Laura Lienhard

Laura Lienhard founded her jewelry studio after a successful twenty-year career in textile design, turning a highly trained eye from the patterns of the loom toward explorations in metal. Investigations into the interplay of pattern and structure define her work.

Elements in her jewelry are derived from nature’s forms and textures as well as its surprises. Spontaneity and instinct lead to unique, often kinetic connections of hand fabricated elements that harken back to her textile roots.

Crafted in a varying palette of 18K gold, silver, shibuichi and keum-boo Laura’s jewelry represents the transformation of nature’s raw beauty into personal expressions of elegance.

Laura has a BFA in Textile Design and an MFA in Industrial Textiles from the Rhode Island School of Design. She has attended intensive metal workshops at Haystack Mountain school of Crafts in Maine, Penland School of Crafts in North Carolina and Alchimia Jewellery School in Florence Italy. Recently she has been studying independently with a master jeweler and artist in the hills of Fiesole above Florence.

Laura works from her studio in Sausalito, CA.

A FEW NOTES ON SHIBUICHI & KEUM-BOO

Made from recycled and ethically sourced gold, silver, and copper, in her studio Laura creates shibuichi a traditional Japanese alloy of 75% copper and 25% silver that was historically used in Japan for sword fitting ornamentation. Shibuichi in Japanese means one fourth signifying the traditional formula of one part silver to three parts copper but there are many variations used to create this alloy. Laura’s alloy includes pure gold.

After an ingot is poured, it is then milled into sheet or wire.

Keum-boo is an ancient Korean art of applying thin sheets of high karat gold to fine silver. The gold foil is applied with heat and pressure to produce a permanent diffusion bond.

Laura often uses shibuichi and keum -boo in conjunction with silver and 18 karat gold to create her works distinct interplay of color and texture. Pairing the shibuichi with 18 K gold magnifies this metals alluring coloration.