{"id":19308,"date":"2022-08-03T20:34:12","date_gmt":"2022-08-03T18:34:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.amber.com.pl\/to-calkiem-przyjemnie-nazywac-sie-blazko-rozmowa-z-grzegorzem-blazko\/"},"modified":"2025-12-07T18:45:46","modified_gmt":"2025-12-07T17:45:46","slug":"its-quite-nice-being-called-blazko-a-conversation-with-grzegorz-blazko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/aktualnosci\/to-calkiem-przyjemnie-nazywac-sie-blazko-rozmowa-z-grzegorzem-blazko\/","title":{"rendered":"It's quite nice to be called Blazko - an interview with Grzegorz Blazko"},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n

To mark the 21st anniversary of your existing studio and gallery in Krak\u00f3w's Kazimierz district, you have opened a new one \u2013 right next door to the old one.
<\/strong>
I had been planning this for several years, wanting to ensure a soft landing in the face of the impending necessity to leave my existing gallery and studio, which were combined into one. Meanwhile, the company that was supposed to renovate it abandoned the project during the pandemic, leaving me with two premises 150 metres apart. And this is by no means a sign of crazy demand for jewellery... I wondered for a long time what to do with this excess, until I finally figured out that this would be the best \u201eopen-cast mine\u201d I've ever had. I decided that the gallery and studio would stay where they are, and I would move part of the exhibition to the new premises. I also found a patron for this new gallery \u2013 Jan Saudek's photograph \u201eDeep devotion Weronika\u201d, which shows a girl kneeling in a prayer position just before kissing an outstretched male hand. I admit, its undertone is quite controversial \u2013 now that I've revisited Saudek, I don't love him as much as I used to (laughs). But the photograph stays.<\/p>\n

For the opening came squids, cushions, mandarins, peelings, apple cores, saffron milk caps, tuberous folks, no-names\u2026 \u2013 in a word, the entire B\u0142a\u017cko family.<\/strong><\/p>\n

When it comes to names, there is a whole culinary trend in my jewellery, a white goods trend, and there is also waste (laughs). The club bracelet, which is the kind that I also wear, was represented by probably seven pieces. The wearers of my jewellery mobilised wonderfully and positively surprised me with their attendance.<\/p>\n

\u201eCarriers\u201d, as you call them, seem to be addicted to your jewellery, supposedly completing entire collections of it and never having enough.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is a strange matter\u2026 But I sort of understand them, especially since I've only ever encountered one piece of jewellery that I'd actually want to wear myself \u2013 it's a bracelet I made for myself (laughs). So I'm not surprised that once someone enters this pattern-filled world, one that's a bit like it's for little girls, it's hard for them to leave it behind.<\/p>\n

Probably all the more difficult, because you create whole stories for your jewellery...<\/strong><\/p>\n

I'm just naturally inclined to create an ideology around whatever I do. Literature is always the source. I come from a middle-class, intellectual home where the women are strong and the men have intense passions. Throughout my youth I was convinced I would write, but to this day I limit myself to telling stories and creating new realities. When I read The Twelve Chairs by Ilf and Petrov, I founded my first club under that very name. I also read heaps of books by Gabriel Garc\u00eda M\u00e1rquez because I felt right at home in his stories. I started spinning some fiction while making jewellery at the same time. Sometimes I even fancied myself a representative of magical realism in jewellery \u2013 though that is almost certainly not true (laugh). What is certainly true is that my fondness for reading began to spill over into my jewellery-making life. So once the checkerboard motif was pretty well established, I joked that I was the self-proclaimed president of the Black-and-White Checkerboard with a Rusty Dot in the Middle of Every White Square Lovers Club. Later, my presidency expanded to cover all my collections (laugh). For many years, I organised Club meetings to mark my birthday on the 5th of July. And every time I would tell the members to bring photos next time because their membership cards were already ready (laugh). Nowadays the format has run its course \u2013 well, it's run its course a few times already, actually, but then for various reasons I'd go back to organising these gatherings. Oh, and I'll just add that the slogan I used to invite people to the opening of my second gallery also comes from literature \u2013 from Alexander Pushkin's The Undertaker, where it went \u201eTruncheon-makers, assemble\u201d.<\/p>\n

