Anna Lord

Anna Lord was born in the heart of the North, in Helsinki, in 1958, to a Karelian mother and an English father — two distant roots entwined like the branches of an ancient tree. Her early years unfolded among the enchanted silences of Finland, surrounded by mirror-like lakes and forests steeped in mystery. At the age of six, her family moved to England, where Anna spent her childhood and adolescence, attending school and growing up amidst a tapestry of dreams and shifting landscapes. France and Spain, too, would welcome her for a time, leaving behind traces of light and warmth in her soul.

Behind her gentle smile lies a past marked by shadows — a difficult childhood, crossed by deep sorrow that forged the strength of her spirit. And it is from these very wounds that an extraordinary sensitivity was born, later reflected in both her creations and her words.

At seventeen, she arrived in Italy, in Bologna. She enrolled at the Academy of Fine Arts, where she met Nicola, her lifelong partner in both life and art. Together, they fell in love with goldsmithing, drawn to the shimmer of precious metals and the secrets of form. Under the guidance of their great master, Maurizio Alonge, they began a journey that merged technique and inspiration, creating unique, expressive jewellery inspired by the art of ancient civilisations: Byzantine, Etruscan, and Tibetan.

In the early 2000s, Anna and Nicola were invited to exhibit their work at the Gallery of Modern Art in Rome — a significant recognition of their timeless artistic vision.

As well as being a jewellery designer, Anna Lord is also a writer and researcher. She is the author of three books: Welcome to the Tuscan Dream, Manuale di ribellione femminile (Manual of Female Rebellion) and La Divina Artemisia (The Divine Artemisia). The latter is closely linked to her passion for herbs, particularly Artemisia annua, a plant with exceptional properties.
Artemisia annua has been used for centuries in traditional Chinese medicine thanks to its antimalarial and fever-reducing qualities, which are due to artemisinin and its derivatives. It also has antibacterial, anti-inflammatory and detoxifying properties. However, it is the plant’s mystical aura that draws Anna to it. Once burned in ancient Greece to invoke the gods, used by Romans in protective rituals and employed in shamanic traditions to access altered states of consciousness, Artemisia reflects Anna’s deep connection to the wisdom of nature and feminine spirituality. Named after a goddess, Artemisia has been the subject of extensive study by Anna Lord, who sees it as an extraordinary embodiment of physical and spiritual properties.
Today, Anna lives in Florence with her daughter Elena Sofia and her husband Nicola, who continues to create jewellery alongside his Japanese apprentice in a charming workshop nestled in the heart of the city.

Anna is a woman of free spirit, profound gaze, and unwavering character. She possesses the rare gift of blending grace with determination, art with instinct. And perhaps, from that northern land of lakes and silence where she was born, she has inherited the Sisu — the unyielding Finnish spirit, the quiet strength that never gives up.