About

After years as a scholar of the pre-modern Mediterranean, I turned to my heritage to study the art of jewelry in Colombia. I began creating jewelry in the Colombian Andes, the heart of the planet. This majestic land provides much of the precious materials used, while my craft employs the techniques of my forebears. At the same time, my love for the pre-modern– pre-columbian, ancient, and medieval– influences the shapes and aesthetic of my pieces.

In the artist’s words

I begin making each piece by sitting in awe of the natural elements before me. I explore how the forces of gravity, energy, and fire can shape metal into an infinity of grace that can then be worn against our skin. I like to think that the wearer can feel the connection between the precious metal and the energy that created and forged it.

Valerie creates in silver and gold with precious and semi-precious stones, including emeralds directly sourced from Colombian miners. She employs fabrication, sand and lost-wax casting, and filigrana momposina, a centuries-old Colombian filigree tradition. Her work has been featured in art fairs and exhibitions, with each piece offering a tangible connection between history, place, and material.

Commitment to Ethics

At Montealegre Atelier, every choice is guided by respect for material, craft, and source.

  • Metals: About 70% of the silver and gold used is recycled; the remainder is sourced from Responsible Jewellery Council–certified suppliers.
  • Stones: Emeralds are purchased directly from a Colombian miner known personally to Valerie. Additional stones — bolivianita, rubies, sapphires, and tourmalines — are selected with care from trusted sources.
  • Craft: Each piece is made by hand, employing techniques with centuries of history. By working slowly and deliberately, Montealegre Atelier ensures structural integrity and a connection to tradition that mass production cannot replicate.

Montealegre Atelier believes jewelry should embody aesthetic beauty and ethical integrity. To wear a piece is to choose adornment with meaning — rooted in heritage, shaped by conscience, and crafted with care.

The Power of Precious Elements - Metals, Stones, Craft, Human Relationships
Portrait of Isabel Montealegre de Ramírez, 1911–1992, the matriarch behind Montealegre Atelier

Isabel Montealegre de Ramírez

Montealegre is my grandmother's name. It means happy hill. It honors my dual heritage: Appalachian and Andean. The name evokes the lush green Colombian mountains where I learned the art of jewelry, and where I strive to source my materials, especially the world's finest emeralds.

It is so much more than a name.

Las Montealegre

I grew up in the United States far from the huge Colombian family that meant fun, laughter, heavy-handed but well-meaning discipline, stories of ancestry and heritage, personalities so rich and extreme to be in their presence was to be eyes wide with wonder and awe. 

The stories and doings of my family seemed bigger than any magical realism novel could hold. 

And “Los Montealegre” were this family.  While my grandfather’s family, the Ramírez branch of my family tree, had their own mystique and magic, The Montealegres were a force, a force of women in a matriarchy that showed me what it meant for women to hold power.  

Going to gatherings of Las Montealegre always meant only the women. And these meetings for onces, coffee or hot chocolate with pastries at 5ish,  or parties were not small affairs. Nearly 100 girls and women would attend.  Laughter and tales of strength and power filled each visit.  I was in awe. And happy that I too would be an important woman with strength, resilience, strategic reasoning, and power.

When I searched for a name for this venture, sourcing Colombian materials and creating pieces using traditional techniques for women who want to show power, self-confidence, and style, the name of that matriarchal family is what came to mind.

Monte, mountain. Alegre, joyful.

The perfect name.

Mountain people

 I am mountain people.  My dad’s family is from Appalachia and my mother’s is from the Andes.  I cannot but love the mountains.  My great-uncle Leonard Tate, unofficial poet laureate of Grundy County, Tennessee wrote a poem entitled, “Mountain People.”  Since learning the poem in my teens, it has been a pillar in my identity. 

It was in the Andes that the idea of gathering the bounties of Colombia’s mountains, emeralds, to share with people far away was conceived. To me, the there is nothing like breathing in the air of green mountains.  The mountains are where we feel the earth's heartbeat most.

One more thing...

You may not have noticed that one of the fonts used for this brand is called Montserrat.

Mont, again.

Montserrat is the name of the mountains outside Barcelona, a region I studied during my research on the medieval Mediterranean. It is also the name of a mountain that overlooks Bogotá, one my mother took us to climb when I was young, as a pilgrimage every trip, to give thanks for our safe return to her homeland and to her mother: my grandmother, Isabel Montealegre de Ramírez.