The chessboard motif in jewellery is your signature look. How did you come up with the idea?<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was a process that lasted several years. It began in 1992, when Kasia Marszalec and Marek Milanowski organised an exhibition for me at their Gda\u0144sk gallery, which they entitled \u201eThe Last Abortion in the Most Serene [Republic]\u201d, because it took place during heated discussions about tightening the abortion laws. I showed jewellery made of synthetic coral, ebony and turquoise, all large pieces \u2013 probably because back then I still didn't know how to make small ones (laugh). Huge dimensions, enormous weight \u2013 meaning unwearable. So what if they were quite original? A while ago, a set from those times came my way \u2013 it quickly found a new buyer for a pretty decent sum, so I suppose that jewellery had some value after all (laugh). And by the way: the bracelet from that set was entitled \u201eKisiel in Knickers\u201d. No, I didn't come up with it myself (laugh). During the opening exhibition, that catchphrase was shouted out by some female medical students and unfortunately it stuck (laugh). <\/p>\n

Getting back to the exhibition: it caused quite a stir, the newspapers carried positive reviews, but I, for one, was rather dissatisfied. In my opinion, the items on display were rather unprofessional, which \u2013 as if to prove the point \u2013 meant they rarely sold. I couldn\u2019t afford coffee or cigarettes, or even food \u2013 I remember being terribly thin back then. I was growing increasingly fed up with being penniless \u2013 especially in an industry associated with wealth. So I had to urgently come up with some other plan for myself. I decided that the best solution would be to create jewellery that people would buy frequently and willingly. I thought about it intensely, until finally, in some attic in Krak\u00f3w \u2013 where I had my studio at the time \u2013 my mind finally clicked into gear; ideas came flooding in from all directions to give birth to a new design. As I\u2019ve always thought in terms of series rather than individual pieces, it was important to establish a concept that would allow me to create such a series. I was looking for a design that would appeal to as wide an audience as possible. I took a cue from the invaluable Zdzis\u0142aw Maklakiewicz from *Rejs* and searched my mind intensively for motifs that the audience would recognise well \u2013 after all, those are the ones they like best. And so I came up with the idea of a chessboard \u2013 everyone knows that! I declared war on the ladies \u2013 they were my adversaries, and the jewellery was my trap. When they bought it, they fell into the trap. Of course, there was no real danger to them \u2013 apart from the fact that there was a high risk they\u2019d want more and more until they became addicted. And that was exactly what I was aiming for! I was meant to be like a plague in their lives \u2013 that\u2019s exactly what I wanted (laughter). Delighted, I put the design into production straight away, but it was\u2026 lifeless. I needed a moment longer to come up with the idea of adding a rusty dot to every white square \u2013 and then it clicked! I was thrilled \u2013 the idea caught on, ladies were buying and wearing it, and I was over the moon seeing them out and about in my jewellery. Nothing was the same as before \u2013 the whole world had become a chessboard to me. Even when looking at the moon, I\u2019d wonder how to give it a chequered pattern. I\u2019d chat to people whilst mentally cutting them up into an anatomical grid. I\u2019d be floating about 20 cm above the ground \u2013 a marvellous feeling (laughs). These days I can no longer \u201edrift off\u201d like that, living solely for design\u2026 Back then, I simply jumped into the river and went with the flow. At the same time, I was becoming increasingly of a solitary nature, because I began to find the company of people from the goldsmithing community a nuisance. The more people there are where an ideology is being formed \u2013 even if it\u2019s flawed, though that doesn\u2019t really matter, because it\u2019s an original ideology \u2013 the harder it is to distil the essence. Everyone wants to add their own touch, and suddenly it turns out that it is no longer your ideology; there are more and more foreign elements in it. So I had no choice but to choose solitude.<\/p>\n

The chessboard was for a long time black and white with a rusty dot until colour appeared...<\/strong><\/p>\n

He appeared right at the beginning, but it turned out that out of 10 items sold, 9 were black and white and 1 was colourful, so everything was clear. Customers decided what they wanted to buy, and that is precisely what I did \u2013 after all, I wanted to go with the flow of the river that was carrying me. I was clearly defined as to the chessboard itself. Placing dots in the middle of each square was the result of a flash of brilliance. For me, a flash of brilliance is the moment when the long-awaited answer appears to the questions I ask myself when I feel the time for change has come. A bit like reaching the next river weir, knowing that things will be different beyond it and waiting for that change. A flash of brilliance is an incredibly euphoric moment \u2013 like falling in love.<\/p>\n

