with Idonthaveasister
It’s been almost one year since Italian designer Alexandra Purcaru has been creating jewelry under her own label IDONTHAVEASISTER which she says are more like sculptures than just accessories. Designed in Paris and handmade in Murano with old glass blowing technique, these micro-sculptures are inspired by architecture and travelling both in time and space. MORE is LOVE offers a peek inside her magical universe of ingenious imagination and surreal designs.
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MORE is LOVE: How would you describe your design aesthetic? Alexandra: I don’t believe that jewels are made simply to be worn like accessories. I like to treat them like sculptures. My designs have a body that you can observe from different perspectives as you do when you are in front of a sculpture. Being made of tempered glass my jewels are both airy and solid. I would describe my design aesthetic as surrealistic and anatomic. |
MORE is LOVE: How did you get into jewelry making? Alexandra: I always had a passion for jewelry, since I was two years old. My father is a mineralogical engineer so I grew up surrounded by books about stones, rocks and beads. I was obsessed with colored beads and I used to hide them for hours under my tongue. For years it was just my passion, but recently I decided to develop it into a full time activity. |
My designs have a body that you can observe from different perspectives as you do when you are in front of a sculpture.
MORE is LOVE: Why IDONTHAVEASISTER?
Alexandra: My designs are one-of-a-kind jewels, they don’t have a brother or a sister.
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MORE is LOVE: What inspires you and how it turns into your jewelry? Alexandra: Architecture and nature are what inspires me the most. I look for inspiration in Etruscan Art, old ex-voto, Antiques and markets all over the world. I love vintage-hunting and I often use unique pieces to craft a prototype that I start to wear in order to test it. If it seems to work I make sketches to refine the concept and then after some “magic” and several trips between Paris and Murano it becomes an IDONTHAVEASISTER. |
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MORE is LOVE: What was the first piece of jewelry you ever made? Alexandra: The first piece of jewelry I ever created was a long necklace that I made out of watermelon seeds when I was a kid. And by the way, watermelon is my favorite fruit. MORE is LOVE: Murano glass is associated with your brand. How did you start using it? Alexandra: I arrived in Murano on a boat at dawn, on a misty Venetian day. The market was loud, the marble tables were covered with fish, silk has just arrived from the Orient and the Grand Canal echoed with the sounds of creaky piers. I decided to stay and the rest is part of the mystery. |
MORE is LOVE: What are you working on at the moment? Alexandra: Right now I'm working on a collection of transparent glass that contains colored silks. MORE is LOVE: What do you love most about your profession? Alexandra: I love the fact that it’s not a static job, that I can always improve and improvise, that I am not limited to a given universe: at any point I can choose new materials, change direction and mix styles. I feel like I can point a finger toward a spinning globe and say: “there”! |
At any point I can choose new materials, change direction and mix styles. I feel like I can point a finger toward a spinning globe and say: “there”!
MORE is LOVE: Who would you like to see in your jewels?
Alexnadra: Anna Wintour
MORE is LOVE: Tell us about your personal jewelry preferences.
Alexandra: The fossilized copper forms of Claude Lalanne, Oreste Zevola's animal works, Calder kinetic shapes. I love jewels from the '30s, from the Bauhaus period and Boucheron poudriers worn as jewels.
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MORE is LOVE: If you could choose one person to collaborate with, who would it be? Alexandra: Elsa Schiaparelli in the past, Hussein Chalayan now. MORE is LOVE: Your life motto. Alexandra: Always be yourself unless you can be a flamingo. MORE is LOVE: Your favorite places in Paris. |
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Alexandra: The Luxembourg garden where I can feel like a kid that wishes to own all the sailboats. Stohrer where the best answer to: “Baba or Puit d’Amour?” is always: “Both”. Shakespeare and Co where I can sit on an old velvet sofa and feel I can see Notre Dame from my own window. MORE is LOVE: Your future plans. What's next for IDONTHAVEASISTER? Alexandra: Experimenting with new materials and heading East. |
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LOVE is… "All you need"
