Mikolaj Żurek on doing fashion in Poland

What’s behind you? Is that a pile of blankets?

This is for my next collection they’re blankets made for the Polish army during World War II but they didn’t end up being used so they are very cheap here in Poland. I found some sellers who had huge warehouses with these blankets stacked on top of each other. They are very good quality, somehow they are over 50 years old and still perfectly intact and colourful.

If it was for the military how come it is so joyful? There are so many colours and patterns… 

Yes exactly, I spoke to the man that sold them. They were also made in grey, used on the battlefields. The colourful ones I’ve been buying were used in military hospitals to cheer up the soldiers. What’s weird is that the grey ones are harder to get and more expensive, people buy them for role-playing or films.

You graduated recently, what was your experience of fashion school like?

I graduated two months ago, from the International School of Design in Poland. I’m 20, so when I finished high school, there were a lot of emotions behind choosing to study something creative. I went to a very mathematical and scientific school, so when I decided I wanted to do fashion I didn’t even have a portfolio. I was lucky that I didn’t need a portfolio to get into the school I went to, but it was only a two-year course and then Covid happened a few months into my first year, so I basically did everything online.

How was that? 

It was tough!

“I bought mats to cut on and all the tools and I would really just sit every day, work on my patterns and make toiles. I bought my first sewing machine during my first year of school and my first encounter with sewing was back then. ” – Mikolaj Żurek

Really? Okay, you know most people are trying to be so positive about it, trying to say what they’ve gained from it but you’re being very honest.

Yeah, I don’t want to insult my school or teachers but it was just really hard to learn things like construction, sewing and so on just through online courses.

So how were they teaching? Especially someone like you who came from a mathematical background. You had no idea how to construct a garment right? 

I really got into the construction side of things. I bought mats to cut on and all the tools and I would really just sit every day, work on my patterns and make toiles. From that everything just started to grow, I bought my first sewing machine during my first year of school and my first encounter with sewing was back then.

So, what made you want to go into fashion? 

I live in Warsaw now but I grew up in Bielsko-Biała, a city in south Poland with mountains. It’s beautiful but no one in my circle of friends did fashion, I was the only person who was interested in it. The answer is I don’t know. I finished high school and I just decided I didn’t want to do maths or go and do any more education in that field. I decided that this is what I wanted to do, what I want to pursue and somehow it became a fantastic experience.

Do you regret any of those decisions?

No, I love it, the only thing I regret is not thinking about my future earlier so I wasn’t able to build my portfolio.

But you’re only 20! 

Yeah, I know, but right after finishing high school I had to make a decision and if I’d started thinking about it a bit earlier then maybe I would have gotten into a better school and had more time to develop my work.

Where would you have gone if you knew earlier? 

I would have applied somewhere outside of Poland, I don’t know how that would have gone but at least I would have known that I tried. At that point, I had no other choice but to stay and learn here.

“All of my inspiration is from my culture, the materials are very Polish.” – Mikolaj Żurek

The more original your path the more original the work. 

I myself don’t really know many other people doing fashion in Poland.

How much are you inspired by your environment? 

A lot I think, my whole graduate collection was inspired by Poland really. All of my inspiration is from my culture, the materials are very Polish. I used these double-warp textiles and blankets which were very popular here back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, there was a lot of women in northern Poland making them, there was a whole region of people buying and selling them, it just became a national thing. Everyone wanted one so they started mass producing, every house would have them draped on the sofa or on your table but a couple of years later they went out of style. Everyone got rid of them and are now starting to just collect dust in peoples’ closets and get thrown away. When I found them I wanted to make something new out of them.

Would you say that folklore is a big thing for you? 

Yeah, definitely. Poland is very traditional especially now with the current government, it can be tough.

In what sense? 

Doing fashion in Poland is very unusual. A lot of people just associate fashion with the television and the celebrity lifestyle, nobody can see how fashion can be something meaningful.

Do they think fashion is superficial? 

Yeah, exactly. If you go shop at second-hand stores and dress weirdly then people just think you are strange and you’re just dressing differently for attention.

“Everything in my collection is second hand. It was time-consuming and required a lot of compromise in order for it to work.” – Mikolaj Żurek

Is your message more aligned with sustainability? 

Yes. Everything in my graduate collection is second hand. I first came across these materials when I was in my first year of school, and I was just looking for cheap fabrics to make my first pieces without wasting money. I then wanted to use them for something bigger and I started collecting. It took me about a year and a half to get everything because there were hundreds of different patterns and styles. I started with three specific ones and I wanted the collection to be cohesive so I took the patterns I had as a foundation and searched for similar ones. It was really hard. I started to use this website which is like the Polish version of eBay. I checked it every day for a year going through it trying to find one blanket a week and it took so so long.

What about people donating? 

