Michelle Lierre is the self-taught filigree artist behind Lierreworks Filigree, and specializes in one-of-a-kind art jewelry in silver and gold. She works from her home workshop in Mount Vernon, Washington, while her three young children are climbing trees or napping.

Her filigree journey began in Jan 2019, when she took a basic soldering class from a local bead shop in the midst of a community devastated by wildfire. Metalsmithing became her therapy and helped her navigate the messy job of recovering from a local disaster and then being quarantined with three little kids in 2020. 

Michelle has taught herself filigree techniques through research, trial & error, and a lot of youtube videos in foreign languages. Like a complicated jigsaw puzzle, each strand of filigree is hand-twisted, curled and soldered into place one piece at a time. Many of her designs are inspired by a love of patterns and the juxtaposition between bold and delicate. 

Besides its beauty, filigree is really special to Michelle because it makes her feel connected to other people and cultures. With a tradition of filigree on nearly every continent worldwide, and stretching back thousands of years, it has quite a heritage. Michelle has made it her mission to learn the major filigree styles of the world, tell their stories, and keep their traditions alive. She hopes to work with historians and museums in the future to revive ancient goldsmithing practices. 

Click here to check out her videos on Instagram and to see more of her process and whats currently on her workbench.

For online jewelry making classes of all types and levels by Michelle and friends, check out the listings at Michelle occasionally teaches online with Little Metal Foxes, who offer jewelry classes of all types and levels. Click here to see available classes.

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