Magdalena's New Jewels
MAGDELENA FRACKOWIAK (pronounced, and prizes for guessing this if you're not Polish, "Frunce-koviak") is a model on a mission. The seasoned catwalk favourite presented her debut jewellery collection during Paris Fashion Week and is enjoying every moment of her newfound designer status.
"I'm used to reviews, I suppose," she grinned broadly, as she showed us the collection, "it's just that usually people are commenting on whether they think I'm beautiful - but now it is for something I actually created. It feels so wonderful to be able to show everyone something that I made. I studied architecture before I became a model - I didn't finish but that was definitely an interest - so this is a way to explore that.
I wanted to be an architect because you create something very intimate for people: their home. Jewellery is really the same - you make something personal, that lasts from generation to generation. Jewellery is the perfect combination of art, architecture and fashion. Cylinders, rounds, spikes... the collection is very architectural - it's all about geometry, it's an opportunity to play with shapes. It's not necessary for me to create an accessory that's trendy. It's more about creating an object that I think is beautiful."
As adorable as she is ethereally beautiful, Frackowiak has a goofy accessibility that belies her exquisite froidure and obvious intellect. Freshly arrived from visiting Frieze, which she calls "wonderful and inspiring", the Polish beauty is animated about her varied sources of inspiration - from an exhibition at MoMA in NY by minimalist sculptor Richard Serra; to Raf Simons for always having found "new ways of doing things" at Dior; to the jewellery of Gaia Repossi and Delfina Delettrez.
Involved in the design process at every stage, and with a frightening attention to detail, Frackowiak sketched the initial designs before working with artisans in her native Poland to create and refine the shapes; first in wax and later in her favourite metal: gold.
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"There are no stones in the collection," she explained of the first offering, created entirely in 18k gold, "because, for me, the stones take away some of the beauty of the gold. Gold itself feels very modern to me and, honestly, I never liked diamonds, well, maybe black diamonds, but generally I find them very cold. Even the colour I've done from scratch by mixing pure gold with a little silver and copper to get this warm shade. It's not yellow and it's not pink - it's ours."
The location of the workshop, rather than in Italy where much jewellery production takes place, means not only that the self-funded venture is more affordable for her, but also that she is able to explain complex design concepts in her own tongue. Although her English seems as perfect as any of us can hope for.
"I wanted to produce a ring that goes just here, across the finger diagonally, but it just won't stay on," she laughed. "I explained. And they definitely tried, but no! Maybe next time."
Whether or not she has a design pedigree on paper, the pieces are innovative and unusual. A choker, created in silk bearing real gold balls is a favourite piece of hers - and one that might next season be reimagined in velvet or leather. Earrings are sculptural and a slim neck torque innovative - these are not the average "model-launches-collection" pieces. Very inventive earrings appear to slice the ear, sitting so close as to seem almost connected and with a clever, and imperceptible, built-in fastening.
Others look like luxury versions of a punky ear plug: a dense gold bar that appears to transect the ear - "I love punk and rock and roll - it's a real obsession," she nods. Frackowiak, after a decade and a half spent working with the greats of the industry, is a woman on a mission to do something new: "I'm so inspired by sculpture and making it work with the body, how it can flow with the body. That's my challenge; I want to create something that can uplift you."
"Working in this industry for 15 years, first of all I learned a passion. I worked with Alexander McQueen a lot, and having fittings with him - sometimes all night - that was what I really saw: designers are very passionate people," she said. "These people live for fashion; they're so creative, and artistic. Just watching him take a needle and sew a dress was inspiring. I've done a lot of shows, a lot of couture because I'm tall, and I've always felt grateful just to be around those people, to be around the beauty. When you're working for Dior and Chanel and you get to see those pieces close up; the details are so incredible."
As we talk, she pulls from her bag a vintage metal purse that she bought because it spoke to her: "This is the kind of piece I love. I want to make jewels. Not a ring or a necklace, just a jewel; a piece that you can have. Like a piece of art. I'm thinking about gold buttons that you put at the top of your shirt, just as a small touch; and for the second collection I have a gold collar pin that you use to fasten your shirt." Other eyebrow-raising pieces include spike earrings, sold singly; a brooch with the same concept that splits in half to pierce the clothing; and the aforementioned brooch, like a pale gold chocolate button - inspired by the ornate brooches worn by her grandmother - which clips simply onto the simple black garments so favoured by Frackowiak and her model friends.
"I always like to wear the samples for a while so I can talk to the artisans and explain, 'It's too heavy, or it's bothering me here' - even if you want to design something crazy, it has to be comfortable to wear," she nodded. "Elisa Sednaoui and Natasha Poly both told me that the earrings are so comfortable that they sleep in them, and these girls don't bullsh*t."
"I want to make jewels. Not a ring or a necklace, just a jewel; a piece that you can have. Like a piece of art"
The collection features pieces in three textures - hammered; drilled ("I found this teeny drill, like when you go to the dentist, it's a diamond drill actually, so beautiful"); and a high-shine watery ripple, that recalls her childhood growing up next to the Baltic Sea. Pieces also come in several volumes: three heights for the rings - a deep ring like a piece of pipe; medium, like wedding-band thickness; and thin - and each also comes in a range of sizes to sit on each of your three knuckles. Frackowiak likes them layered on every finger like a game of jewellery Jenga. She talks a lot about playing - both in the way one wears the pieces and in her approach to design. "When I started I told the artisans, 'Show me all your tools, show me what they do' - then I was really playing with the pieces, and exploring what is possible."
Based in Florence where there is "plenty" of inspiration, Frackowiak lives with boyfriend Daniele Cavalli - himself no stranger to the fashion world courtesy of his father Roberto's eponymous label - and both have many friends in the industry who have been "very supportive, which is really lovely", she nods of her new venture.
The second collection, due to be presented next July during Couture Fashion Week in Paris, will allow her to take her vision even further, promising to be "even more organic" in shape than the first - and her enthusiasm for continuing this journey is palpable. But, that's not to say she is leaving modelling behind.
"When I went to the McQueen exhibition and I saw my dress - I had tears in my eyes, you know? Because you realise you are part of this incredible process. To think he saw it on you, on your proportions, it makes me realise I don't ever want to leave fashion, I want to be in fashion. I want to create too. I'm one of the models who is a big fan of fashion; I never complained, I always felt grateful. At my presentation, some of the models came to me afterwards and said, 'Magdalena, you're such an inspiration to us.' And maybe it's not usual that a model will become a jewellery designer, but I'm so excited and so ready to do this."
The Magdalena Frackowiak Jewellery collection, visit is available now from Magdalenafrackowiak.com priced from £1,000 to £10,000.
