Marek Mikicki Design – for many years this name has been present in the jury’s verdicts in the Mercurius Gedanensis, Amber in Handicraft and Gold and Silver in Handicraft competitions. In autumn this year a winner of an Internet competition called A Jewel of Polish Jewellery.
You are the winner of numerous competitions connected with amber – is it an intentional choice?
At first I entered non-amber jewellery into the competitions organized during the Amberif fair but I did not have bigger chances to win the awards. Indeed, I was patted on the shoulder and congratulated, my ideas and workmanship made an impression but that was it. That is why I decided to use the fact that this fair is after all an amber one and I presented amber in a bit different form with other material in setting. It turned out to be an appropriate decision, although generally polishing and setting amber is not my everyday job. The company, which I run, specializes in a production of jewellery made of white and yellow gold with synthetic stones and as it comes to amber processing I am only an amateur.
The number of awards seems to be in contradiction with your words…
Projects decorated with amber I do exclusively for competitions whose subject is connected with this beautiful stone. They are designed in accordance with the given subject and are really “perfected” but I produce them only in one copy. If I decided to produce and sell these designs I would have had to modify them a bit. And their usefulness would still be limited, say because of the fact that amber is a soft material and it gets easily destroyed in comparison with e.g. white gold which constitutes my most frequent companion in my work. The production problem of no small importance is also a mass of my works. But as yet I have not been thinking about implementing these designs into production. More so that it would be connected with a tremendous amount of work and consequently quite high final price. For example to complete only a ring “Lady Modern” I needed fourteen working days, about nine hours each day. Not to mention the time spent on designing and preparation of material.
Does it mean that these awarded works are later put aside?
So far yes. When I collect some more, maybe I will manage to organize a permanent exposition when the opportunity of other exhibition arises.
Have not you thought about sale of these designs?
I have had a few such offers from the big companies so far but I have refused to accept them. I have been running the company by myself for three years although my experience in jeweller’s trade is much bigger – previously for 12 years I had run the Aurum company with a partner and before that I had had six years of gaining experience. Now I mostly care about working out my own image, name and my company’s development. Fortunately so far I have had enough good ideas and I do not have to sell my designs. I just do not want to be associated with another company.
Your designs, not only these decorated with amber, attract attention because of a sophistication and a perfection of performance.
I personally make designs and put them into practice. The more I feel happy that my designs are not left unnoticed. I try for them to be as characteristic and well-done so that they could stay in the memory of those who watch them. It helps a lot while creating a positive image of the company. Referring to your question about sophisticated designs and a perfection of performance, these are fields in the jeweller’s art which emphasize a uniqueness of work and a professionalism of an artisan. I was very honoured when I was congratulated by professor Szadkowski from the Lodz Academy of Fine Arts, when last year during Amberif fair my necklace “Two Faces” took a first place in the Mercurius Gedanensis competition.
Are these designs perfect for you or you would still like to change something about them?
While performing my work I try to create a perfect design, perfect in accordance with my image and design, but when a final work is created I always feel unsatisfied and it provides me with a stimulation to look for new inspirations and solutions. That is why each new competition is a new challenge for me.
2008-01-21 | 
