Shanghai Coin Design Forum & Award 2019

In 2019, I was invited by the Shanghai Mint to travel to China and take part in the Shanghai Coin Design Forum and Award, together with two other Italian coin artists.

The event brought together coin designers, sculptors and professionals from different countries for three days of presentations, talks and discussions dedicated to the art of coin and medal design. It was a rare opportunity to meet artists from very different backgrounds, exchange ideas and discover different approaches to a field that combines art, craftsmanship, technology and history.

Alongside the forum, the Shanghai Coin Design Award invited artists to submit an original coin design. For my entry, I decided to bring a piece of my own heritage to Shanghai, creating a design inspired by the traditional masks of Sardinia.

The two sides explore different expressions of Sardinian tradition through some of its most distinctive masks and costumes, translating their forms into a composition conceived specifically for a coin.

My design received the Silver Award in the Professional category.

Receiving the award in Shanghai was a very special moment, not only professionally, but personally. Seeing a design inspired by the traditions of the island where I grew up recognised on an international stage, thousands of kilometres away from Sardinia, made the experience particularly meaningful.

Those three days remain one of the experiences that showed me how international the world of coin and medal art can be, a small format capable of bringing together stories, cultures and artists from completely different parts of the world.