Do you still have those moments of brilliance?<\/strong><\/p>\n

During the creation process I always feel euphoric, but by no means because of a brilliant final result, rather just because I am participating in it. Moments of brilliance still happen, but less often now, unfortunately. When a person is young and starts their adventure with art, everything excites them. As time goes by, they become more and more fussy, just any old cake won't thrill them any more\u2026 So it gets harder and harder\u2026 Now, I get immense pleasure from watching the people working with me get hooked on this jewellery and start reacting in a similar way \u2013 it seems you don't have to be a creator at all for it to work. For some time now I've been thinking \u201eB\u0142a\u017cko\u201d is us, not me. I am invariably the leaven, the ideas come from me, but my crew co-creates this story. It's quite nice to be called B\u0142a\u017cko, and Grzesiek B\u0142a\u017cko even more so (laughter). I'm not saying it's easy to live with, but sometimes it's nice (laughter).<\/p>\n

For 21 years in Krakow's Kazimierz \u2013 what is so fascinating here?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I turned up because I liked Kazimierz terribly much. Scratched, ruined, with bullet holes, it was fascinating, downright hypnotising. Now it's different, the picture is much more sugary, more geared towards tourists \u2013 holes in the ground have been patched up, tenement houses renovated... It's possible that has some charm, but my sentiment for the 1990s picture has remained. Kazimierz is so small that when you turn up there, you immediately become its face. And the faces of Kazimierz are winos and restaurant owners. And me \u2013 somewhere between them (laughs).<\/p>\n

For Krak\u00f3w you left Gda\u0144sk.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gda\u0144sk didn't give me the opportunities that Krak\u00f3w did. I loved the people from the Tri-City, but I didn't feel like one of them. So when my girlfriend at the time got a job offer near Krak\u00f3w, I didn't hesitate for a second. I packed my belongings into the car \u2013 following the rule that my personal things had to fit on the back seat, and my workshop in the boot. I always made sure to have as few things as possible, because then it's easier to move. And I've moved over 60 times in my life... I changed flats sometimes for trivial reasons, and sometimes for such serious ones as, for example, a windowsill. Back then, I used to mount my rolling mill on the windowsill \u2013 many a time the windowsill would stay in my hand together with the rolling mill (laughs). In the meantime, I even went back to Gda\u0144sk for a moment, but I increasingly felt that it wasn't my place. I never regretted choosing Krak\u00f3w. It was freer in Krak\u00f3w \u2013 back then I used to listen to the then little-known Maciej Male\u0144czuk playing on Floria\u0144ska Street, I had a good time, I lived the life of the Krak\u00f3w underground. And I was creating the chessboard pattern, spending an unbelievable amount of time in the studio creating jewellery that lifted me a few centimetres off the ground... My jewellery was very distinctive and so sought-after that girls who couldn't afford to buy it made copies of it out of plasticine. What I experienced in Krak\u00f3w was a substitute for the flower power era \u2013 and I really liked it.<\/p>\n

And now here in Kazimierz I am entangled in two interiors\u2026 Fortunately, I still love creating jewellery, spinning the story I have to tell. I dream of a studio somewhere in a seaside town, a few metres from the beach, where the temperature doesn't drop below 16 degrees Celsius. So if I have dreams like that, then I suppose Krak\u00f3w's Kazimierz isn't entirely my place after all\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Few ideas are as distinctive and yet brilliantly simple as his black-and-white chessboard with a rust spot in the middle of each white field. Many legends have already grown up around his collection, which he fuels by adding ideology to everything he does.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":19298,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"slim_seo":{"title":"To ca\u0142kiem przyjemnie nazywa\u0107 si\u0119 B\u0142a\u017cko \u2013 rozmowa z Grzegorzem B\u0142a\u017cko - Amber Portal","description":"Few ideas are as distinctive and yet brilliantly simple as his black-and-white checkerboard with a rusty spot in the middle of each white square. Around"},"_slim_seo_primary_term_category":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_post_tag":0,"_slim_seo_primary_term_sekcja":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[118],"tags":[],"sekcja":[245],"class_list":["post-19308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wywiady","sekcja-ludzie-opinie"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19308","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=19308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19308"},{"taxonomy":"sekcja","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/amber.com.pl\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/sekcja?post=19308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}