Portuguese Filigree

Filigrana is metal turned into lace. Gold or silver is drawn into threads finer than wire, twisted, coiled into scrolls and soldered into an openwork frame, with no casting involved at any point. Portugal's two centres are Gondomar, just east of Porto, and Povoa de Lanhoso in the Minho, where families have worked the craft for generations and still do it at the bench with tweezers and a small flame. The best known piece is the Coracao de Viana, a heart pierced with flames, worn in quantity at Minho festivals alongside caravel brooches and the heavy drop earrings that belong with regional dress.

What you actually see

• The Coracao de Viana - the pierced heart pendant, the emblem piece of the craft.
• The bench work - threads twisted and soldered by hand under a small flame.
• Gondomar and Povoa de Lanhoso - the two towns where the workshops sit.
• Festival dress - the gold worn in layers at Minho romarias through August.

When to go

Workshops and jewellers keep normal shop hours through the year and take visitors more readily on weekday mornings. To see the gold worn rather than sold, come to the Minho in August, when the regional festivals bring out family collections built up over generations. The gold museum at Travassos, near Povoa de Lanhoso, covers the technique.

Honest expectations

Gold filigree is priced by weight plus labour and is not a souvenir purchase; silver is the realistic option. Machine-made imitations are widely sold and hard for a beginner to tell apart, so buy from a workshop rather than a stall. Gondomar is an industrial suburb and not a pretty day out. Demonstrations usually need arranging in advance.

Nearby

Porto is fifteen minutes west of Gondomar; Braga and Guimaraes sit near Povoa de Lanhoso.