Our Story

The place is Portugal. A small country by the sea, of incalculable beauty, with an extraordinary people (to say the least!). It was the twilight of the glorious Age of Discovery in the 15th century, when our navigators achieved feats without equal or precedent. In those days the Portuguese Crown brought precious stones and metals back from its overseas provinces, and our ancestors began to work gold and silver. This was the awakening of filigree.

The dawn of filigree...

Our story is the universal story of Portugal's filigree artisans. It begins with a goldsmith named Francisco. A tall, broad-shouldered man of few smiles, but incredibly hardworking. He spent hour after hour in his modest workshop trying to capture in filigree what he saw around him: nature, love, faith. Pieces of incredible delicacy and beauty came from his hands. He was madly in love with his wife, Maria, and she inspired some of his finest work. Maria meticulously filled in the pieces, thread by thread, while he built the frame — and so they spent the better part of every day of the week together, their lives and their work in perfect harmony.

One day Francisco was taken to the hospital with a serious lung condition. Knowing he had little time left, he called for Maria and begged her: “Don't let the art die. The tradition must live on.” Maria promised. The love between them was so strong that a few months later Maria passed away too… but not before persuading their children to make her the same promise. She kept the promise she had made to Francisco at the end of his life. More than that, she honored the promise she had made him at its beginning — their wedding vows. Their bond outlived even death, and their rings — the most precious fruits of their work — bore witness to it.

Francisco and Maria stand for the universal ancestors of filigree. They are how we imagine the great-great-grandparents of filigree: revolutionary, persistent, enigmatic. Although jewelry has evolved in style and changed with the times, the mark of the craft endures. The art goes on. And it will go on.

VISION

We believe in a world where happiness reigns. Genuine happiness, no filters. Filigree is joy — yes, it really is! Go to the Feiras Novas festival in Ponte de Lima and you will feel the joy of the women who dance until dawn wearing on their chest the biggest gold heart they own — the one kept under lock and key in the safe, the one that belonged to their beloved grandmother. On that day the heart comes out into the street, as proud as can be.

Our greatest mission is to sow this joy in your heart.

Luísa Seixas Garcês