Kids used to play with beer bottle caps, less often with Coca-Cola ones \u2013 today, even those are more designer-like. Your concept, which won the Amberif Design Award, is a game of amber caps \u2013 where did such an idea come from? <\/b><\/p>\n
\n<\/b><\/p>\n
<\/b>The idea is hidden in the theme of the competition and its description. I tried to capture the joy that can be found in very simple things, despite the crisis. That's where these bottle caps come from \u2013 a game that probably every one of us remembers from the playground, which, despite its simplicity, brought a lot of joy. Why not make a luxury version of it? When people have had enough of price increases and constant scaremongering about the crisis, why not take amber and play \u201ebottle caps\u201d with it? <\/p>\n
This is probably quite an extravagance... But this competition is certainly also an opportunity for amber \u2013 until now associated with grandmother's jewellery, to take on new meanings. How do young designers perceive this \u201eold\u201d stone?
<\/b><\/p>\n
You're right, it's an extravagance, but it's just a concept - an attempt to answer the N:JOY competition. I've been interested in amber for a very long time: even as a teenager, I loved this stone, and one of the most pleasant ways to spend my free time was searching for amber on the beach and imagining what was inside. Shortly after my final exams, I had the opportunity to learn how to process amber and silver, so my desire to know its interior was satisfied. What I saw in it caused me to lose my head over this stone. And what do I think about stereotypes? The label of \u201egrandmother's jewellery\u201d is very unfair. I \u201espoke\u201d about this at last year's ADA competition, where I used amber to decorate headphones - which is, as far as I know, a completely innovative use of this \u201cgrandmotherly\u201d stone. I see amber as a great mystery \u2013 each piece is different, each hides certain secrets, each has a beauty and warmth found nowhere else. It's also an ideal material for design work. One of my primary goals is to free amber from stereotypical associations: amber = outdated and unfashionable.<\/p>\n
It's surprising that regardless of age, designers value the same qualities in amber: beauty, warmth and mystery. How do you intend to free this stone from stereotypes? <\/b><\/p>\n
This question is a difficult one, as it forces me to create a vision for an entire process that could take years, and whose path I am only just beginning to tread. Certainly, a good way forward is to showcase diverse, unusual, and modern applications for amber. Much of this is conceptual work, which nonetheless reaches a wide audience \u2013 thanks, among other things, to ADA and various publications. A sort of \u201egrassroots work\u201d involves paying attention to what I have the most contact with: the design and creation of jewellery. In the case of amber ornaments, most consumers are accustomed to clich\u00e9s, the ordinary, a worn-out image. In my work, I try to show something new, something different, which is difficult to find in online jewellery stores. And although I am currently operating on a small scale, I have already had many opportunities to see that attention to design and the charting of new directions yield very good results.<\/p>\n
This is the second award in the ADA competition \u2013 last year you received the Amber Award. What significance does this have for a young, emerging designer?
<\/b>
Immense! It motivates further work and development, showing that the chosen direction is correct and appreciated. It builds confidence in design and makes you want to create more and more. Thanks to last year's award, I was also invited to participate in the \u201eDesigned in Poland\u201d exhibition organised by the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency S.A., which is excellent promotion. And from a completely prosaic point of view: thanks to these awards, I gained a semi-finished product necessary for further work. This will allow me to realise more complex projects without worrying if I have enough material \u2013 this is a significant limitation when a budding designer's only capital is a head full of ideas. Now I eagerly await the next competition themes, as each one is a fascinating challenge, an attempt to confront one's own thoughts and ideas. Overcoming the next barriers of my own imagination is precisely what I enjoy most about being a designer.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Piotr To\u0142kin, a young designer and winner of the Silver Award at the Amberif Design Award, discusses his award-winning work and his desire to free amber from harmful, stereotypical associations.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":15671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"Pokonuj\u0119 bariery w\u0142asnej wyobra\u017ani \u2013 rozmowa z Piotrem To\u0142kinem - Amber Portal","description":"Piotr To\u0142kin, a young designer and winner of the Silver Award at the Amberif Design Award competition, talks about his awarded work and his desire to free amber from damaging, ste"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[148],"sekcja":[245],"class_list":["post-15672","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wywiady","tag-amberif","sekcja-ludzie-opinie"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15672","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15672"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15672\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15672"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15672"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15672"},{"taxonomy":"sekcja","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sekcja?post=15672"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}