PORCJA. Jewelry from plates. New life for pieces of china.

4 November 2015

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I’m dying from curiosity – how is made? Plates? Jewelry? I mean, someone could have been guzzling a soup from these gorgeous earrings, or devouring dinner from the ring… But my worries disappeared after talking to the author and I put the ring on my finger.

Her studio is located in Warsaw, in an historic building from 1913 at Aleje Jerezolimskie 57. There’s a gay club above, a recording studio next to it, and below there’s a hipster hairdresser and a store with clothes by Polish designers. Magda’s studio is small, but it has everything needed for work. There are containers with shattered pieces of china, full of history and memories, lying on the table and the window still. Everything, slightly dusty, waiting for a new life by recycling. Magdalena Ziółkowska came up with the original jewelry making technique during her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. That’s where she learned the fundamental jewelry techniques, thanks to which she found her own way to work on such a delicate material as china. Breaking plates or mugs is a working phase for her. She doesn’t have a brawl – it’s not a moment for emotional release. 😉 She shatters a beautiful plate with precision. After color selection, she leaves out only the pieces she needs. Next, she cuts the shapes with special pliers and works on every detail with great focus and patience. Her favorite moment is deciding which piece is going to be used for what – which is not easy, because she gets inspired by each piece individually. She looks for chine on markets, bazaars, or browses through Internet actions, mostly the Polish ones. She often gets plates steeped in history from people of our parents’ generation, who tend to hoard everything. A significant part was given from friends’ old summerhouse or an acquaintance who had just been renovating their apartment. She said that, sometimes, she feels embarrassed when she looks at the back of the plate in a restaurant. She loves to “read” it, it’s beyond her control. That’s why she only has white tableware at home…

You have no idea how close I feel to Magda’s work. It turned out we both majored in sculpting. Magda graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and I from the University of Arts in Poznań. The atmosphere in her studio has rekindled a lot of memories. I was brushing off the dust that gathered on our clothes with my hands, grinning form ear to ear.

violet bracelet – made from a piece of Wawel plate

red bracelet – made from a Ukrainian mug, given to the designer as a gift from a lady at a fair, who lived in Ukraine

double-sided, colorful necklace – made from a plate bought at the Olimpia bazaar in Warsaw (a pattern on one side, brand signature with numbers on the other)

Społem (an old Polish customer cooperative) brooch – made from a piece of a bowl bought in Zakopanem after finding info about a sale of milk bar equipment on the Internet