Michele Michel - Fine Silver Jewelry

Michele, was first introduced to silver jewelry design by her family, in her hometown of Taxco. Her grandmother, fashion designer Tachi Castillo, and Tachi's brothers "Los Castillo" silversmiths were apprentices of William Spratling back in the 30's. Spratling and the Castillo brothers, were among the group of innovative artisans that frequented artists such as Diego Rivera, David Alfaro Siqueiros and Frida Khalo that were responsible for the creation of the Mexican style of the late 1930's. As a child, Michel's day would start with the sound of pounding on metal at Los Castillo's workshop located next door to her grandmother's house. Some of her sweetest memories are of her grand uncle Antonio Castillo giving away to the family kids, jewelry samples straight from his pockets, as tokens of affection. Growing up in such a place and around such a talented family was a fascinating experience that motivated Michel’s creative process.

Inspired by her family, she decided to pursue a career in fashion and jewelry design at the Istituto Europeo de Design in Rome, Italy. During her vacations back home, she would put into practice what she had learned by designing silver jewelry for herself and friends.

After graduating she stayed in Rome to work as a fashion designer. In 1989, she crossed from fashion into costume design by joining the crew of Francis Ford Coppola's "The God Father III", as an assistant in the costume department.

Soon after the movie wrapped she left Rome for San Francisco in 1990, where she began creating her own unique line of jewelry for her cousins Brenda Schoenfeld, and Citlal Castillo. She would travel to Taxco to produce it and then back to the US to pursue her other passion: Film.

Michele moved in 1992 to Los Angeles where she works as a Costume Designer for Film (Click here to view Michele's IMDB profile). Through the years, Michel has designed many films.
Her credits include:"Street Kings" with Keanu Reeves, Forest Whitaker, Hue Laurie, and Chris Evans; "The Air I Breathe" with Brendan Frazer, Forest Whitaker, Andy Garcia, Kevin Bacon, Sarah Michelle Gellar; "Training Day" with Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke; "Harsh Times" starring Christian Bale, Freddy Rodriguez and Eva Longoria, and "Confidence" with Ed Burns, Dustin Hoffman, Andy Garcia.

(Click here to view Michele's online portfolio).

It was during the Premiere of "Confidence" at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, that actor/director, Ed Burns showed Michele that he was still wearing the chain and charm that she had specially designed for him, that propelled her to opening an online store where she could sell her pieces.

"I enjoy designing pieces that I would like to wear, or that I would love to receive as a gift from a loved one. For me jewelry has so many meanings and expressing them is what motivates my creativity. Creating a collection or a one-of-a-kind piece makes me always think about the person that will wear it - what it says about them and how will they wear it. I love classic styles with a twist, something that can become part of my collection through the years. Although fashion trends are constantly evolving, there is something about classic beauty that just with a little bit of re-visiting can appear fresh, sophisticated and in vogue and that is what my style is about. I like to design around shapes of stones, beads, pearls and I particularly like to cut through silver, as you can see in some of my pieces. On quiet afternoons I enjoy so much to work on wax. It reminds me of the Etruscans and my days in Rome. I constantly create new designs and if I feel compelled to wear them over and over again, then I start production".