Vision &varietyDesigners in

Hungary Part V: Mikls Pazicski

and his label

PAZICSKI

Aside street near Krolyi Kertin the centre of Budapestleads to Mikls Pazicskiselegant shop, where visitorswill find clothes in discrete

colours with clean, modern cuts alongsideextravagant handbags, shoes and otheraccessories. The Budapest Times spoke toPazicski about his label, his method ofdesigning and the customers he attracts.

How did you get involved in fashion design?

I was always interested in art and drawing butI never wanted to be an artist far-removedfrom the real world. Applied arts was moremy thing. Thats why I did a preparatorycourse at the Moholy-Nagy University of Artand Design (MOME), after which I applied tostudy there and was accepted. Its difficult tosay exactly why I took up fashion design. Itwas by lucky chance.

Are there any designers who you particularlylook up to?

I could name certain collections of somedesigners that I like but there is no onedesigner of particular importance. Like someother designers I also like clean forms. Theycertainly influence me and their creationshave an effect on my work to some extent,but I couldnt and would never copy anybodyelses work. My ideas always result in my ownnew creations.

How would you describe your style?

My style essentially revolves around shapesand changing the environment around thebody but I am always concerned to makewearable and comfortable clothes for mycustomers. Fashion should be interesting butalways keep its feet on the ground. That tiesmy hands somewhat when Im designing butit means that small, subtle details becomemore important. I think design shouldnt beegoistic.The harmony of the silhouette and ofthe whole piece of clothing is important. Itshould never look like a costume. Withwomens fashion there are more possibilities.

How do you create new pieces?

There are some fixed elements, such asvarious technologies that I use again andagain, but I always try to come up with newtechniques and to bring variety to my clothes.Because I play around with materials andexperiment with them on a dressmakers

dummy, rather than designing on paper, oftenincredible ideas result in addition to the mainitem that I am designing. To create forms likemine on paper requires many years of expe-rience in order to know how the materialreacts, where it will fold and how it will look asan end product. I am not at that stage yet.

So does that mean that you dont usepatterns?

In addition to that kind of creative experi-menting I have a very rational, exact tech-nique. I create a simplified pattern from whatI have created on the dummy. The design,however, is just one side of it. The executionis just as important. It must be virtuallyperfect. I wont sell any item of clothing thathas not been perfectly cut and sewn.

What kind of materials and colours do youuse?

In terms of materials I tend to stick to wovenmaterials. I dont normally use knitted mate-rials but we do use wool occasionally.Otherwise I like working with silk and some-times rayon but my preference is for naturalfibres. Jersey is not my thing although itwould be easier to work with because itstretches. Because I use stiffer materials mypieces need to be individually fitted to thecustomer. However, most of my customerslike that because then the piece reallybecomes theirs. The colours that I use differgreatly in each new collection.This winter, forexample, I had a preference for dark colourssuch as black, dark blue and dark grey. Now,

however, I am making clothes in lightershades again.

When did the shop open and who are yourcustomers?

The shop opened about two and a half yearsago. I think the location is good although ashop on Andrssy t would be ideal naturally(laughs). Customers who like my style tend tobe somewhat older. I would say women agedover 25 shop here mostly. By that stage theycan afford it because of course my one-offpieces are more expensive than the clothessold in the fashion chains. Younger womenare looking for something different. Aroundhalf of my customers are foreigners. Mydesigns are particularly popular with Frenchand Swedish people. Interestingly foreignerswho come in almost always buy something.

You mentioned one-off pieces. Does thatmean that you dont make additional piecesbased on the same pattern?

No, not really. For the collections we alwaysbuy exactly the amount of material that weneed so there is none left over. If a customerfinds that she would like to have the piece inanother material or colour then of course thatisnt a problem.We make it individually for thecustomer. My collections change everyseason and are always different.

You said we. How many colleagues do youhave?

I have two employees and we almost alwayshave an intern here, usually from the univer-sity where I studied or from ModArt.We try tolet them take on as many tasks as possibleand to pass on our knowledge and experi-ence so that they really learn from the intern-ship.

Do your collections have a theme?

Collections are often only given a slogan afterthey have been created. It sums up the pres-entation, the makeup and the hair, and givesthe whole thing an image. I dont tend to usesuch themes. I am much more interested inthe creation of the clothes, their form and thesilhouette they create.

Do you also sell the pieces of other designersin your shop?

Yes. I have given four young, still relativelyunknown designers the possibility to presenttheir clothes and accessories here. Theleather accessories such as belts, shoes andhandbags are made by Rka Vg. Thejewellery is from the Souffle label and mostrecently we have also started selling clothingfrom Es-tu un Ange?.

What does the future hold?

All designers dream of making their breakabroad, perhaps in Paris or London, but younever know if that dream will really come true.A shop in France or Scandinavia would begreat because I think my clothes would suitthe mood and the tastes of the people there.But in France in particular it is very difficult fordesigners to establish themselves and themarket in Hungary is slow.

Ines Gruber

PAZICSKI Budapest

Open Monday to Friday 10am to 6pm andSaturday 10am to 5pm. Closed Sunday.Henszlmann Imre utca 3.Tel-: +36 1 411-06 31/32www.pazicski.hu

21 MARCH 27 MARCH 2011 THE BUDAPEST TIMES

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Mikls Pazicski studied at Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design (MOME) between2000 and 2005. In 2006 he established his own label and has run his shop in the citycentre since 2008. His clothes are sold in Vienna, Stockholm, Malm, Paris and Mariboras well as Hungary. Pazicski has participated in several fashion shows and exhibitionsboth in Hungary and abroad.

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