metals Studio Technician, Tyler School of Art, Elkins Park, PA, 2005 to 2007

Graduate research of CNC two-part molds for the casting of silicone rubber parts combined with rigid 3D printed components, Graduate Thesis, 2006

Industrial Designer, FunTime Int. (Crazy Straw) Philadelphia, PA, 2004

Design Educator, Art Institute of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA, 2002 to 2003

Design Educator, Charter High School of Architecture and Design, Philadelphia, PA, 2001 to 2002