Juan Alejandro Fried Ortiz de Zarate is an architect and artist whose work reflects the diversity of his ancestry, his urban experiences, and a new home in the countryside. Juan studied art history and architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Minnesota. As an architect and urban designer, he completed award-winning designs for public agencies and community groups. As an emerging artist, he continues his study of form, space, and materials on a more intimate scale.

His architectural and urban design work* received national and international design awards, and has been featured in various publications including: Process + ProjectsTerror and Wonder: Architecture in a Tumultuous Age; Chicago Architects: A Genealogy; Architect; ProgressiveArchitecture; designguide.com; archiplanet.org; and architectureexposed.com.

He started forging and fusing his geometric, architectonic work in the winter of 2014.  He is a member of the Society of North American Goldsmiths and the Minnesota Jewelry Arts Guild (for which he served as a board member for several years). He has participated in the following juried exhibitions:

2020 Re-Emerging, Gallery 360, Minneapolis, MN

2019 Source, OAC, Owatonna, MN

2019 Earrings Galore, Heidi Lowe Gallery, SNAG Chicago and New York Jewelry Week

2019 Coming of Age Exhibition, Adorned Spaces, SNAG Chicago

2017 American Craft Council, Hip Pop Emerging Artist https://craftcouncil.org/show/artist/juan-fried-ortiz-de-zarate?show=6906

2017 Materials: Hard + Soft International Contemporary Craft Competition and Exhibition, Greater Denton Arts Council, Denton, Texas, USA https://issuu.com/dentonarts/docs/2017_mhs_catalog_web

2017 /Kyoob/ Exhibition at the Contemporary Craft Satellite Gallery in Pittsburgh, PA http://triblive.com/aande/museums/12101582-74/at-this-exhibit-its-hip-to-be-square, and in

2016 at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Seton Hill University

2016 SNAG (up)Setting the Stone Online Exhibition http://www.snagspace.org/upsetting-the-stone

2015 JoyaBarcelona Fair

2015 MadridJoya Fair

and has been published in:

2020 Metalsmith, Coming of Age: Next Career Artists https://snagmetalsmith.org/issues/metalsmith-vol-40-no-2-2020/

2019 Walker Art Center Magazine, Juan Fried: A Metalsmith with an Eye for Architecture and Ancestry https://walkerart.org/magazine/juan-fried-a-metalsmith-with-a-devotion-to-architecture-and-ancestry

2019 SNAG's Annual Jewelry and Metals Survey (JAMS)

2018 SNAG's Annual Jewelry and Metals Survey (JAMS)

2017 SNAG's Annual Jewelry and Metals Survey (JAMS)

2017 Materials: Hard + Soft Exhibit Catalog

2015/2016 Anuario de Joyería Contemporánea and Arte and Joya Journal

For more information, please contact me.

*under the name John Alejandro Fried

Using Format