SEATTLE — Looking for a gift for the person who has everything?
A West Seattle fine jeweler turns crocheted lace into metal.
Twyla Dill, owner of Twyla Dill Design, doesn’t believe jewelry is simply decoration. She thinks it’s a form of conviction, as unique as the person who wears it.
"I think the most important thing is to feel like you can be yourself, and to celebrate yourself,” Dill said.
Her creations are also a contradiction – delicate thread, cast into lasting metal shapes.
The process is complex. She begins by crocheting intricate patterns onto metals forms, then uses a fabric stiffener to hold the shapes.
The designs are then cast into metal pieces she polishes, bends and forms - resulting in the final molds for her collections.
"It's amazing, I love the contrast of hard and soft,” Dill said. "Handmade lace isn't very common these days, so it's taking that and turning it into something that anybody can wear."
Crocheting has always been Dill’s method, but her small business looked different a couple years ago.
"My previous jewelry, I was crocheting lace with very fine thread onto the edge of metal that I fabricated,” she said.
The exposed lace was beautiful, but not made to last lifetimes.
By turning her designs into sterling silver, gold vermeil and solid gold, Dill hopes her jewelry will be heirloom pieces passed down over generations.
Many of her pieces are now also gender-neutral - an evolution of design that reflects changes in her own life.
"I came out like a year ago. It's been a big identity shift, I feel like it's opened a lot of things up for me, it's made me more courageous to just be myself,” Dill said. "I want to be the fine jeweler for anyone in Seattle who identifies with the pieces that I make and who is living a life of self-expression, of whatever that means to them."
Dill makes necklaces, bracelets, earrings, rings and one-of-a-kind gemstone charms. Prices range from $80 - $16,000.
"I really want to inspire people to be themselves as much as possible. The world is so much better that way,” Dill said.
Twyla Dill Design pieces can be ordered online. The cut-off for Christmas delivery is December 13.
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