It was very fun, all the production was originally in a certain region of Poland, they all came from one part of Poland so I added myself to all the little small local Facebook groups. It was very fun, a lot of people were like “Oh why do you want this it’s so bad and old!” They didn’t quite understand my intentions and some people were treating it like treasure. They wouldn’t want to sell it to me because it was given to them by their grandparents and it was their prized possession. Others would just be like “Take it, I’m going to throw it out anyway.” It was a combination of a few different worlds really. Everything came from different people, there wasn’t just one place I could get them all from at once. It took a long time and it was very hard because I would have a design ready to make and would want it to be a certain colour but I was only able to find a blanket in a different colour, or it would arrive in bad condition and I couldn’t use it, or it was too small to use… It was time-consuming and required a lot of compromise in order for it to work.

“I don’t want drawings to influence the outcome of the collection, I never want to limit myself.” – Mikolaj Żurek

Would you say that making these compromises turned out to be for the best? 

I think so. It was a nice creative process. I would make things differently if I had the choice, but it adds a nice touch to the whole thing, having to swap materials out. I started the collection backwords, sourcing the materials first. I knew that the fabric was very stiff and hard so I wanted to make exaggerated structural silhouettes. I knew that the material would help with that. I didn’t draw anything, still, to this day I don’t draw the looks I want to make. I would just do the construction and the patterns and then I would go from there. Everything would just come together step by step like that. I don’t want drawings to influence the outcome of the collection, I never want to limit myself. If you draw something and then the actual construction turns out differently you’d go back and remake it so I just decided I wanted to work only from the patterns.

I’m curious, so you had to learn everything from scratch knowing nothing, and now you’re telling me that pattern-making is your starting point. So would you say that’s something you specialise in as a designer? 

I mean, I guess you can do a lot of stuff without having a basic knowledge of pattern-making but I think it really helps. It helped me and I love it. I love the aspect of making something come to life starting from a block of paper and then ending as a garment. To me, pattern-making is the best part of the process.

Do you work with imagery and 2D formats when you do your initial research? Or do you really only work 3D?

It’s not like I just sit down and make a pattern that I have in my head. It takes a lot of planning. I did a lot of research on Polish folk costumes. I bought atlases from different parts of the country and I had a Polish traditional jacket that highlanders used to wear. I took patterns from that. I added a mixture of my other inspiration which were 1980’s vases and glassware from the Polish People’s Republic, a period in Polish history. I took glassware designs and shapes and used them for the silhouettes of the clothes. Some of the looks are just collages of these glass structures. I used collage a lot in the process. I bought old magazines from Germany and Finland and cut them up. I didn’t have a fashion background so I didn’t know where to start.

Why was the collection called ‘Invocation’?

It’s very Polish. We have a book that everyone reads at school also called Invocation. It’s a big boring book, everyone hates it but I love the meaning of the word.

What’s next for you? 

I just won a contest a few days ago, that’s why I’m so cheerful. It’s one of the biggest ones in Poland.  I won 30,000 złoty, which is around £5000.

“I wanted to find a nice job ideally outside of Poland but I realised that it’s very hard for me, especially with unpaid internships. Finding someone to pay for your work is even harder, in Poland there aren’t many opportunities for that. ” – Mikolaj Żurek

What are you going to do with the money? 

For the past few months, since I released my collection, I didn’t really do anything. I would just look for opportunities to promote my work. I wasn’t really focused on the next collection. Now that I have some financial stability I will probably start to focus more on creating again. I’d love to produce some more limited editions of the clothes as I have some leftover materials. I am starting an internship at Reserved, it’s a big fashion brand in Poland. I want to get more of an understanding of how the industry works in a more commercial sense.

Were your parents supportive of your choice to study fashion? 

They’ve always been supportive, but it was quite a surprise for them. When I was in high school I didn’t really show any interest in fashion, other than just dressing weirdly. They were happy that I was happy. After winning the contest they’re realising that it’s something real and that I can do this, and I hope I can, I don’t really know what will come next. I wanted to find a nice job ideally outside of Poland but I realised that it’s very hard for me, especially with unpaid internships. Finding someone to pay for your work is even harder, in Poland there aren’t many opportunities for that.

Maybe it’s time for you to move…

Yeah, I don’t know where!

London? 

If I move and I don’t find a job then I am just fucked.

But all of us have jobs which we do just for the money, to meet people and all that. 

It’s a plan for sure, but I don’t know if I can pursue that right now. I also have my girlfriend who lives with me in Warsaw, and she’s studying, and I also have a dog… I feel like I’m 30 years old right now, just living a stable life enjoying my peace and quiet. I’m still too scared to do that. I think I’ll stay here for another year to make the next collection, and during that time I’ll try to merge into a more international scene and market, maybe the next collection will be somewhere else.

“All I really have is Instagram and it’s really hard to base your future around an app that sometimes works and sometimes you don’t get any recognition… ” – Mikolaj Żurek

Do you have any international response from the first collection?

A lot of stylists contacted me, and a lot of people liked my work but no work opportunities came from that. All I really have is Instagram and it’s really hard to base your future around an app that sometimes works and sometimes you don’t get any recognition…