Courtesy of Daniel Loiselle
Monday, February 6th. I met Daniel Loiselle, president of Freek Art, while taking in some air outside of the Marché Bonsecours on the first day of fashion week. I was thrilled to discover he has a very unique boutique on St-Ambroise that he likes to call a jewellery “bar”. ”You mean you offer a large variety of jewellery, right?” I asked. He answered that his jewellery are mostly custom-made, but while client and designer work together on the design of the bijoux, cocktails are served! ‘’I wanted to create this original concept where clients will have fun and feel at ease in my shop.’’ Curious to know more, I accepted his invitation to visit his boutique and see for myself the collection he worked on for the Télio design competition’s fashion show.
From my Iphone
A bit of history
Daniel was only 21 years old when he started to showcase his products to boutiques. Back then, he used to make necklaces from bicycle pieces — a very unique concept he developed himself. ”People who bought my products on the first years of my career were mostly some skaters and rock fans. However, I realized seven years ago I wanted to do something more. My goal was to push my creativity further, so one thing led to another and I found myself specializing in creating metal rings. That was it. I had found my vocation. Freek Art was born. Then my clientele started to grow larger and I started to reach people of all kinds: Bikers, rockers, and those on the edge of the mainstream. I was also happy to count stars from the music industry among my customers, like Eric Lapointe or the famous singer La Roux. Lately, the fashion industry has started to be interested in what I do. Many fashionistas buy my rings. ”
Daniel Loiselle, le maître dans son éléments
From my Iphone
From my Iphone
Metal rings
Every piece of jewellery is hand carved and crafted on site, at the shop on St-Ambroise, near Atwater Market. Which means that Daniel designs the jewellery himself, shapes the forms, engraves the details and polishes the ring. Most of times, the rings are minimal, there is not much detail on them. “I love very simple, brilliant and heavy rings. I love playing with forms and cuts. For me, too simple is never too low, and too extravagant is never too much. This is no limit or standard to what one can create.” What I actually find even more amazing, you can see his rings on a biker, on a punk, or a fashionista, they will always complete their outfits as if it was created to be worn that way, with a specific style. I mean, picture the ring below on a biker’s hand. Then picture it on an urban fashionista. You get the point! His favourite shape of rings? A one-finger ring that extends onto other fingers. My personal favourite? See the picture below:
From my Iphone
From my Iphone
From my Iphone
Daniel kindly let me see a preview of the gold collection he was making for the Télio fashion show. “It’s the first time I am making a collection for a specific fashion show and it’s also the first time I am making rings with gold. I always worked with silver so this is new for me. It was a challenge but it definitely inspired me on what to do next.” Here is a preview of what the collection looked like before the polishing stage:
From my Iphone
He even showed me how he polishes his jewellery. I recorded the session with my iPhone, but I’d rather you see the video taken by my friends from District Mode. However, I am happy to share with you these before/after pictures we took in the process :
Before :
From my Iphone
After :
From my Iphone
In the catwalk : Before
From my Iphone
After :
Photo : Denis Nadeau
Before
From my Iphone
After
Photo : Denis Nadeau
Some other pictures from the Catwalk
Photo : Denis Nadeau
Photo : Denis Nadeau
Photo : Denis Nadeau
Photo : Denis Nadeau
