audrey laine sawyer

Whether hiking a forest trail or exploring a new town or gallery, Audrey Laine Sawyer is always observing.

The North Carolina metalsmith and jewelry artist draws on those experiences to create wearable and sculptural pieces that explore the intersection of nature and modern design.

Artist: Sawyer grew up in Cincinnati, OH, and received her BA in studio art (with concentrations in painting and graphic design) from Rollins College in Winter Park, FL.

After college, she lived in Summit County, CO, for a few years working at a local art gallery. She moved to Asheville, NC, to study metals at Haywood Community College’s (HCC) Professional Crafts Program. She graduated in 2010 and started her jewelry line.

Company/studio: Audrey Laine Jewelry and Sawyer Home Collection are based in a home studio with mountain views in Clyde, NC.

In addition to her jewelry creations, the designer collaborates on Sawyer Home Collection, a line of home decor and functional goods with her husband, woodworker Jesse Sawyer.

The pair met in college, married years later and established SHC in 2017 out of a desire to co-create functional and decorative works for the home.

In the beginning: “I had never really taken off as a painter or graphic designer, but dabbled in wearable art, making beaded jewelry and embroidered leather cuff bracelets,” said Laine.

“When I enrolled in the metals program at HCC, I finally found my medium and my artistic voice,” said Laine.

Art & materials:

Jewelry ($50 to $1,300). Materials include sterling silver, brass, gemstones, carved wood and powdered coating interiors. She also fabricates chains and hollow forms with pierced silhouette imagery.
Home goods ($125 to $1,000), created with brass and copper to fabricate sculptural flora elements.

What’s popular:

The shadowbox collection, which includes standard-sized pendants, rings, and earrings with hand cut or “pierced” imagery on the face of a hollow form. Imagery includes raven, snail, butterfly and snake.
Tropical-inspired wall sculptures.

Favorite tool: Her jeweler’s saw.

“I spend an inordinate amount of time with it, as it makes every delicate silhouette possible,” said Sawyer.

Inspiration: “I can’t point in one direction, other than to say I’m greatly influenced by the noticing that I do as an artist,” said Sawyer.

“A great amount of my time is spent outdoors in natural settings, but also walking through small towns and cities, galleries and museums,” said Sawyer. “The observations that leave a lasting impression always vary, but I seem to be drawn to details that are often overlooked.”

“One of my favorite things is to see what tiny plants find a foothold in the cracks of a sidewalk, on a jagged rock face, on a fallen tree,” she added.

Fun and unusual commission: Asked to make a ring out of a set of partial dentures.

“I made a two-finger ring, and the dentures were prong-set on the face, with block lettering in brass on the underside that read “SWEET,” she said.

Recent honors:

Honorable Mention: 3D Design at Four Bridges Arts Festival, Chattanooga, TN. April 2026.
Honorable Mention: Art in Autumn, Weaverville, NC. September 2026.
Winter Residency at Penland School of Craft, Penland, NC. January 2026.

Recent project: Working on a new line of hollow forms and chains that have cast elements.

“Delving back into lost wax casting has been so exciting,” said Sawyer. “I have been a fabricator, building pieces, for so long that the process of wax carving, removing material to achieve a form, has been such an important shift in perspective.”

What’s next:

Exhibiting at the Southern Highland Craft Guild shows, Asheville. July 16-19 and October 15-18.
Teaching an “Intro to Hollowforming” class at Torched Jewelry Studio, Asheville. August 2026.

Where to buy:

Artist websites:

Galleries, including: