TL;DR: Antonia Iannucci is an Italian-born contemporary artist, designer, and conservationist based in the United Kingdom. After 25 years in the global fashion industry, the birth of her twin daughters pushed her to create Xtinctio, a conservation jewelry brand that donates 50% of profits to protecting endangered species. Her art, her brand, and her purpose are all one thing.
Most people stumble across Xtinctio looking for a bracelet or a ring. Then they read the story behind it, and the jewelry becomes something else entirely.
That story starts with Antonia Iannucci, an Italian artist with 25 years of fashion behind her, over 150 original paintings to her name, and a mission that didn't come from a boardroom. It came from becoming a mother.
This is who she is, where she comes from, and why she built what she built.
From Italy to a Global Career in Fashion
Antonia Iannucci is Italian by roots and international by nature. She trained at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) in New York, one of the most respected design schools in the world, before carving out a career that spanned two and a half decades at the intersection of fashion, aesthetics, and global industry.
Those 25 years weren't spent on the sidelines. She worked across the full spectrum of fashion, developing the kind of eye for craft, material, and meaning that doesn't come from a course, it comes from doing the work over and over until it becomes instinct.
But somewhere along the way, the industry she'd given her career to started to feel like the wrong fight. The environmental cost of fashion, the disposability of it, the disconnect between beautiful objects and what it takes to produce them, weighed on her.
The Moment Everything Changed: Her Twin Daughters
If there's a single turning point in Antonia's story, it's this: the birth of her twin daughters.
When they arrived, she could no longer ignore what the fashion industry was doing to the planet they'd inherit. The question shifted from "what do I want to make?" to "what world am I making it for?"
That's when Xtinctio was born. Not as a side project or a passion pivot, as a genuine response to a world she felt was running out of time. She believed every form of life matters. She believed her daughters deserved to grow up in a world where rhinos, elephants, orangutans, and whales still existed. And she decided to do something about it rather than wait for someone else to.
What She Does: Artist, Designer, and Conservationist
Antonia works across two interconnected creative practices.
Her Art Practice
She is a contemporary visual artist with a studio practice rooted in the rural landscapes of the United Kingdom. Working primarily in acrylic on canvas, she has produced over 150 original paintings that explore the relationship between humanity, nature, and identity.
Her work sits across wildlife, landscape, figurative, abstract, and floral genres — but two threads run through all of it: a deep, almost aching love for animals, and a fierce commitment to women's rights. She sees these not as separate causes but as parallel ones. Both are about fighting for the vulnerable. Both are about demanding that the world do better.
In her own words:
"When I look at animals, in the wild, I feel a kinship that aches with beauty. And when I see injustice between women and men, that same ache turns into fire. My art, my love, my anger, they're all one force."
Xtinctio: Where Craft Meets Conservation
Xtinctio is Antonia's conservation jewelry brand, handcrafted from recycled sterling silver by a third-generation Italian goldsmith, with each piece representing a specific endangered animal or threatened ecosystem.
The model is straightforward and radical at the same time: 50% of all profits go directly to four verified conservation partners, the Coral Restoration Foundation, the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, the Rainforest Trust, and Orangutan Outreach.
That's not a token donation. In most of the sustainable jewelry market, brands give between 1% and 10% of revenue. Antonia built Xtinctio around conservation first, the jewelry business exists to fund it.
Her Purpose: For Our Children and Theirs
Antonia's mission statement is as simple as it gets: to save the most endangered species and their environment. For our children and theirs.
But the way she pursues it is layered. Every bracelet starts a conversation. Every conversation creates awareness. Every aware person is one more human who might act — donate, advocate, choose differently, or simply care more.
She calls it "artivism", the idea that art isn't just an aesthetic act but a political and ecological one. That wearing a rhino ring is a small act of resistance. Buying a piece of jewelry can fund the rescue of an elephant orphan in Kenya or the restoration of a coral reef in Florida.
It's a philosophy that runs from her canvases straight through to the packaging on every Xtinctio order.
Where She Is Now
Antonia lives and works between the United Kingdom and the United States. Her art practice is based in the UK, where she paints from a studio rooted in rural landscapes. Her business operations are anchored in Newburgh, New York.
She shows her original paintings through exhibitions and her dedicated art site at antoniaiannucci.com, while Xtinctio continues to grow as one of the most purpose-driven conservation jewelry brands operating in the US market today.
She describes herself simply: "I don't look for inspiration. I show up and start."
That's the clearest picture of who Antonia Iannucci is. Someone who shows up. For the animals, for her daughters, for the planet, and for her craft.
A Life's Work That Actually Means Something
There are a lot of brands that talk about purpose. There are fewer people who have built their entire life around it.
Antonia Iannucci is one of them. Her Italian roots, her years in fashion, her daughters, her paintings, her conservation partners, none of it is separate. It's all the same story, told through different mediums.
If you want to wear that story on your wrist, explore the Xtinctio collections at xtinctio.com. Every piece donates 50% of profits directly to the animals that need it most.
