| First thing first, What does SchickiMickis mean? |
| SchickiMicki is a German expression for the term trendy, and widely used as the german evil twin of “fancy-schmancy”. | SchickiMickis |
| I’d love to hear about you, your journey, how it all began. |
For me, SchickiMickis is like “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost is. Those paths in the woods that diverged and you never know where they will take you.
I graduated Tel Aviv University with a master degree in Sociology and worked for a while in human resources. I had a whole path already laid out for me, until one day I decided to leave it all behind. I moved to Milan and studied jewelry and accessory design. It was one of the best experiences of my life, and that was just the beginning of my international roller coaster. I lived and started designing in Prague and Berlin and just recently moved back to Tel Aviv eager to focus on my designs.
I am thankful for every step of the way. You can say it threw me out of the box. The best thing I learned during those years was not to be afraid to “get lost in the woods”. | SchickiMickis |
| How do you define your work? |
| My designs refer to that elusive tension between warm and cold materials, geometric sharp and curvy soft shapes, the whole and its parts, the notion of cheap and luxurious, elegant and funky, eastern and western… all as a reflection of the opposing and crossing identities we are all composed of. | SchickiMickis |
| Can you describe your work process for me? |
| I love making things handmade, as the process becomes an adventure. I start with an idea that gets a shape in a sketch and continue to develop through the work with the materials themselves. It is like a game, playing with the materials revealing all their secret characteristics and different persona they can put on while handled differently. My current creations focus on the theme of identity, and are very much influenced from the cities I have been living in. My designs have a touch of a Milanese glam, with a strong Berliner vintage flair. | SchickiMickis |
| How do you like working with leather? |
| Having a strong graphical tendency, I give myself the time to “learn” the material. I make some models and play with it, check its boundaries, not just sketch it, but really work it. Working with leather in a graphical way is not the most intuitive way to work it, but I feel that this unique combination is challenging me and getting more of my personal touch to the design. | SchickiMickis |
| What is the most unusual piece you have ever designed? |
My most exceptional design and also my most personal design, was a design I made in design school. This project started with an object, a grater, but evolves into new untraditional form of communication, a non verbal language, of silence and distant that implies to isolation. Exploring and analyzing the graters characteristic such as: touch, sensation and appearance, along side with syllable and rhythm of its name, led to an Armor which is built by a set of “shield wings” in a transparent metallic color, resembling a traditional armor along together with invisible, sensational “second skin” armor.
On its back are 4 “mouth gestures” pieces which resembles the unique perforated touch sensation of the grater. “Reading” them involve caressing gently ones back, in order to understand the syllable of that silent “lip reading-brail” language but not get cut by their perforated sharp touch. | SchickiMickis |
| What’s next? What is your dream? |
| As for my dreams, I try to leave it open, and do not like to limit myself in those business management terms of business goals. But I wish for myself to be able to be involved in art and design in the future, and to be able to continuously challenge myself and always learn more and evolve, as I build my “designer” confidence. I do feel I have so much more to express. | SchickiMickis |
| Can you tell me which designers inspire you? |
| In the field of fashion I relate to Alexander McQueen and Hussein Chalayan. As for jewelry designers, I must refer to one of my great teachers Naomi Filmer, I believe she has just that right balance and combination of an inspiring well analyzed “say”, to its careful designed expression in context, that always leaves you thinking. | SchickiMickis |
| What about some web sites and blogs that you visit regularly? |
| Stil in Berlin, Junk Fashion, Le blog de Betty, The cherry blossom girl, Copenhagen street style and Stockholm street style to name a few… | SchickiMickis |
