We were lucky to catch up with Vasili Malkotsis recently and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Vasili thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. What’s something crazy on unexpected that’s happened to you or your business

Quite literally, my back is my business story. I was a pro athlete (BMX bike rider) for much of my teen years and early twenties. When I was 18 I was in an accident unrelated to my sport that led to emergency surgery on my spine. I was able to ride for only a few years afterward until that injury forced me to resign and ultimately pivot my life’s trajectory. I was lost; trying all sorts of different artistic and entrepreneurial things for about 4 years before I realized jewelry-making could be a medium of my personal expression. My identity was always tethered to BMX, so it was hard to let go of the dream of being a pro rider. It was very traumatic, and that is why my eponymous jewelry collection is comprised of pieces which speak to such adversity. Using my jewelry label I’ve delved into several concepts to express myself: exploring the geometries of Mediterranean patterns, weaving gold wire into continuous chains as my ancient Greek ancestors did, and honoring motifs from more recent but overlooked art forms like Old School Black tattooing. American Traditional tattoos have long served their purpose for equivocating hardship, nonconformity, and perseverance. It was always interesting to me that chain links depicted in those sort of tattoos had not been realized in metal, let alone precious metals as jewelry. My call to action has been making American Traditional tattoo depictions of chain with their symmetrical, threateningly sharp details, into real jewelry that will last for eternity as originally sculpted.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

How I got into jewelry was not a linear progression, but it went something like this: Immediately after losing the option of being a BMX rider my first impulse was to become an entrepreneur with medical marijuana. Without going into too much detail, that choice led me to apprentice with a glass artist who specializes in making pipes/bongs, and it also led me to endeavor on a start-up business based on an idea I patented for a fancy vaporizer. Frankly I wasn’t cut out for the bureaucracy of medical cannabis, and my apprentice days were short-lived. The device I poured my all into incorporating a business around ultimately required immensely more resources than I could afford or find funding for. (Fun fact: versions of that device are now sold all over the country, and the market cap is in the billions)

Taking things into consideration as an economics major, I decided the most comprehensive type of business would be one in which natural resources are bought, manipulated with skill to add value, then sold for a markup. I also had a sinking feeling that perhaps I’d have been happier attending art school than as a calculus-statistics pencil pusher. Even if I landed the best case scenario job for my major, I’d likely still have longed to be in the arts instead. Imagining what I might even spend money on if a hedge fund manager decided I deserved one of those flashy salaries, I found myself thinking about real estate, cars, fashion, and the most obvious indication of success to me: jewelry. Around this time in my life, right around the time I turned 21, I realized I wanted to at least start to learn how to make jewelry from scratch.

I knew in my last year of college that I wanted to be a business owner in the jewelry industry, so the first real job I took after graduation was at a jewelry machinery distribution business. There I was able to build on my interest by developing skills on all the machinery inputs within jewelry manufacturing. At first I was hired as a 3D printer specialist, which was a great role for me because the vaporizer device I had toiled with for years actually led me to become quite adept at 3D modeling with CAD/computer assisted design. By the time I quit (to pursue entrepreneurship full time) I had been promoted to Account Manager – effectively communicating their portfolio of thousands of tools, equipment, and consumables to sell to jewelers worldwide. I was dying to be on the other side and actually making stuff myself.

In order to break out on my own, I set out to solve the problem of Original-Engineering Manufacture for small scale clients seeking to merchandise with sterling silver. There exists a prohibitively high minimum-order-quantity for most overseas factories that dissuades many businesses from offering “real” jewelry. That’s why there is so much cheap stainless steel, tin, pewter, brass etc… junk available or practically given away. My passion is for the high arts so it’s never a race to the bottom in terms of quality nor price, but I am always competitive with my B2B clientele.

The main thing I want potential clients/fans to know about Vasili Atelier is that I will never water down an idea to better commercialize it. Too often in the mainstream jewelry market do we see regurgitations of the same handful of chain styles, the same sequence of astrological charms, the same hoops, the same everything…. All Vasili pieces are thoughtfully designed to stand on their own. Each concept is rooted in an actual part of my story telling, but the authenticity of blood, sweat, and tears is found in the hours of meticulous handwork I spend at my workbench daily. I am the sole producer of this entire jewelry brand. True to my BMX bike riding form, I still do all my own stunts.

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I feel obligated to double-down on the origin story laid out in the previous questions, because having to pivot from BMX to literally anything else seemed impossible for me. It was agonizing both physically and mentally to have sustained an injury that would force me to part ways with my identity as a BMX rider. I lost not only myself but my community/ sense of belonging, and if it weren’t for the art form of studio jewelry I don’t know that I’d have found myself even by now. Wandering the Earth searching for purpose brought me to some seriously dark, low places.

Reflecting on the past from the comfort of my art studio now, I am eternally grateful for this art form of wearable sculpture, and for the fact that I’m innately interested in it and continue to find inspiration in precious metals. It actually makes sense to me now, after almost 7 years of being a jewelry professional, why I had pivoted to jewelry: I need to express myself and in order to do that I need others to express themselves. It’s only through common ground that we as people are able to communicate. So with all the emotion that filled me as a result of the need to pivot in life, I found that it was impossible to just speak and use words to get the feeling across. Everyone on Earth has their own adversities they deal with, overcome or succumb to. I suppose if I can help someone express themselves in a way that I would express myself, by way of wearing a particular jewelry design, then I have succeeded in telling my story.

Can you share a story from your journey that illustrates your resilience?

While Vasili Atelier does provide custom jewelry services, I sincerely beg your pardon that I drive this point home with my eponymous line of originally engineered pieces: Vasili jewelry IS resilience. The idea of persisting despite the odds, despite the facts piled against you, the idea of carrying on despite the fact that everything you used to ‘carry on’ for are gone. Absurdity. There are still days that I wonder how or why anyone in their right mind would continue to live in a world in which our species is so clearly in decline. The economics of American life are glaringly insolvent and very little about our current-events landscape makes sense. I was recently speaking to an artist who acknowledged that we who create for a living are conveniently positioned to have such a dismal world view. They went on to confirm that when your output : demand ratio as an artist decides your worthiness as a member of society, it’s easy to sink. Mental health is (obviously) something I struggle with and am in counseling for, but nothing is guaranteed. For me to illustrate my own resilience seems egotistical or narcissistic or both. The fact that I continue to show up to my studio every day despite would-be clients ghosting me after alluding to placing an order, after being ignored by magazines, Hollywood costume directors, jewelry curators who disregard my requests for consideration in their stores, despite having had dozens of celebrities wear my jewelry work but none of them ever acknowledged me or even tag me on instagram. I still show up and I am still developing new pieces to express myself. Is that the resilience you are asking about?

Contact Info:

• Website: www.VASILI.nyc
• Instagram: @vasilinyc
• Other: tiktok @vasili.nyc