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Marina Danko: Jewelry With Soul

Madrid – "I have arrived at this point in my life through a process of personal evolution," says Colombian-born cum jewelry designer, Marina Danko. She, who has long been known among Spain’s jet set both for her obvious beauty and her marriage to famous Spanish matador, Palomo Linares, now investigates her "creative side" with her first-ever semi-precious stone jewelry collection.

Danko, a Cancer native – her logo is the figure of the moon in its different phases - is a convinced believer in the curing power of gems and crystals. "I’ve always felt attracted to rocks," she comments, "my mother remembers when, as a child in Colombia, I used to walk into the house carrying bags full of rocks from the beach. I use gems regularly to calm myself down. I do this by placing them over my chakras (the body’s energy centers)."

Her designs, divided into three collections called Chakras, Arco Iris (Rainbow) and Círculo de la Vida (Circle of Life), are based on the idea that a jewel can be not only an embellishment, but a symbol and a language.

Chakras is an oriental inspired collection with bracelet, necklace, and pendants in which she combines crystal rock beads with amethyst, yellow citrine, aquamarine and peridot to reflect four of our bodies’ energy centers.

Circle of Life is based on curves and spirals that reflect how every life experience evolves until it returns to the starting point. Yellow gold is the base metal for this series which she combines with turquoises (expression of the infinite); corals (a symbol of life); pearls (as an emblem of love and purity), and jet (the totem-stone of serenity).

Finally, Rainbow is a collection that traps light to convert it into a multicolored expression. This is done in necklaces, bracelets, rings and pendants in yellow gold, accompanied by blue topaz, yellow citrine, rose and green tourmalines, eoliths and garnets. These precious and semi-precious stones carry the age-old belief of being able to attract inspiration, knowledge, passion or peace.

Although most of the designs are focused on women, Danko also creates cuff links for men and says she will soon add tie clips.

Talking to her she says that she arranged the launch of her collection for a date in which the phase of the moon was positive. Her spokesperson, on the other hand, tells me that Marina herself wore some of her stones to calm the nerves on the day of its presentation.

When asked about her love for gems and the inspiration behind the collections you can read the excitement in her deep dark eyes. Marina comments having told her children that she is "giving birth" to these designs, that they are, in some way, her new children.

Circle of Life
Chakras

New York – 7^th On Sixth, the organizers of the New York Collections, will be staging both the men's and women's collections in February of this year. They tell us that the decision to move the shows to an earlier date and create a co-ed fashion week was made to offer designers more production lead time and to simplify travel plans for editors, retailers and photographers attending the shows.

As usual, the shows will take place in the Bryant Park tents from the 11th to the 19th of February. February 11th, 12th and 13th will be dedicated to men's designers, February 14th (Valentine's Day) to those designers wishing to show their men's and women's collections on the same runway, and February 15th - 19th will mark the showing of the women's collections.

Given the next staging of the Madrid (Cibeles) collections is set for the 9-12 of February, we asked their press department if the fact that some of their dates overlap with the NY ones would represent a problem for their event. A spokeswoman for the Madrid shows said they did not believe it. They are sure that the editors, buyers and photographers will know how to organize their schedules so as to be at the showings that would interest them most in both events.