Michaela Wolfert was born in Germany, where she grew up and received her education. She graduated from the "Meisterschule fur Goldschmiede" in Munich and now holds the title "Goldschmiedemeister" (Master Goldsmith). This gives her the right under the guild system to teach apprentices and to own a jewellery business.

In 1990, Michaela immigrated to Canada after accepting a position as a jewellery designer and goldsmith with an established company in Ottawa, Ontario. She worked in Ottawa for six years with two well‑known companies, until opening her own studio, Kehla Design, in 1996.

Michaela now works out of her studio in Carleton Place, Ontario. She spends her time between creating one‑of‑a‑kind pieces and accepting custom/commission work.

"I have always been drawn to jewellery. The pieces that I liked were exquisite, sculptures in miniature which sent a shiver through me and made my heart beat faster. They were mostly made from precious metals and stones and were often from thepast. They always evoked the wish in me to touch them. The way the light played off them, the way their lines curved, their play of colours stirred my heart.

The awareness that a human hand had created a piece that brought the disparate aspects of life around me into one focus created a yearning that sought fulfilment. I found that fulfilment as I matured as a goldsmith. The excitement I feel when the conflicting forces in my life become joined and focus on a piece of jewellery I am working on is unequalled by any other joy. I look at the finished piece with wonder. The piece has its own identity and is waiting for another human being to touch it and to respond.

Much of our lives emphasizes the rational, analytical side of us. I strongly believe, however, that there is just as much need to speak to and listen to the emotional and intuitive side of our lives. This is the side I want to reach with my work.

Being a woman of our times means for me living and working in a continuum, being part of the past, honouring the past by learning from it, and being in the present by interpreting aspects of modern life through my work. The technical aspects of making jewellery create the necessary structure which contains the field of tension I experience daily: beauty and disharmony.

Things are always changing, moving from one aspect of life to the other. I strive to capture the moment when things are in balance."