Turning Vienna’s buildings into Accessories

Who can say they don’t know the feeling of earrings hurting after wearing them for a long time and causing the holes in your ears to become continuously bigger. The earrings are simply too heavy but we refuse to take them out, so as not to ruin one’s outfit.

 

“Beauty knows no pain”

 

This is what many of us are led to believe when squeezing into narrow shoes or tight jeans. Even accessories can be uncomfortable, but we continue to wear them for aesthetic purposes. Stefanie Klausegger, founder of jewelry label MyMagpie, did not want to succumb to this and therefore began creating not only delicate, high quality but also comfortable jewelry. Vienna’s Jugendstil (art nouveau) buildings serve as inspiration for her products.

 

 

 

 

Jewelry was never part of the plan

 

While some designers have always wanted to do something creative, Stefanie did not originally specialise in jewelry. She studied Industrial Design at Angewandte Universität Wien. After graduating she worked for well known companies. Due to her work the designer even ended up in Zell am See, where she primarily worked in the automotive industry. Stefanie produced parts of toothbrushes and headphones amongst other things. Throughout her career as an industrial designer she also worked with 3D-printers, this certainly made things easier when starting her own brand.

 

“What can I create and what can I offer with my designs”

 

While on maternity leave with her second child, Stefanie asked herself if starting her own business wouldn’t be easier to handle in the future. Being used to working for a large company with lots of orders the designer had to quickly adjust to being self-employed. When alone with one’s thoughts one starts to realize how much an individual can create and offer people, thus Stefanie’s creative streak began to develop. When starting her own brand Stefanie was able to combine her technical and practical knowledge from her previous job as an industrial designer with her own style. This combination resulted in her own line made using 3D-printers. Stefanie already had the required know-how and experience. The designer describes herself as a very practical person, who likes it when things get done quickly and without complications. These personality traits are reflected in her simple, practical and elegant jewelry. 

 

The name MyMagpie has a deeper meaning than one would originally expect

 

Finding a name for one’s label is often more difficult than finding a name for a client’s brand or product, as one often has high expectations: the name should be in English, it should have a nice ring to it and it should be something special. Stefanie faced the same problem until she remembered a funny story from her early days in Vienna “I hadn’t been in Vienna for long and I was sitting in a pub garden, when a magpie flew over my head and wanted to steal something out of my hair.” That’s when I had the idea to make the magpie stealing my first piece of jewelry my brand’s logo. 

 

Zero waste production process 

 

Even a layman can understand the development of the product from beginning till end quite quickly. However, Stefanie notes that the product does not simply pop out of the 3D-printer, as there is a lot of manual labor and lots of prototypes involved before the final product, which is then ready for series production. Putting the singular pieces together and attaching the fastenings and logos is all done by hand. Finding inspiration is the first step for Stefanie. This is where Viennese Jugendstil buildings come into play: the designer enjoys strolling through Vienna and Jugendstil has always been one of her favorite architectural styles, therefore she decided to make it the foundation of her brand. After this step her ideas are transferred onto paper, before being modeled in 3D. 

Using selective laser sintering the jewelry is manufactured. This printing method melts and moulds polyamide into the respective shapes layer by layer. 

The remaining powder is siphoned off and recycled in the production of the next item. This is a great technique for saving resources and minimizing one’s ecological footprint. The downside is, however, the cost and size of 3D-printers.

 

 

 

 

 

 

What started as a small idea has transformed into a real, emerging and extravagant business. Tourists especially, like the unusual and light jewelry by MyMagpie. Designer Stefanie Klausegger still sees a lot of potential in the future development of her products.

 A teaser for all FashionTouris out there: You will definitely be able to discover Jugendstil architecture from cities other than Vienna in MyMagpie’s jewelry in the future.

 

Upcoming events where you can see MyMagpie jewelry: 

 

Blickfang: 9^th-11^th October 2020

Edelstoff: 17^th-18^th October 2020

Fesch‘markt Wien: 13^th-15^th November 2020

 

Adresse: Zollergasse 28, 1070 Wien

Link zur Website: https://www.mymagpie.at

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mymagpievienna/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MyMagpieVienna/

 

An article from: Tabea-Marie Widmann