MAGDA MALINA

MAGDA MALINA.- portrait. Ph by Kalouna Toulakoun


MAGDA MALINA.- atelier. Ph by Kalouna Toulakoun



MAGDA MALINA.- Chromo

MAGDA MALINA.- headpiece from Good Company,

a collaboration with Nozomi Kume and Hiroaki Kanai



Northern Europe is becoming the mother of a new breed of young and mind-moving designers, artists that take into consideration creativity, experimentation, and concept, as a focuss in their work. Places like Berlin, Arhnem or Stockholm are commonly seen as hometowns in bios from the most interesting fashion designers today: BLESS, Sandra Backlund, Claudia Rosa Lukas or Poland-born artist Magda Malina.Magda studied Industrial Design in the Academy of Arts in Arnhem. Her constant contact with fashion designers led her to start designing pieces to wear, pieces that reflect her Industral background in their structural complexity and architectural feeling.
Interview by Patricia YagüePictures © Magda Malina

Q.- Hello Magda, what's keeping you busy these days?Right now I’m actually busy with figuring out how the next time will look like, how to fund my projects, what are the next steps to do. I’m still busy with the paper collection.I have to make over several of the pieces for an exhibition in January. It’s really difficult to keep them alive from one exhibition to another so it happens that pieces are used for just one time even they are not worn by anybody.I'm making special boxes for them to keep them safe and dry during the transport or storage.

Q.- When did you feel the need of designing?I always used to have the need of creating. Before I started studying I was painting and drawing a lot, or making over my clothes. I got more and more interested in three dimensional work, and the idea of making something you could use and knowing how it works, how it becomes real.
I think when I was 18 I decided to apply for a product design department after high school. I was looking around a lot and visiting open days until I found a place which felt like the right one to stay and study.

Q.- Do you like the design scene in Germany? Is it another city where you would like to see yourself living and working?I like it for certain qualities it has, but for myself it was interesting to choose studying in the Netherlands because it felt more free or individual in a way. I didn’t need to think about the commercial aspect all the time, which doesn’t say that I don’t want to, or that I didn’t need to defend my work, but I know now that it gave me the possibility to think from out another perspective and find my own vision and way.
I mean I’m lucky to be influenced by different cultures and places and I could imagine to live anywhere if I have a mission there, a reason why. At the moment it’s a good opportunity to stay in the Netherlands for some time because there I have possibilities I wouldn’t have elsewhere.

Q.- I read you collaborated with designer Maaike Mekking in the realization of her S/S 08 collection where you designed headpieces for the show. You both met in the Academy of Arts in Arnhem where you were studying Industrial Design. Why did you decided to work together?Actually we didn’t meet at the Academy, we just met through a friend when she already graduated at the fashion department and was living in London.
It was more at random that I got to know she was searching for someone to help with the headpieces for her show. In the end it was just some little pieces but it was nice to dive into her inspiration for the collection and share the certain atmosphere she wanted to reach.
It could happen that in the future there will be another collaboration between us.

Q.- What made you want to start doing fashion objects?During my studies I met a lot of fashion people and there are some who have shown me a different view on what fashion can be. I found out that I could express my ideas in a way which is more free or unforced than making products for daily use. Beside that I really like working at the body and kind of transform it into something else, giving an other identity to the one who’s wearing one of my pieces. That’s what for me is so interesting about fashion, to have the possibility to appear as whatever you want depending on what you wear, telling a story with a certain combination of clothes, building a microcosm with a collection.

Q.- Another artist with who you have collaborated has been Industrial designer Barry Rengelink; you showed part of your wok in the exhibition Lift-Off. What can you tell me of this collaboration and show?We started working together at the academy, there we had group projects, assignments we got from different companies or institutions. We decided to work together because we share some kind of view and ideas about aesthetics. We found out that we can accomplish each others skills.
For the lift-off exhibition at the Dutch design week, it was interesting for me to place my work in Barry’s environment en see what would happen. We decided it would just fit together and we could create something new, using just several of our pieces and combining them. Some of the decisions we made spontaneously because like that it fitted better than what we had planned. It was funny to see that there are a lot of similarities but a completely different way of thinking as well. I think we created a more lively atmosphere, enriching both our work.

