December 2, 2024 |
BLINGIN’ IT IS TEN’S ONLINE SERIES WHERE WE SPOTLIGHT THE INNOVATORS AND CHANGE-MAKERS OF THE JEWELLERY WORLD.
Partners-in-crime Karlo Szczepaniak and Patrycja Bolzan spend their weekends perusing flea markets: moseying through cobbled streets and admiring the array of vintage jewellery, each pendant gleaned with its own story as vibrant gemstones sit proudly amongst intricate brass engravings. It’s these anecdotes, these memories and this affinity for vintage jewellery, that’s helped to form the beginnings of the duo’s thorny visual landscape: enter Stettin Jewellery.
Encased in 925 sterling silver, Stettin Jewellery meshes together brutalist influences with the pair’s love for nature. The products are a prickly amalgamation of gemstones and silverware: metal coils itself around each gem like a snake, whilst metallic mutations jut out as if the jewellery has just been unearthed from the ground, the gemstone left fighting for air; peaking through the crevices. Yellow sapphire, rubellite, rosebud crucifixes and juicy natural pearls infuse the Stettin jewellery aesthetic, drenched in sterling silver.
The half-Polish, half-Australian duo trained together at a jewellers based in Muranow, Warsaw, and have been creating jewellery together for four years. Bolzan, who started out with a career in set design, thrives in the sculptural elements of their designs, as the pair’s approach is nothing short of organic. Each accessory’s design process is informed and guided by the raw composition of the gemstone in question, reacting to its individual shape.
For Bolzan and Szczepaniak, their frosted and thistly view of jewellery begins with creating works of art that just so happen to sit on your neck, or wrap themselves around your finger. Here, we sat down with Patricja to discuss the ins and outs of Stettin’s brutalist inspirations, to their dream celebrity clients.
On the birth of Stettin Jewellery
We started by selling vintage jewellery. From the very beginning when we met, we shared our love of going to flea markets. Karlo has always paid the most attention to jewellery, and I got involved a little later, our collection was growing quickly so we started sharing photos of it on Instagram. I worked as a set designer at the time, so all the photos were taken in an appropriate setting. Our vintage section and photos have gained many fans. There was a moment when we met people in cafes with a suitcase full of silver/gold – people were choosing things while drinking coffee and talking, it was a super fun time. For as long as we can remember, we have been fascinated by old vintage jewellery, especially the jewellery that was passed down from hand to hand in our families. Even though Karlo grew up in Australia, we both have Polish roots, in our grandmothers’ trunks we could find many brutalist forms from Polish jewellers operating in the 1970s and 1980s, such as Orno, Warmet and Rytosztuka. So far, we love the combination of brutalist forms with organic lines inspired by nature.
On their creative process
At this point, a lot of our work is custom projects, so we put a lot of attention into making sure that each item is unique and matches the vision of the future owner. In our projects we often use natural objects such as pearls or gemstones, so they are often the starting point, when framing them we feel as if their shape guides our hands and the entire project. This is a very interesting process, and each time we cannot be sure what the final result will be. We start many projects with sketches, especially when working with custom commissions, it gives the client a better idea of what the final effect will look like. The first stages are usually hand carved in wax, I am better at sculpting and inventing forms, while Karlo has a great eye for detail and a lot of patience with finishing as well as soldering skills. We definitely have our roles when creating projects and they rarely change.
On their thorny signature aesthetic
We both have different inspirations that contribute to our style: Karlo likes strong brutalist forms, I definitely draw most of my inspirations from nature. I think a big part of it is our heritage and vintage jewellery, its classic lines and details. We both like to stand out with our outfits/aesthetic. Everyone knows us for wearing quite strong styles surrounded by large jewellery. We create something that we would like to wear ourselves. We are also often a bit of a living advertisement for what we do – someone in a club or on the street stops us and asks about our jewellery. We always want to create something that stands out and is at the forefront.
On the Stettin Jewellery customer
First of all, we are happy that so many customers come back, even after a few years, or there are people who buy their 7th or 10th piece. It gives us a lot of joy, we spend many hours on each piece of jewellery putting a lot of heart into them, so we are glad that it is appreciated. It’s hard to say who a typical client is – we are happy that it’s very diverse, people come to us, from younger to older people that like our style who are able to appreciate our individual approach to the client, experience and commitment.
On favourite custom pieces
Our favourite custom designs are definitely hand-engraved signet rings, they are a kind of bridge between the dying art of hand engraving, which requires a lot of patience and skill, and our organic carving forms. I think they will best reflect the aesthetics we strive for. It’s hard to choose one dream client, definitely someone bold. Who, wearing our jewellery, could convey our vision. People like Arca, Michele Lamy and FKA Twigs come to mind.
On Stettin Jewellery’s future
We want to create larger, even bolder pieces of jewellery, or maybe not just jewellery. We have certainly become interested in larger sizes, we want to create something that will be more visible during photo sessions or recordings, something that can become part of other artists’ visions. In the past, we were often asked to lend our jewellery for larger projects, now we want things to be even bigger and even more expressive. Continuing to improve our technical background. Over the last few months, we have made necklaces that we are very proud of that show how far we have improved in terms of our skills, but also how our increasingly mature style is slowly crystallising.
Photography courtesy of Stettin Jewellery.
