About the Artist

 

Michelle Lierre is the self-taught filigree artist behind Lierre Filigree, and she specializes heirloom quality art jewelry in silver and gold. Many of her designs are inspired by a love of patterns and the juxtaposition between bold and delicate. 

 Like a complicated jigsaw puzzle, each strand of filigree is hand-twisted, shaped and soldered into place one piece at a time.

Lierre began her filigree journey in earnest in the wake of a community devastated by wildfire in Jan 2019, when she took a basic soldering class from a local bead shop in Chico, California. From there she taught herself filigree techniques through research, trial & error, and squinting at horrible quality tourist recordings of filigree masters on youtube videos. Goldsmithing became her therapy and helped her navigate the messy job of recovering from the local disaster, moving across multiple states the middle of covid, and then being quarantined with three little kids. She shares openly about her mental health and hopes that it will encourage others to find the help they need. 

After moving back to be closer to family, she now creates from her home workshop in Mount Vernon, Washington, while her three young children are at school, climbing trees or napping. Luna the cat, can often be found laying comfortably on any tools left out and supervising the making process.

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. 

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

Want to know more about making jewelry? You can find classes online of all types and levels, including some with Michelle Lierre, by Little Metal Foxes, Click here to see available classes.

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