chic jewels
The Doctor
Is IN
Designer Michaela Frey launched FREYWILLE in Vienna in 1951. But it took Dr. Fredrich Wille to make the jewelry line an international smash. The Daily got the RX on his success and why he considers Berlin such an important market. BY EDDIE ROCHE
What kind of doctor are you? In Austria, if you study law and pass the exams you earn the title. It is now common in Austria to hide your academic title, but I have been around for so many years that the title has stuck with me. How did you end up running the show at FREYWILLE? I studied law and then became a chartered accountant and I worked in that field for about eight years. A friend of mine, Michaela Frey, who was the original founder of the company, requested my assistance. She was searching for someone to run the operations. As I was in the process of starting up my own company, I considered Michaela’s offer for several months. Since I was not fully prepared to build my own company yet, I offered to help for a short period until she found a permanent CEO. As time passed, Michaela convinced me to stay and my excitement grew because of the international component. During the seventies, the prospect of working globally was very rare in Austria, so this was an attractive opportunity. I told Michaela I would only stay if I became a partner and that’s what happened. Sounds like running a jewelry company wasn’t on your to-do list. No, there was no thought about it. But I must say I was always very interested in art. It was always attractive to me to be able to work with artists. You’re on both the business and creative sides now… Initially I focused solely on the business side as Michaela Frey was the
FA S H I O N W E E K D A I L Y. C O M
designer. As my input was needed more and more in the late seventies, I began to work on both elements. The creative portion was very challenging to me. There were times when I considered giving up because I do not consider myself an artist and thought that was essential. I then decided to bring an artist on board to take over the designing. I had invested so much time in the business that I was determined to make it successful. I found a fantastic team of artists under the leadership of my wife, Simone Grünberger-Wille. You and your wife work together? Since 1981. Simone came to the company as a young artist and did a fantastic job of leading a successful design team. We work great together! What’s so special about your product? We created a completely new kind of jewelry where the core value is the artistic expression and not the material. We wanted to create a really demanding level of creativity and art. My background enabled me to direct, motivate, and mobilize our creativity. But more importantly, my personal interests of philosophy, history, and art were brought to life. In Vienna you can do that wonderfully. You have the arts wherever you look. As a child I went to museums and concerts. That was my life. I was thinking about my interest in Egyptian art and we created a collection that reflected it, followed by Greek and Roman art. Things developed quickly once we went in this direction. Shortly after, multiple well-known artistic foundations contacted us to create collections. What are your favorite pieces? That is always difficult to answer. My favorite pieces are associated with the latest developments. I am very interested in creating something for everyone. I aim to target people who love art and love to use art in fashion. Do you collect art yourself? No. It requires a lot of time and money. I prefer to use my time at work, which I love very much. I like to go to museums, which is where art should be.
Not in private homes. Why do you think you have endured? We have endured because our spirit is different from the fashion industry. I want to make sure that our artists do not have any pressure for seasonal deadlines. Our target is to be perfect. We sometimes take two or three years to create something. While other companies focus soley on craftmanship, that’s not our only focus. It is very important, but if we could not make beautiful artistic creations, even the most precise craftmanship would not make people fall in love with it. When we go to a new country we are fully educated on the country’s history and I always try to get information about the culture and mentality. Enthusiasm about every country is a given, of course. Do you have any collaborations in the works? We want to be completely independent. We have had positive experiences with collaborations in the past. For instance, in the seventies we got together a bunch of big brand names like Yves Saint Laurent, who I was really impressed by. It was a real joy to work with him, but he was from another world. Fashion means four collections a year, and we need much more time to create one collection. Why is Berlin important to you as a market? We have two boutiques in Berlin. For many Germans it became a symbol of the German efficiency. As the country’s capital, it has an influence on the world. Another thing is the mentality of the people of Berlin which is comparable to the people in Vienna. They are much more casual and like to laugh a lot! It is something that brings us close together. From the fashion point of view, Berlin is the epicentre. Are you familar with the movie Free Willy? Of course! We always laugh about the correlations that are often made between our name and the movie in foreign countries. I am happy that it’s a great movie with a positve meaning. We have that in common.
A ll C O U R T E S Y F rey W ille