SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK ALIEN

Polish artist Karol Mietkiewicz, also creating and known under his brand name Charlie Mintson, verges on the edge of sculpture, design and alien armour with his delicate, fluid and orchid-shaped bodices, face masks and headdresses.
karolmasky_uvodka

“On an abstract level, his flower garden may simply represent the experience of desire in a way that you, as Alice, focus your energy and emotions on trying to attain it.”

WORDS BY THE AUTHOR / I come from Eastern Europe, from a Polish village surrounded by beautiful nature. Nature is the point around which the circle closes in my life – the foundation of the art that I create. It is also a basic creative and ideological element in my life and it helped me to consolidate my goals. It all started in my childhood at the age of eight and it’s been accompanying me until now when the (in the beginning still incomplete) circle has been completed.

I have been inspired by nature to create sculptures and paintings.

I chose art and culture at school and my studies, to do and to love the best in myself. I finished my studies as the best student at my university and, eventually, started designing my own costumes about five years ago. My main techniques are casting previously designed shapes as well as using assemblage, therefore, I am mainly using polymers. Everything is inspired by organic shapes and made by my own bare hands.

Furthermore, I was awarded by and participated in many national and international exhibitions, competitions and collaborations e.g. in Japan, USA, England, Germany, Poland, Switzerland, Norway and more. My art has been part of national/international exhibitions as well as featured in leading magazines e.g. Vogue, Gala, Instyle or Kaltblut.

I want to continue my work until the end of my life to give back to the people at least some of the beauty and inspiration nature has given to me so, eventually, everything can complete its next cycle.

img025 fb
img033 fb
img031 fb
img030 fb
img021_fb
img009 fb
img035 fb
img048 fb
img023 fb
2
1
7
5
10
6a
8

CREDITS 
Photography / Iwona Aleksandrowicz @iwona.aleksandrowicz
Makeup & hair / Namie Nguyen @_namie.makeup_
Models / Maja Mei & Uchenna Jonas @uchi.verse

Style & costumes / Karol Mietkiewicz @charlie_mintson

Did you like it?
Share it with your friends

You may also like

“In video games, nothing interested me more than character creation.” Since Polish fashion designer Maja Bączyńska founded her eponymous label, she's been gracing the world with her sometimes sleek, most of the time maximal and opulent silhouettes. In the interview, Bączyńska sheds light on her playful pieces featuring frilly and sculptural textures, unexpected twists and reference layers, and clever and uncompromising tailoring.
Mikhail Ermakov and Dahlia Kurmanguzhina, the self-titled “digital fetish artist couple”, are relationship goals in more ways than one. In the interview below, the duo talks about the organic mutuality and reciprocity of their creative processes, the touchingly introspective and respectful way of co-creating that was cultivated with immense care, Slavic folklore, and more. Get lost in their shiny, alluring, and squeaky world.
“Complexity isn’t always necessary for impactful design.” Being a Swiss citizen of Vietnamese descent, Duc Siegenthaler has been navigating the ebb and flow of blending in and standing out since childhood. SWARM Mag interviewed the founder and Creative Director of the Siegenthaler label about avoiding reducing modularity to “a gimmick”, constant self-discovery, indulging in play, and more.
Mossy, mouldy, earthy – all these adjectives give you a very rough outline of the garments the Copenhagen-based Solitude Studios craft and sometimes even grow and ferment. Their A/W23 collection, Wood Wide Web, hints at the recently popularised notion of “mycorrhizal internet”, the sprawling matrix of mycelium that connects fungi and various members of the plant kingdom, ferrying nutrients and other kinds of “information”.