Romanian jewelry artist Angela Ciobanu (41 years, Romania) is the first participant in the Kronenringe – Jewellery Residency for Emerging Artists in Landsberg am Lech. She will open the program with her residency from December 2025 to February 2026.
Ciobanu first studied Architecture at the University of Architecture and Urbanism “Ion Mincu” in Bucharest (2002–2008), followed by an apprenticeship at the David Sandu Jewellery Studio (2010–2012). This dual background continues to shape her artistic approach today: structural thinking, spatial precision, and experimental material research merge in her jewelry into a distinctive artistic expression.
Her international career includes several artist residencies, most notably at the Ilias Lalaounis Jewellery Museum in Athens (2020–2021), where she explored both classical and contemporary goldsmithing techniques. One of her works from this period became part of the museum’s permanent collection. Consecutive residencies in Finland and Sweden followed, where she immersed herself in the traditional Sámi craft heritage, incorporating its ornamental methods and materials into her current work.
Over the past decade, Ciobanu has presented her creations in more than 30 international exhibitions and fairs, including COLLECT at Saatchi Gallery London, JOYA Barcelona, Venice Design Week, Dutch Design Week Eindhoven, Beijing International Jewellery Exhibition, Vienna Jewellery Days (MAK Vienna), Inhorgenta Munich, Milano Design Week, and Sieraad Amsterdam. Her works have received multiple awards, among them the HOMI Maker Design Award (Milan 2015), ENJOIA’T Award Finalist (Barcelona 2014), and AUTOR Award Winner (Bucharest 2010).
Her jewelry is represented in museum collections such as the Ilias Lalaounis Jewellery Museum (Athens) and the Alliages Gallery (Lille), underlining her international recognition in contemporary jewelry art. Ciobanu’s approach bridges craftsmanship, technology, and sustainable material innovation; she explores biomaterials and questions “whether jewelry can be more than adornment – a medium that connects thought, memory, and future.”
During her Kronenringe Residency 2025/26 in Landsberg, Ciobanu will develop new works that further explore the dialogue between classical goldsmithing and experimental design. Based between Vienna and Bucharest, her practice embodies a transdisciplinary and reflective approach to jewelry art – a bridge between tradition, craft, and contemporary design, which also forms the essence of the Kronenringe Residency itself.
