With its clean and strong looks, Trine Tuxen's jewelry design adds a fancy edge to any outfit. Rather than dictate the clothes of the wearer, the autodidact Copenhagen-based designer aims for her minimalistic jewelry to be versatile and enjoys seeing her pieces worn with a diverse range of styles.
The endless possibilities her design provides have not gone unnoticed – Tuxen has already hit the runway, designing jewelry for shows at both Copenhagen – and London Fashion Week. She speaks to us about her career, her artistic work and reveals a bit about her upcoming collaboration with the Danish designer Anne Sofie Madsen.
In what words would you describe your design?
My design is minimalistic, simple and pure, but still with a raw finish that gives every piece an edge. I always work with the essence of letting one element stand out.
What do you feel your jewelry has to offer an outfit?
A strong and clean look. The idea with my design is that you can combine it the way you want. Wear one style on its own and it will stand out, or wear several and it will be a statement of how you want to look.
What differentiates your particular design from other brands?
I will say that my jewelry isn’t as cute/feminine as the look you often associate with women’s jewelry. I keep it is as simple as possible, but pay a lot of attention to the complete look.
I read that you are autodidact in the field. Is it a choice to avoid schooling, and how have you taught yourself?
It hasn’t been a radical choice for me to choose the autodidact way. For some reason the quote “learning by doing” simply worked out best for me. I’ve actually never educated myself within any of the fields that I’ve dedicated myself to. Not to say that schooling isn’t a great way to learn, but I’m a person with passions, and if they are strong enough, I’ll simply go with it, and do everything I can to pursue that passion and my dream. In this case, I’ve been taking courses for several years to make sure that I learned the craft of making good quality jewelry. I first started to give my jewelry away as presents for friends and family, and out of nowhere grew a big interest among people. Thus I decided to make my own brand.
How has your career developed since you first came into the business?
From sitting soldering in my living room window 1 ½ year ago, to today where I have a concrete workspace, a PR agent and sales agent all located in Copenhagen, Denmark, I feel that I’ve accomplished a lot. I’m very proud of the work that I’ve done so far and I like the refined feeling it gives me to live out my dream.
What do you find to be the greatest challenges of your profession?
There are many challenges within the work that I do. I never knew how tough it is being self employed. Building up a work strategy, as well as being my own accountant, creating the visual look for my brand and continuing developing new styles are a big task. Being a small brand gives difficulties in competing with bigger firms that often has different and bigger kinds of resources.
Is there any specific style of clothing you most like to see your items worn with?
Not at all! I love to see my jewelry worn by as many different women as possible; it gives me a clear sign that I’ve designed something with the possibility to fulfill an outfit, a feeling or an expression to a greater audience. That makes me very satisfied.
Would you say that your creative process is spontaneous or structured? Are you the sort of person who carries a notebook around for sudden ideas, or do you usually put time aside to contemplate your next piece?
I would say both! It’s not often I walk around with my notebook, but my camera on my phone is used daily! I get most of my inspiration from forms and figures in the architectural perspective. From those I make drawings, to develop a shape and turn it into a piece of jewelry. There’s still a long way from drawing to an actual physical piece, since metal isn’t the same as pen on paper! Other times I would just sit with my material and try out different solderings and most often the best result happens from a mistake!
You've been collaborating with other designers, making jewelry for their runway shows. If you could work with any designer in the world, who would you choose and why?
That’s tough! There are many designers I admire for their creative mind, their belief in themselves, and their strong visual look. To mention a few of my absolute favorites: Chloé, Céline and Stella McCartney.
How does working with others influence your creative process and the outcome of it?
It’s fun and challenging to do collaborations. In my case I need to enter another person’s universe, and put myself aside for a moment. Saying that, I always want to be true to my own style and universe, so I tend to remove 50-70 % of the first draft.
Can you reveal a bit about your upcoming project?
I am going to work with Danish designer Anne Sofie Madsen during Copenhagen Fashion week this January. We both enjoyed the collaboration in SS14 so we want to repeat that success. Anne Sofie is a very honest and brave designer and her courage has a big impact on me. My own collection SS14 is revealed in January/February 2014, a collection that’s based on a single object combined with stones and colours inspired by a journey to India. I think the ss14 collection has a very personal outcome, since I was spending a lot of alone time in India while designing and developing it.
