Ivana’s love of glass jewellery really started when she saw her first strand of Venetian glass beads in 1984. “They were stunning, but what really fascinated me was how the soft elegant flowers could fuse so beautifully into a solid and rigid medium like glass.”

In 2004, Ivana caught sight of a small beautiful hand made glass frog bead sitting in a display case. The owner of the business offered glass lampworking classes and the rest, as they say, is history! Ivana has now followed this inspiration to become an artist expressing herself through this medium of glass and fine silver.

Her ideas stem from valuing the simple effects in nature as a result of being a child of Italian immigrants who taught her to value the ‘simple things’ in life. Her parents continue to make home made pasta, home made wine and value the freshness of homegrown produce. This love of freshness is evidenced in the dramatic effects of the jewellery she now creates.

Ivana has a strong connection to the ‘earth’ ‘sea’ and the elements of nature so vital in understanding the moods of the environment. The richness of who she is and how she has experienced the multi-cultural aspects of life in Australia are reflected in her works.