Italian multidisciplinary artist Mara Colecchia is the creator of Maracole Bijoux, a line of hand-woven ornaments made with fine Japanese seed beads, semi precious stones, up cycled materials and repurposed vintage beads.

Combining a playful narrative with bead-weaving, Maracole is creating delightfully crafted ornaments, limited edition collections , made available for fashion styling, photo editorials, galleries and boutiques. 

Bio:

Born and raised in Urbino, an art town in mid-northern Italy, I have been exposed to an incredible amount of influential art, mostly from the Reinassance, and I had the chance to experiment with many and various artistic practices over decades ( such as Venetian Mask making, performing, sculpting, painting a fresco with Egg Tempera, glass decoration with varnish, and illustrating with water color and ink).

I can say that my first form of 3dimensional creative expression was stitching (at the age of 6) and I am not surprised that my passion for textile and weaving re-emerged lately in life.

In 1999 I earned a bachelor degree as a “Maestro D`Arte” from La Scuola Del libro, in Urbino, with a specialization in drawing animation.

In 2005 I earned a master degree from the European Institute of Design in Roma (Roma IED) to complement my education in animation and gaming.

I worked in the animation industry in Rome till 2009, when I took the chance to relocate to Los Angeles, California, to study screenwriting at the
”New York Film Academy”.

There l had many artistic pursuits, being an active member of The Los Angeles Art Association from 2012 to 2017, till I finally explored wearable art.

I learned how to weave seed beads in late 2018, and Maracole Bijoux has become my main artistic endeavor ever since.

Since 2022 I am teaching bead weaving techniques at Baltimore Jewelry Center, Pocosinarts Center, and Ojai Art Center.