Most of what she makes starts the same way, with a length of thread and a pile of beads sorted by colour on the table. It began as something she did purely for the pleasure of it, bracelets for friends who kept asking for more. The braiding is the slow part. It is what holds a bracelet together without a bead ever slipping, and it is why a piece survives being worn every day. The chains bring in real freshwater pearls and a clasp in 925 silver, so a strand meant to be knotted at the neck can take daily wear. Nothing here is assembled in a batch somewhere else. Each one is strung, braided and finished by the person whose name is on it.

Pieces from anna rosa liesenfeld

The same table is where the workshops happen. In a group of no more than six, over an hour or two, people braid a bracelet or knot a pearl chain of their own, with the beads and the silver clasps laid out to choose from. It is the making, not just the finished piece, that she hands over.

A pearl-chain workshop in the studio