Devi Petti

Meet the Artist:

16 May 2026

Meet the Artist:

Devi Petti

16 May 2026

Q: Can you describe the exact moment when a piece of gold or silver "tells you" what it wants to become?

A: My process is intuitive and physical. I work with the lost-wax casting technique, and the contact with the wax is essential to the creation of the shape. I let the wax guide my hands rather than the other way around. There is usually a moment, hard to predict, impossible to force, when I arrive at a balance. Something settles. The shape finds a kind of quiet rightness, and I recognise beauty in it. That is the moment when the piece defines itself. I have learned to wait for that feeling rather than decide too early.

Q: And when students in your workshops experience that same creative block, how do you help ignite their inspiration?

A: The idea of a "perfect" shape is often what blocks you. If someone is stuck, I suggest they stop, step back, and look at what they have made with fresh eyes. I ask them to find that one detail, the thing that is genuinely theirs, and build from there. The rest adjusts itself around it.

"When you stop chasing it, something more interesting usually appears."

Q: Berlin tends to shake things up for anyone who spends time here. What challenges has it brought you, both personally and professionally?

A: I grew up in a small village on the Amalfi Coast and moved to Rome as a teenager. I went from a breathtaking natural beauty to a breathtaking historical beauty, and then came to Berlin, something else entirely. Berlin does not offer beauty without asking something in return. Here, you have to look for it, and sometimes build it yourself. That has been both the challenge and the gift. Professionally, building a jewellery label in a city that moves fast and values the new has asked me to be very clear about why I work slowly and to hold that intention without apology. Personally, the distance from the sea, from a particular warmth and rhythm, has sharpened what I carry with me.

Q: Where in Berlin do you usually go when you need to unwind?

A: Since my work is also my passion, coming to the studio to focus on personal projects is what I instinctively tend to do with free time. I am drawn to water. I love to watch water that moves. Next to a canal or the river, the eye can travel further and get lost somewhere. It reminds me a little of being at home, watching the sea from the window. If I need to be more specific, Funkhaus is one of my favourite places in the city. I love cycling there along the river, I love the architecture both outside and inside, and I love the feeling that place carries.