Michelle Liao is a jewellery designer and part of the 2015 Emerging Creatives programme.

Michelle Liao graduated from the Ruth Prowse School of Art with a diploma in Jewellery Design in 2014. She moved to South Africa from Taiwan in the early 90s and the pieces she creates for her company, MICHL Contemporary Fine Jewellery, are inspired by contemporary African aesthetics coupled with her strong Asian cultural heritage.

Liao creates traditional jewellery using precious and semi-precious metals, while also incorporating alternative mediums such as found objects, Scooby wire, paper and resin. Her current range, This is My Africa (TIMA), showcases the delicate balance between traditional craft and contemporary transformation. Created with brass and Scooby wire, the repetition of circular shapes and simple lines dominates the overall aesthetics of the range.