Designer
The basic building block of Martina Strouhalová's work is her thorough knowledge of costume jewelry techniques and her many years of experience in the field of jewelry and the costume jewelry industry.
„A woman should always look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man and work like a horse.”
Carly B. Simonová
She completed her studies in the creation and sampling of costume jewelry at the Applied Arts and Costume Jewelry Secondary School in Jablonec in 1993. In 2014, she completed her bachelor's degree in the field of industrial design at the Tomáš Baťa University in Zlín. Over time, she gradually created her own opinions of jewelry and costume jewelry during her work as a goldsmith and a sampler and in recent years she has presented her work under her own MRS.CLOVE brand.
She has cooperated with many artistic institutions, costume jewelry companies and other creative artists on various projects which range from small pieces of jewelry through to expressive models at fashion shows, while she also sometimes dabbles in interior design.
She likes to work with classical, but less traditional technologies and procedures when she makes her technically oriented works. Her inspiration is often simply the basic material from which the finished product is to be made. She fell in love with beads, seed beads and stones during her studies at secondary school, but it is only in recent years that she has dedicated herself to them in full.
She has always been supported by her family and her mother taught her how to sew and knit in her childhood and still advises her on how to use these techniques. Her father and brother also assist her in lathing and milling work whenever she has a more complex technical solution to complete.
She has completed a number of successful projects, especially with Preciosa Crystal Components and Preciosa Ornela, and she has also cooperated with the Museum of Glass and Costume Jewellery, where you can see several of her works in the permanent exhibition. She also actively participates at various exhibitions and presentations where she presents her original jewelry collections.
She was also involved in passing on her knowledge and attitudes to the upcoming generation of artists for several years, when she taught in the fields of jewelry and costume jewelry as a workshop teacher at secondary schools in Jablonec and Železný Brod. It frequently occurs, however, that workmanship and routine can limit one's courage to exceed the established production procedures and creative forms from a certain point of view. In her case, however, there has been emancipation, release and playfulness. In this respect, her later studies in Zlín were absolutely crucial. It is no easy task to find the courage, time and strength to undertake further study after many years of work experience often spent reproducing craft designs. To mature, surpass yourself, surprise yourself and achieve independence. Martina has managed to achieve all of this.
