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Hf: DIE MOTTE JEWELRY is “created by two souls”, how would you describe the relationship between you and your friend Astrid? How did you meet each other?

Astrid: I think we found each other at the right moment, we have connected by intuition and from there on we learn lots from our different ways of living. It is very nourishing and always very interesting. It’s that kind of relationship you know is going to grow when you meet for the first time. We met at Goldsmithing school two years ago, and we still have some courses together nowadays combining it with our project.

Anel: While studying together I saw how Astrid works, what taste does she have, proportion harmony and what approach she uses in the concept developing of the pieces, it felt familiar. We had many assignments, and since the access to the workshop is limited we were up to the head with them. But she managed to make the earrings for that night’s party meanwhile she was expecting a very complex shape structure in the acid which we use every time after soldering. I loved herthe attitude. What most stroke me is how she understood me, when I was presenting my projects. As much as in spiritual level, I just came from the long distance trail back then and only in her at that moment I saw the resonance of my inside thoughts/analysis.

Hf: How do you guys work together? How do you separate the works between you and Astrid? Or can your designs be separated at all?

Anel: The creative works are always together, but we have more administrative and production tasks, which we do divide according to effectiveness/comfortability. But the concept developing, design, presentation planning is all a synergy. We brainstorm see what is it we want to tell, what we keep inside. We develop each other thoughts and then play with it for many days. Then the pieces come naturally, some in mind, some while drawing and other when experimenting directly with the material. The critical eye of each one is also important.

Hf: After moving to Barcelona for almost 8 years, what are some of the best moments here?

Anel: Astrid was born here, even though her parents come from quite far away, so she is basically a local. I came to Barcelona to study; oh it feels like in the other life now. Best moments..… that is the complicated question, as there are so many first or conscious experiences lived here. But the vivid I would say how we train at the beach and then jump in water, especially in winter. But basically it’s all about people… they changed me, they opened me and taught how to find me, love myself and have fun.

Hf: There are many positive messages behind each design, why do you think women need these kinds of messages? Are women often forgetful for their own emotional needs?

Anel: Those messages are for ourselves, we want to keep reminding what we learn about life. It’s explained through femininity because we are women, but men can also listen to us and understand. I think emotions are about persons, no matter the gender or sexual behavior, so all of us can have emotional needs and our ways to express them.

Hf: Tell us more about your logo. What is it?

Anel: It’s a moth, (die motte is the moth in German) that insect that gets into your wardrobe and eats your finest clothes, your material possessions. But it’s also a night’s butterfly grown from the other state (cocoon), so it’s also a process of finding yourself. Specifically, it’s a Moon Moth. The moon is very iconographic to femininity.
In our logo we represent the strength of our own femininity through work. The jewelry loses the merely aesthetic or class value to idea; it is our common thread of the process of vital connection with ourselv es.

Hf: Speaking of FACE FIGURE, what is the inspiration behind your line?

Anel: It came by experimenting with expressions, faces and bodies through various projects. We studied the works of Giacometti, he creates figures from memory, they are meant to transmit sensations, much larger in size, but taken out all unnecessary, only what is left after you remember the person, not how he actually looks like. to work with the minimum, play with what is left. Empty places. Memory. Emotions.

Hf: Your models always pose with fruits (pomegranates) and sculpture. Are there any hidden messages behind each scene?

Anel: The pomegranate is one of the most symbolical fruits, the female of fruits, symbol of abundance. It represents the social harmony with its many grains that radiate the light. Also it’s a symbol of fertility. Many myths, traditions and poems were dedicated to it. (Myth of Persephone, texts of Cantar de los cantares, Sagradas Escrituras 1569 and Federico García Lorca “Canción Oriental” for example)

Federico García Lorca “Canción Oriental”
Es la granada olorosa un cielo cristalizado.
(Cada grano es una estrella, cada velo es un ocaso.)
Cielo seco y comprimido por la garra de los años.
La granada es como un seno
viejo y apergaminado,
cuyo pezón se hizo estrella
para iluminar el campo.
Es colmena diminuta

con panal ensangrentado,
pues con bocas de mujeres
sus abejas la formaron.

Por eso al estallar, ríe

con púrpuras de mil labios…
La granada es corazón

que late sobre el sembrado,
un corazón desdeñoso

donde no pican los pájaros,
un corazón que por fuera

es duro como el humano,
pero da al que lo traspasa
olor y sangre de mayo.

La granada es el tesoro

del viejo gnomo del prado,
el que habló con niña Rosa
en el bosque solitario.

Aquel de la blanca barba
y del traje colorado.

Es el tesoro que aun guardan
las verdes hojas del árbol.
Arca de piedras preciosas

en entraña de oro vago.

…

La granada es la prehistoria
de la sangre que llevamos,

la idea de sangre, encerrada
en glóbulo duro y agrio,

que tiene una vaga forma

de corazón y de cráneo.

¡Oh granada abierta!, que eres
una llama sobre el árbol,
hermana en carne de Venus,
risa del huerto oreado.

Te cercan las mariposas
creyéndote sol parado,

y por miedo de quemarse
huyen de ti los gusanos.
Porque eres luz de la vida,
hembra de las frutas. Claro
lucero de la floresta

del arroyo enamorado.

¡Quién fuera como tú, fruta,
todo pasión sobre el campo!

Quick Questions

Favorite jewelry designers? Otto Künzli and Akiko Kurihara. I love the concept and the sense of humour. In general I like when the piece makes you think or feel something. Celine strikes me with its elegance. Always.

Favourite materials used in designs?  We start designs drawing, and sculpting in wax, then we are used to work with silver to have the first prototypes. However gold is very pleasant to work with, but we try to maintain accessible to the people who in its majority is emerging professional. The important thing is the design and message.

How do you maintain your passion in design? It grows from the inside, I don’t think I should maintain something that I compare to the act of walking with curiosity into the forest.