Sacred Space
Elizabeth calls her atelier her sacred space. It is where ideas are given time and where she can lose herself completely in the making. At the workbench, surrounded by precious metals, gemstones and the finest threads of silver and gold, the rest can wait.
Hours can pass on the smallest detail. A curve that needs adjusting. A thread of silver shaped and reshaped until it sits exactly where it should. The proportions of a piece altered ever so slightly. Elizabeth loves this slow process, particularly the moment when separate elements begin to come together and what existed only as an idea starts to become a jewel.
Making entirely by hand leaves subtle traces. No two pieces will ever be precisely alike, nor should they be. Those small variations belong to the process and give each jewel a character of its own.
Filigree in Colombia
Elizabeth’s fascination with filigree began long before she became a goldsmith. During childhood visits to Colombia, she would study the intricate jewellery and wonder how something so delicate could possibly be made from metal.
Years later, she found herself at a workbench in Colombia, learning the answer. Under the guidance of a master goldsmith from Mompox, she worked with metres of silver wire, drawing it finer and finer before twisting, rolling and shaping it by hand into tiny individual elements. Only then did she begin to understand how much patience lies behind the apparent lightness of filigree.
That contrast still fascinates her. A technique capable of extraordinary intricacy begins with almost nothing at all. One fine thread. And in the right hands, there seems to be almost no limit to what it can become.
Inspiration
Twice a year, Elizabeth creates a collection around one source of inspiration, giving herself time to explore it fully. She looks closely at the shapes, colours and details that draw her in, allowing them to influence the work without knowing from the outset exactly where they will lead.
But inspiration rarely confines itself to a collection. A flower can stop her in her tracks. It might be the unexpected colours of an animal, something in a painting, a vintage object or a tiny detail that most people would never notice. Some ideas disappear again. Others stay with her for days, quietly asking to be explored.
Those are often the ideas that become pieces in between the larger collections. One might become a single jewel, another a small series. There is freedom in not having to decide. Elizabeth can follow her curiosity simply because something has caught her imagination and she wants to see where it leads. Many of these spontaneous pieces first appear on Instagram, alongside glimpses of the atelier and the making process while the work is still unfolding.
Made Personal
Sometimes the smallest change is what makes a jewel feel entirely your own. A gemstone chosen for its colour or personal meaning. An unexpected combination of stones. A warmer shade of gold against the skin. An existing design can remain unmistakably itself and still take on a very different character.
Elizabeth has always had an instinct for those details. Her years in fashion and luxury sharpened that eye, while working as a stylist taught her to look beyond a single object and see how everything comes together on a person. Colour, shape and proportion all play their part, but sometimes it is one seemingly insignificant detail that makes everything fall into place.
A personal piece can therefore begin almost anywhere. A photograph of a dress, a swatch of fabric, a gemstone someone has fallen in love with. Elizabeth may immediately see how an existing design could be adapted. Or that one detail may spark an entirely new idea and become the beginning of a jewel that neither she nor the person who will wear it had imagined before.
From a Personal Idea to a Jewel
Beyond Jewellery
Filigree is not limited to jewellery in the traditional sense. The same fine wirework that forms a brooch can transform an eyewear chain into a jewel, or grow into something far more elaborate for a bride: an intricate hair ornament, a sculptural headpiece or even a crown.
Nor does it always need to be worn. Filigree can just as easily find its way into a Christmas ornament or a napkin ring, carrying the precision and delicacy of fine jewellery into an object made for the home. The scale and purpose may change, but the starting point remains the same: fine metal wire, shaped slowly by hand.
That freedom is part of what makes the atelier so inspiring. An idea can begin with a single detail, without needing to know exactly what it will become.
