We were lucky to catch up with Alexandra Mot recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alexandra, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?

It’s very funny to me that I’m so in love with jewelry making, because when I was younger I never envisioned myself in anything else than clothes. But people change, grow up and take interests in unexpected things, so did I. I can thank Henry Duarte for showing me the beauty of handmade jewelry.

The process of handmade jewelry goes like this: first you carve out your design out of wax, that you manipulate with a burning hot wax pen, use files and heat for smoothing, then make a mold out of the original, and finally casting it out of metal.

My learning started with connecting little broken parts of Henry’s previous wax pieces, that would’ve been discarded by most people. We find beauty in usually discarded things, because it feels healing in a way to use something broken or unwanted and give it a new purpose. We made 60’s style, brutalist jewelry pendants out of these which I immensely enjoyed. I became even more excited to move onto rings: my favorite ring is the one made out of a broken rib cage, which I added the back piece and bubbles to.

He helped me get my own tools, and although I’m working with a limited budget and couldn’t afford everything, I got the most important ones.
My first attempt started at the kitchen table,as I wanted to cut out a part of this blue wax sheet with something, it came to me: I forgot to buy a little saw made for wax carving. But this couldn’t stop me, right? So I used a kitchen knife I found, which took me a while to cut through the hard wax with, but nevertheless, I was just laughing through these little inconveniences.
Then I started using my drilling tool, I made the mistake of using the thickest sheet, therefore I was drilling away for at least half an hour. My business partner helped me drilling too. And all of it was making my heart so happy and excited.
After I was done, I held up my little on-the-go Max Wax pen, and tried it on the wax. It was so hot, it made a flickering light on top of it! I was very suprised, but continued anyway. I drew a little star on top, used flour to see the carved line. I used the files to smooth it out and I was done with this experiment.
Although my first ever piece is very small, it holds a great story, and it means a lot to me. When I’ll look back at it in the future, I’ll see where I came from and remind me of this time of my life.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I’m a 21 year old Hungarian designer, I moved to LA to learn about fashion design and start my own brand. I’ve been living here with my boyfriend for a year now and I go to Santa Monica Community College.

I mostly like creating gothic and punk inspired art and clothing, because of my love for these music scenes.
My biggest challenge was coming here, asking for financial help and obtaining a visa. Now I feel eager to do anything it takes to achieve my dreams.

I enjoy studying at SMC, because the school’s fashion department is very helpful and passionate, it provides great resources for students and I started my internship with its help.
I’m interning for Henry Duarte, who is famous for working with some of the biggest rock legends, such as Robert Plant, Bob Dylan and Chris Cornell. He prides himself in knowing the ins and outs of dark psychedelia, 60’s menswear clothing, jewelry, hats and shoes.
I’m very grateful to learn from him and have an insight to the secrets of the industry.

I love creating crochet pieces, and I’m getting ready to launch my jewelry business with my business partner and friend in the future, eventually introducing clothes as well.

What sets me apart from others is that I had to work very hard to get to LA and to study at this college, what was granted to others I had to fight for, and it made me stronger.
I’m proud to represent a different point of view which stems from my Hungarian heritage.
There’s nothing in my book that’s “impossible” and there has to be a solution for everything. As I like to say, designers create problems for themselves that they have to solve again and again, improving themselves in the process.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

The very first time I had be resilient was when I was still in highschool and deciding on a career. In Hungary, most people don’t really care about supporting artists, especially fashion designers, and their fashion scene is very bland. So I had to convince my parents that I really want to do this and that I have to find a city where I can learn from the best and have an audience to sell my products to. A lot of Hungarians think dreams are for 5 year olds, something that you have to give up, just to have an office job. I was very much against that idea, I was ready to graduate highschool and leave my country in hopes of a better fashion career.

I met my boyfriend in highschool and we decided to come to LA. But applying for colleges and getting the student visa is harder than you’d think.
We were writing emails late at night to officials because of the 9 hour time zone difference. It was challenging to decide on colleges, when you have so little information on them from a small country. The sky-high tuition fees for our economy, and making it almost impossible for international students ti apply for scholarships and FAFSA. We experienced very low, hopeless points in life. The first college I got accepted to was way out of my budget. My parents would’ve went into debt, so I turned down the offer and I was devastated. It took me a long time to find the right college, that is affordable, that’s why I went to the community college in Santa Monica. And still then, with all fees and language certificates, it was around a $1000 before even getting accepted. And then another chunk of money to buy the plane ticket. All while the visa interview happened 2 weeks before my flight in August 2022. It took me 2 years in all to get here.
It was a huge financial and emotional risk, that took a toll on us and our parents too, but we pushed through it and made it here with my boyfriend.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

My biggest mission in my career is to show the world the beauty and importance of handmade fashion. Be it clothes, jewelry or accessories, it enamores me when someone carefully spent a lot of time creating it. In our world of fast fashion, mass production, I see the rise of throw-away culture, even in our personal relationships. Most don’t try to repair, but throw things away thinking that nothing has value anymore. Which I think is a shame for society but obviously for fashion too.
As I see the rise of AI art, that blatantly steals others work, and ChatGPT slowly taking away tasks and jobs, I feel disappointed and angry. I think we need to go back to our roots, when we used our imagination and made everything by ourselves.
I want to provide value through making my products by hand, because it’s personal and important to others who go against this fast paced, low quality-overpriced overconsumption. I hope I can reach a crowd that prefers slow-fashion and mindful consumption.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @babybatblossom