Meet Audrey Laine Sawyer | Jewelry Artist + Metalsmith

We had the good fortune of connecting with Audrey Laine Sawyer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Audrey Laine, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
I knew what I was ultimately looking for was freedom in all forms: creative freedom, freedom to work intuitively, freedom within my daily schedule, freedom to travel, financial freedom. My initial decision to quit my job and pursue a career in jewelry was more of a giant leap into the abyss than a calculated maneuver. I definitely approached it with a willingness to embrace whatever might come from that leap, whether it be successes or failures or the sprinkling of both that it inevitably was. Ten years later I am so grateful to be able to say that I am doing what I love, and that I am continuing to experience growth on that path through all the ups and downs. For the first time I took the step of participating in a large scale craft show at the American Craft Made Marketplace in Baltimore, and am poised to start teaching metalsmithing this year, in what I hope will be an opportunity to inspire and open doors for others to follow their own paths.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I make modern bespoke jewelry and home goods, handcrafted to foster the feeling of time spent in nature, soaking in the solace and beauty of the world, wondering and wandering.

My jewelry line ‘Audrey Laine Jewelry’ includes delicate handcut silhouette imagery, hollow forms, handcut and fabricated foliage, a variety of atypical gemstones, powdercoated details, and hand fabricated chain.

‘Sawyer Home Collection’ home goods are a collaborative body of work made by me and my husband, Jesse Sawyer, a woodworker. These functional and decorative pieces explore a lot of similar nature themes as Audrey Laine Jewelry while maintaining an emphasis on clean lines that allow the materials to shine.

I have taken a slow evolution to get to where I am today. Growth, even slow growth, is never easy, and learning to listen to yourself takes an immense amount of practice. At the insistence of my parents, I first went to college with the intention of completing an accelerated MBA program. I quickly switched programs, and started working towards a studio art degree in painting. My dad, ever the pragmatist, pushed me to focus on graphic design as well in an effort to steer clear of the assumed starving artist fate.

Years later, having finally learned that I wasn’t the great painter I’d thought myself to be, and that I wanted a medium more tactile and immediate than graphic design, I discovered a two year professional crafts program in metals at the local community college. This was a huge leap for me, but a couple months in I conquered my fear of the torch and was hooked.

I continue to evolve in my studio practice and in my goals, as this year I am branching out to take on the role of teacher, in the hopes that I can help other creatives who are searching for their own path.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina, so we definitely would start with a hike in the mountains. I always try to find a trail that runs along a river or stream so we can take a dip! I’ll usually have a cooler packed with drinks + snacks so we can have a picnic by the water, or along the Blue Ridge Parkway with a mountain view. There are soooo many good local restaurants in the Asheville area, and friends in town are the perfect excuse to hit up the old favorites or try something new. Plant and Haywood Commons are always good bets. We’d usually hope to find some good live music at one of the area venues, or just head back home where we can watch the sun set over the mountains by the fire .

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My shoutout goes to all the people who showed me – and continue to show me – the great possibilities that lie in forging my own path. From my parents encouragement throughout my early years until today, to some of my first windows into the world of professional creatives. To Molly Dingledine for hiring me as a studio assistant when I was just a fledgling, to my Metals instructor Robert Blanton, to all the countless gallery owners and buyers that invested in me and my work over the years. Really, I need to shoutout each and every person who takes a moment to reflect and consider a piece I’ve created with my hands, I am so grateful to connect with them through my work.

Website: www.audreylaine.com, www.sawyerhomecollection.com

Instagram: @audreylainejewelry, @sawyerhomecollection

Image Credits
Nate Burrows (studio shots + shots of artist) Nicole McConville (modeled jewelry + jewelry flat lays)