REVIA Magazine Issue #11

p o l i s h e n t e r p r e n e r s
Meet
Marek Janus
of Janus Designs
For that land where a crumb of bread
is picked up from the ground, out of
respect. For Heaven's gifts... I am
homesick, Lord! -Famous Polish Poet, Cyprian Kamil Norwid
Marek Janus was born in Wieliczka, a
charming town in Southern Poland,
located within the Krakow Metropolitan
area. In 1993 Marek made his first tourist
visit to the states before emigrating here
permanently with his wife in 2000.
The above quote by renowned 19th Century
Polish Poet, Cyprian Kamil Norwid, ideally
describes Marek’s conflicted feelings of appreciation,
yet apprehension, about starting
a new life in the US. Growing up in Poland,
Marek was accustomed to a very different
political-business structure than exists here
in America. He admits it was very difficult to
mentally acclimate to the social demands of a
new country, especially in the business-sphere.
However, since Marek’s education and professional
background are strongly rooted in the
respectable Kraków, he managed to eventually
carry over from Poland his impressive
work ethic – one he greatly appreciates and
respects.
Moving to the states forced Marek to
re-learn a completely different approach to
understanding jewelry demands in American
society. As a professional jewelry artisan,
Marek strives very hard for his solid work ethic
work to shine through everything he creates.
As a young boy growing up in the 1960’s,
Marek was strongly influenced and fascinated
by American Western movies, as well as by
Japanese film mogul and director, Akira Kurosawa.
By age 9, Marek’s first jewelry creation
was born: a ring he made for his younger
sister, created by molding low-temperature
metals into a ring design. Gradually over time,
Marek began crafting miniature swords, first
carving them out of thick chunks of copper
before chiseling them away to perfect their
final shape.
Originally wanting to become an old
weapon maker, Marek was unable to find a
trade school in Poland specializing in that
subject area, as such are uncommon, but he
has promised himself to one day return to his
beloved passion of weapon crafting. He says,
“My ultimate goal as a jewelry craftsman is to
keep making fine custom jewelry, but also to
try bigger artistic projects in the future, and to
one day open his own gallery.
Marek believes in and appreciates the
wonders of advanced technology in jewelry
making, but he also understands the irreversible
reality that jewelry now loses its story and
individuality because most pieces are created
in a repetitive, mass-produced process that
lacks creativity and thought.
“Jewelry nowadays may be created with
technical perfection, but it also lacks soul and
personality; most pieces are simply blank and
cold pieces of metal.” Marek explains.
Having earned many recognitions for his
jewelry, Marek admits that the joys he sees
when a customer’s eyes light up in response to
a custom-made piece of jewelry is what drives
him to continue doing what he loves. Success
to him means bringing people pleasure
through his passion of jewelry creation, while
utilizing his professional skills to the highest
level. v
janusdesigner.com
18
revia reviamagazine.com #11, 2015