Out of Office is a home for inspired living. To unlock our creative practice series with weekly prompts and community accountability, upgrade your subscription. Studio Visit: Anna Ruiz PlanellaA Barcelona-based jeweler and the founder of Aguamarga Studio, talking about life and finding inspiration as a multi-disciplinary artist, and how a traditional path turned into an artistic career.
Welcome to the latest edition of our newsletter, where we’re inviting you to find new inspiration by immersing yourself in a living artist’s practice and local culture, hear their story, learn new skills, and see the world with fresh eyes. Anna Ruiz Planella is a Barcelona-based jeweler and the founder of Aguamarga Studio. I got to know Anna by stumbling across her beautiful pieces at a craft store in Barcelona, buying some earrings that I fell in love with. A few weeks later, I recognized the earrings at a design craft market where she exhibited, and started talking to her. Anna is now in our roster of artists, leading a “Wax to Ring” workshop in Barcelona. Her pieces are conceived as small, wearable sculptures, created through traditional silversmithing techniques.
Please tell us more about you! How did you enter into the artistic world? What’s your training and background? I’m Anna Ruiz, a contemporary jewelry designer and maker based in Barcelona, where I was born and raised. My work moves between the body, memory, and materiality, using jewelry as a way to translate emotions and narratives into form. I come from a family of artists, and I grew up in a very creative environment that deeply shaped the way I see and relate to the world. My journey into the artistic world wasn’t linear. I first studied Business Administration, then Psychology, and later a postgraduate in Cultural Management—fields that didn’t fully resonate with me at the time, but that ended up shaping how I understand people, context, and creative work. I was first introduced to jewelry through Escola Massana, which opened the door to this medium. What drew me in was the possibility of creating objects that carry meaning, memory, and emotional weight. From there, I continued my training through monographic courses and in a largely self-taught way, developing my practice through experimentation and hands-on making. Over time, jewelry became my primary language of expression, although I also work with analog photography as a parallel medium. 
Anna's Studio in Gracia, Barcelona
What does life look like for you these days? How do you fill your days? My days move between the studio and the outside world. I spend a lot of time working with my hands—developing pieces, working on commissions, and try to move slowly through each stage of the process. Alongside that, I try to leave space for other rhythms: walking around, reading, visiting exhibitions, being carried by music, meeting friends or spending more time in nature. Those moments feed the work in a more subtle, indirect way. A large part of my time also unfolds internally—thinking, reflecting, letting things take shape before they exist in matter. Working alone brings a certain intensity - that’s probably the most challenging part, and staying connected to what is outside becomes essential to keep things in balance. There’s a constant pursuit between structure and openness, between making and observing.
What makes it truly special is its ability to create bonds—between people, moments and emotions. A piece of jewelry can carry a story, hold an emotion, or become a quiet witness to someone’s life. It’s something that is not only worn, but lived with. What makes the world of jewelry making so special to you? For me, jewelry is one of the most intimate forms of expression and it’s about connection. It exists in direct contact with the body, but also with memory. What makes it truly special is its ability to create bonds—between people, moments and emotions. A piece of jewelry can carry a story, hold an emotion, or become a quiet witness to someone’s life. It’s something that is not only worn, but lived with. I’m deeply drawn to its narrative and emotional value. Jewelry can communicate in a very subtle yet powerful way—it can evoke strength, vulnerability, protection, or transformation without needing words. In that sense, it becomes almost like a language of its own. The process is slow, physical, and intuitive, and I find something very meaningful in that. It connects me to ancient ways of making, while still allowing space for experimentation and personal expression. At the same time, it’s my primary artistic language. It allows me to translate ideas and emotions into something tangible and enduring. The process is slow, physical, and intuitive, and I find something very meaningful in that. It connects me to ancient ways of making, while still allowing space for experimentation and personal expression. I think what makes jewelry so unique is precisely this duality: it is both deeply personal and universally human. It holds emotion, but also form; it can last forever and it can transgress us. Personally, I’ve had a very strong connection to jewelry ever since I was very young. Wearing jewelry from my loved ones has always made me feel close to them. What does “living creatively” mean to you? For me, living creatively means approaching everything as a form of expression; it means shaping and being shaped at the same time. 
