The art of filigree has always innovated, more in aesthetics than in the production processes and techniques, which have always been, and should continue to be, predominantly manual. Today, in some workshops, the wire is already drawn and twisted using mechanical means (or ordered from outside the workshops and acquired ready to use), and the equipment involved in the production process can (and should) be modernized, keeping pace with modern times and using technologies that help qualify production and introduce differentiating aspects that provide a competitive advantage in the markets.
Nevertheless, what distinguishes and makes the art of filigree unique and different from mass-produced jewelry must remain unchanged: the manual work of winding the wire into SS, spirals, and rodilhões/crespos that fill the more or less open spaces of the frame/skeleton of the piece, and the way this lacework is made using the decorative grammar used in Portuguese Filigree (as described above).
Aesthetically, the artistic, technical, and innovative capacity of new artisans, some with training in design, jewelry, and other artistic areas, complemented by training directed at the artisanal technique of filigree (such as that provided by CINDOR – Centro de Formação Profissional de Ourivesaria), has created a new class of goldsmiths/filigree artists/jewelers with technical and design knowledge, capable of innovating without compromising Portuguese filigree. Today, it is no longer just the passing of the craft from generation to generation that we see happening; rather, we witness an upgrade of new goldsmiths (whether or not they come from families of the same craft), the result of the felt need to qualify and valorize (through innovation) this traditional art.
Thus, the innovation (understood as the evolution of the art) that we see today (and which is perfectly admissible in terms of certification) consists mainly in combining the technical characteristics of Portuguese filigree with bolder and more contemporary forms, in a more current language adapted to the taste of an increasingly demanding and differentiated public. A filigree piece from Portugal can have a completely new, even abstract, form, as long as the filigree technique is incorporated and it fits within one of the categories accepted in this certification process. In this way, the piece is not discharacterized and is linked to the identity of this art and its production center (Portugal), so the piece can be certified.

_{Source: Ramos, Graça, Specification Book for Certification, 2017}