20 Years Have Passed…

…very quickly! It has been a special time filled not only with hard work and gaining experience in the new role as the owner of CHILLI Ireneusz Glaza but also with “enjoying the cream” at fashion shows and receiving awards 😊

I started my own company because I wanted to design jewelry that I like, not just what would sell well to my clients. It wasn’t easy at first, as it turned out that in my own company, I was primarily the main organizer, but now I have “gained independence” and have much more time for designing (for which I am mostly thankful to my wife Karina, who took over some of the company management duties ❤️).

My First AMBERIF Fair

The dream of realizing my own jewelry ideas became possible thanks to participating in the International Amber and Jewelry Fair AMBERIF in Gdańsk – at my premiere in 2016, my ideas were noticed and appreciated as “different” and “fresh,” which boosted my confidence. I mainly focused on jewelry with natural Baltic amber because I already had extensive experience working with this fossilized resin, but also because it was somewhat a natural choice for a company from the Gdańsk area. From the very beginning, I wanted to “rejuvenate” amber jewelry. The goal was one: to make women, especially young ones, at every latitude, fall in love with it. Judging by who buys my jewelry, it seems I’m quite successful at achieving this goal 😊 Although, of course, I do not cease in my efforts to do even better 💪

Inspirations from the World of Fashion

This was largely possible thanks to getting closer to the world of fashion, which is an incredibly valuable inspiration for a jewelry designer. Or rather, numerous approaches counted by fashion shows at prestigious events like the AMBERLOOK Fashion and Amber Gala in Gdańsk, Satisfashion Roma, or Alta Roma, where I had the immense pleasure of performing with such recognized personalities from the world of fashion as Agnieszka Światły, Paweł Węgrzyn, and Barbara Piekut. Performances on the red carpets and fashion runways of Europe are like a drug, so I will definitely return there with new jewelry collections 😊

Golden Loop and TOP Fashion, i.e., Awards from the World of Fashion

Another opportunity to feel the adrenaline of the challenge was accepting the invitation from the Polish Fashion Academy to participate in the Golden Loop contest – I received it in 2021 for the Amber Beauty jewelry collection, in which I emphasized the beauty of natural Baltic amber with modern gold-plated silver settings adorned with gemstones. A year later, I reached for more – and received the “Top Fashion” statue in recognition of good quality and fashionable jewelry design. The Polish Fashion Chapter awards one more prize – the Golden Super Loop, which I dream of for the collection. It would be the perfect trophy to start the next decade of the company’s existence 😊 This presence in the world of fashion particularly pleases me – in the latest ranking of 30 Polish fashion brands prepared by the Polish Fashion Academy, CHILLI occupies a high 4th place and is one of only three offering jewelry.

Awards in Mercurius Gedanensis / Amberif SELECTION Competitions

Speaking of successes, allow me to mention the awards in the Mercurius Gedanensis competitions accompanying the AMBERIF fair (3x in the JEWELRY MASTERPIECE category for the company, for which I performed commissioned projects) and its successor named AMBERIF SELECTION (2x President’s Award of the International Fair Gdańsk). The challenge is the main prize in this competition – the Minister of Economy Award. One day it will be mine!

And what about failures? Of course, there were some, and of course, I won’t “brag” about them. The most important thing is that lessons for the future have been learned, and with this positive reinforcement, I look forward to the future!