Anna's Studio in Gracia, Barcelona
Being at a residency in La Gomera allowed me to slow down, observe more deeply, and understand creation as something that grows from its environment rather than being imposed on it. Tell us about your time at the residency in La Gomera, and how that shaped your path! My time in Casa Tagumerche on La Gomera was a turning point. Being immersed in the island’s landscape—its raw topography, vegetation, and rhythms—shifted the way I relate to making. Sharing that space with artists from different disciplines, in such an almost dreamlike atmosphere, opened up new ways of thinking and expanded my creative horizons. It allowed me to slow down, observe more deeply, and understand creation as something that grows from its environment rather than being imposed on it. That experience shaped my approach to jewelry as something more organic and intuitive, where form emerges through process and connection to place. It also marked the beginning of a more personal language—one rooted in texture, imperfection, and a deep dialogue with nature.
Could you tell us the story of how you found inspiration for one of your favorite pieces? One of the most meaningful sources of inspiration for my work was my time in the Atacama Desert. I spent a month there, immersed in a landscape that felt both vast and deeply intimate at the same time. The silence, the textures of the salt, the valleys, the volcanoes, the intensity of the light—everything had a presence that was almost overwhelming. It was also an experience that brought me closer to more ancestral ways of living—slower rhythms, a deeper connection to the land, and a different awareness of time and community. I began documenting what surrounded me through analog photography, using it as a way to observe and absorb rather than to capture something fixed. That process became a kind of sketchbook, where forms and sensations slowly started to take shape. One of my favorite pieces emerged from that experience; Atacama Ring. It wasn’t designed in a conventional way—it grew out of memory, texture, and a certain emotional imprint left by the place. The surface, the irregularities, the way it interacts with light… all of it carries something of that landscape. For me, that piece is less about representing Atacama, and more about translating what it felt like to be there. 
Custom pieces from Anna
What do you think about client work and “play”/experimentation, and how do you make room for both? For me, client work and experimentation are not opposites—they inform each other. Working with clients brings a strong emotional and narrative dimension, where each piece becomes a response to someone’s story. At the same time, play and experimentation are essential to keep the practice alive—it’s where new forms, textures, and ideas can emerge without constraint. This also extends into more personal or exhibition-based work, where I allow myself to move beyond functionality and explore more sculptural or conceptual pieces. Some of these works have been part of exhibitions, such as the X Goldsmithing Exhibition at the National Museum of Decorative Arts in Madrid, or included in the permanent catalogue of the National Gallery of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rome. It also includes collaborative projects with artists and studios from different creative fields, which have opened up new ways of approaching jewelry. Notably, I developed pieces for the façade of a residential building in Es Migjorn Gran (Menorca) in collaboration with the architecture studios h3o and Coll Estudi, as well as ephemeral earrings for the singer Verde Prato. It’s not always easy to find the time or the balance, but I make a conscious effort to protect those moments of openness within my process, allowing intuition and exploration to coexist with intention and dialogue.
What should people do after visiting one of your workshops? What are the best things to do nearby? I was born and raised in this neighborhood, and I’ve always loved the life of its squares—the simple pleasure of sitting in the sun and watching life unfold. You could pick up a pastry from the Portuguese bakery (A Casa Portuguesa in Plaça del Diamant), or stop by Lukumas for a coffee or chai and one of their delicious donuts. You might also browse books at Taifa or the English bookshop on Carrer Verdi, or stop for an ice cream at Morreig, AMMA Gelato or Paral·lelo. Close to Plaça de la Virreina, there’s also La Munari, a shop where you can always find something interesting. If you’re in the mood for something more artistic, Siesta is a beautiful, sensitive space worth visiting. If you’re in Barcelona or planning a stay, visit Anna in her studio and join one of her workshops! Alice Katter is the Founder of out of office network. Originally from Austria, Alice is a global citizen, having worked and lived in Vienna, London, and NYC. In between, she has spent months investigating life in Mexico, California, Italy, Barcelona, to name a few. She has a background in psychology, brand, and marketing and over the past years has been focusing on workplace connection, community and culture design for creative networks and companies such as Dropbox, Adobe and kyu collective. She believes in the power of fostering a culture that is not only driven but also leaves room for exploration, play, and living life to its fullest. These beliefs led her to launch Out of Office Network in 2019, and publish her book “Reimagining our Nature of Work” in 2023.
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petak, 3. travnja 2026.
Studio Visit: Anna Ruiz Planella
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