Q.- Your work is very architectural and industrial in a way. In an interview for Trés Plus Cool you mention the importance of the City and its architecture as inspiration for your work. Which kind of architecture is more inspiring to you?I think it’s architecture in general which also includes the whole city as composition of buildings and streets, subways, the atmosphere, the systems and structures. I must say I’m also getting attracted by little details of buildings or in the streets, it can be something you see when you just pass, like structures which are always repeated, everywhere there are lines and curves and grids. Even I’m especially fascinated by the Bauhaus period, sure there’s also postmodern or old for example venetian buildings which inspire me a lot. There are all different buildings from different periods existing next to each other, creating an urban landscape which is giving a character to all the different cities in different states. I also like broken windows, laundry drying on a balcony or a smell, which makes that street special. It is the irrational side of architecture and city planning you cannot calculate which makes it come to life.
Q.- Which computer programs do you use to make the patterns of your creations?It’s a 3d construction program. I really like using it because it is so precise and logical.
For the patterns I only use it to draw two dimensional, the rest I try out in real models.
Q.- Is there a special kind of paper that you use for your collection Paper Cuts///How To Love The Moment?Yes there are several kinds of paper, one of them is a special paper from Arjo Wiggins, usually they use it for prints. It has a metallic shine and is quite stiff but light. I found it fascinating to use that one cause it adds a special dimension to the pieces and you just stop thinking about the fact that it is paper.

Q.- Tell me about the inspiration behind the armor-jackets. What was the main problem you needed to solve in the design of them?The first idea was to create a cape, which is a kind of protecting the one who’s wearing it, hiding something beautiful under, like a birds’ wings or an insect or indeed a knight or king. I was experimenting, cutting in paper to create volume and space and liked the fact that you could influence that volume and space by wearing it, using the shoulders and neck as crucial point for the objects’ behaviour. The main problem was to get that behaviour under control, to lead it the way of how the volume builds up and giving it the shape I wanted it to have. Yes that was quite problematic, all the lines that are cut in, I changed them a hundred of times to get the right distance, the right relation between the layers and so on. It really took a lot of time, because I always needed to make the piece in total to see if it works out or not.

Q.- In the same Tres Plus Cool interview mentioned before you speak about theater and films as a future project. What kind of projects would you like to see your creations involved with?Talking about films in general what I like is for example on the one hand films by Stanley Kubrik or Fassbinder and on the other Krzystof Kieslowski, Almodovar or Michel Gondry. (I'm not sure if I should dare to mention all of them in one sentence but I do.)
Talking about work it’s more experimental (short)films or theatres or even opera I see my work involved with.
I could also imagine making a video clip with someone like Chris Cunningham.
And there’s for example Philip Stölzl who directed an opera in a very innovative way, he dared to completely break the rules of tradition what provoked a lot of discussion and discussion is good.
I’m also inspired by work from Oscar Schlemmer from the Bauhaus, his ‘triadic ballet’ was a new way to use the dancers’ body combined with the music, the costumes and stage at the same time. It is so minimal but so rich.
I guess a film by Matthew Barney would be one of the greatest projects I would love my work to be involved with.
For me films or theatre pieces or performances should take you on a journey somewhere. It is about creating a microcosm but then with more layers added than you can show with a collection itself.

Q.- Is there a moment in Art or Fashion that you relate to?For sure I feel a kind of related to the 80’s because of the huge hairstyles and shoulders.
I like that time because it is the first time that there are several styles to choose from in fashion.
My number one in contemporary fashion definitely is Hussein Chalayan.
I love his work and his presentations but also his whole attitude.
The earlier work of Vivienne Westwood I find very inspiring. I’ve been to a retrospective of her work and was so fascinated by her passion for fabrics and their behaviour and the combination of these.
Others in fashion who are important for me are for example comme des garcons, Maison Martin Margiela, Yohji Yamamoto and, sure, Balenciaga.
Whose work I really admire is the work of BLESS and Shoplifter.
It is so fresh, you cannot specifically categorize it. What they do is so unpredictable and authentic.

Q.- What are your reading right now? What is the book about?To be honest I‘m always reading several books at the same time, lot of them I never finish. One of the books I’m reading at the moment is ‘Spheres’ by Peter Sloterdijk. It’s a theory about people and there surroundings, about that everyone builds up his own microcosm which forms a sphere, a lot of spheres build up foam, a society in which one microcosm keeps alive the other. It’s really interesting so I hope I’m able to finish it.