PERKA design at FASHIONCLASH Festival 2016

PERKA design is a new jewelry brand established in Amsterdam, by Polish jewellery designer and crafter Róza Turowska. Jewellery of PERKA design is recoginized by its modern, simple yet sophisticated design. Every handmade piece is totally unique, manufactured by using old techniques of jewellers.

You can see and buy PERKA design pieces at Designer Market. Friday July 1 open at 18:30 and Saturday July 2 open at 16:00 (free entrance).

When did you realise you wanted to be a jewellery  designer?  
I’m a jewellery designer. For all my life I was a creator. When I was a child I loved playing with LEGO or polymer clay. At first, I started making beads from clay – FIMO. Then, I had to transform my beads into jewellery. At some time, I abandoned handmade beads for ceramics, and natural stones.However making jewellery from components was not giving much creative power. I realised that in order to make my passion more professional I had start learning how to work with tools and metals. I attended some goldsmithing course in Warsaw. Now, it’s my 9th year of following the passion of crafting jewellery.

'Nature is my biggest inspiration. Why? Because it is unlimited!'

How would you define fashion? 
Fashion is a way to express yourself, show your aesthetic and creative point of view. With colours, patterns or shapes you can show your mood.

Who are your artistic influences or inspirations and why? 
Nature is my biggest inspiration. Why? Because it is unlimited!

Finding your own voice is difficult, where and how do you find your personal creativity (before you start designing; during the design process)? 
I make what I design, so whatever comes to my mind before falling asleep, or sometimes even after. 

What challenges did you face during the design process? 
I do not put big pressure on my designing process. As a jewellery designer and crafter, I have the possibility to make designs without following trends or sessions. In this, I’m lucky that silver jewellery will be always trendy and in this sense my design process doesn’t have deadlines or guidelines. For me more than designing I meet crafting challenges, which I can solve only by developing my craft skills and by learning more techniques. 

What do you want to communicate with your designs in general? 
Amidst the development of technology and struggle to buy as cheap as possible let’s appreciate stuff made by human hand!

Why have you decided to participate at FASHIONCLASH Festival? 
I wanted to show my designs to bigger audience and also meet the creatives from all over the world. 

Describe yourself in three words. 
Passionate. Craftswomen. Dreamer

What’s a standard day for you? 
I work for myself, so I don’t have standard days. Some days I make my jewellery, take photos – packshots, lifestyle photos, learn new things – make-up, photography (everything that I could use for my company), marketing – running social media accounts – Instagram, cooperating with bloggers and stores, solving administration tasks.

Vegan, vegetarian, healthy diet or any food will do? 
I love cooking and I try to eat healthy too. I often use Polish, Turkish and my own recipes.

What’s your favourite song, food and movie/TV-show at the moment? 
I love movies, I always try to watch some movie in the evening (I’m morning person so I can't work in the evenings; evening is my time for relaxation). I love science-fiction, fantasy, thrillers, comedies. Recently I watched The Place Beyond the Pines, I love this movie because I couldn’t predict it at all! 

What is your bad habit? 
Not sitting straight. The worst is that I know that I will pay for it in the future.

Are you a people's person or a loner? 
Rather loner but sometimes it’s nice to be around people.

Do you have a pet? 
No, I don’t. I had for 16 years a dog called Perła. She passed away before my arrival here. In her memory I called my brand after one of her nick names.

What’s your favourite city? 
There are so many cities that I haven’t discovered so far. Probably my favourite is the one which I didn’t visit yet.

Are you going on holiday this year? If so, where are you going? 
I think I will visit Italy (Toscany) and Turkey (Cappadocia) this year.

What/Who do you miss the most when you are not at home? 
I would miss my boyfriend.

Who are your target consumers? - How do you define them? Women who appreciate simple but intriguing silver jewelry and prefer designs which are limited editions crafted with love and passion by a hand.

What is your price range? - How do you balance between the function of the items and the appearance of them? 
My price includes a lot of elements such as designing, making, costs of materials, marketing (e.g. photography), administration costs, web shop, etc... Functionality is very important for me, I’m also a graphic designer who loves good User Experience, so my jewellery has to also be “user-friendly”. There’s no point in designing jewellery for people if they cannot use it comfortably. I think that’s why my jewellery is minimalist also because this makes it more trend-resistant and easy to wear.

Read more about Róza and her brand: www.perkadesign.com/