Photo Credit: Daniel Quintanilla

KARATS MADE BY HAND

Back on May 20, DANIEL PLUS LAUREN took a trip to Printemps New York at One Wall Street here in New York City to get a high artisan lesson on the Art Of Filigree. This exhibition featured Portuguese filigree as one of the most ancient techniques regarded in human civilization dating back 3,000 years. Derived from a small village, only 22 partisans are subject to certification with Portuguese filigree. It comes down to the quality of the gold that is 19.25 karat gold, the highest caliber used for Portuguese filigree.

The physical fitness of the gold is important which is the finest in the world, the maximum thickness allowed for the certification process is one-fifth of a millimeter, or 020. These reams of gold don’t act as one piece, they are 2 strands of gold twisted together. The first stage is preparing the frame or skeleton. The next stage is the frame being filled with filigree pieces molded to be a butterfly or even a heart, just being 2 examples done by another partisan.

Countries with millenniums of history tend to have this technique, but it was lost in many parts of the world. So now there’s not many countries who have this kind of gold filigree.

Portugal still has this definition of filigree as it embodies distinct high quality. The Art of Filigree exhibition uses the Portuguese jewelry of Bawaju, who’s known to create one of a kind pieces. Bawaju studies the design of the piece as it draws inspiration from Latin flowers. Believe it or not, real flowers are used with diamonds, rubies, emotes to create filigree pieces to replicate nature, but in a sense preserve a rose, clover, or any kind of Latin flower.

Filigree in this Art Of Filigree at Printemps New York draws inspiration from nature. The end result are rings, earrings, bracelets, and necklaces having these filigree gold flowers as such transform 19.25 karat gold rare jewelry into time-honored pieces.

DANIEL QUINTANILLA