Before the pandemic, Lisa Tornello’s jewelry centered on Argentium sterling silver and semi-precious gemstones. But during Covid, inspiration arrived in an unexpected form: a gift wrapped in a stunning metal container. What might have been discarded instead became a new medium, as Lisa reimagined the metal into bold, handcrafted pieces designed to be worn and loved.
What began as a single inspired moment has grown into a passion for collecting post-consumer decorative tins—tea tins, candy tins, lunch boxes, trays, even trash cans. Tornello gives these overlooked objects new life, carefully taking them apart and hand-crafting them into fun, funky, feather-weight jewelry no two pieces alike.
“I can never say no to a gifted tin from friends,” Tornello says, “so I’ve ended up with quite a collection—some of which don’t easily translate into jewelry.” That abundance sparked yet another creative turn, inspiring her to transform those tins into playful recycled tin bird collages. Nearly everything in these pieces is reclaimed: from the tin itself to the salvaged wood substrates, rescued from discarded bureau drawers, to the frames crafted from repurposed paint stirrers and yardsticks. Only the screws and nails are new—everything else has lived a life before becoming art.
Many of the same traditional metalsmithing techniques from making silver jewelry is used with the tin creations. However, the tin creations are made using all cold-connections. Tin isn’t malleable like silver and is a lot less forgiving but the endless colors and patterns create many opportunities for colorful expression in this medium.
Most of all, Lisa prides herself in being a more sustainable artist by repurposing material that already had a life as one thing and creating something new out of it, thereby giving it a second life. As she likes to say, "It’s true..one person’s trash is another’s treasure!"
