For whom do you design your jewellery?Actually, I always start with myself. What is it that I am missing, what would I want or need? What should the piece of jewellery feel like? What should it do to me when I wear it? I don't have a particular type of person in mind. I think every woman and every man has something beautiful and special about them that can be emphasized by jewellery.

How did you get into jewellery design?I have always had a high affinity for design. One of the reasons I ended up in jewellery design was that I could not find anything that I would have liked to wear myself at the time. It simply didn't exist. So I designed it myself.

How do you want women and men feel when wearing an A.M. piece?They should be allowed to be completely themselves. The jewellery should become part of them, connect and bond with them. It should make visible what they already are.

Which shapes are typical of Alke Missalla?All variations of circle and square. I can create infinitely from these two basic geometric shapes. By developing the shapes further, leaving something out, building them up, turning them into three-dimensional versions – or by reducing them to partial forms, mere surfaces. Then I assess: What exactly do I have to do to get the respective design, the piece of jewellery to the point? How much or how little does it take in order for it to simply "be"?

Where or how do your ideas and inspirations come to you?My inspiration always comes when my mind is at ease; when listening to music, in nature. It takes space and time and the ability to let oneself go for new ideas to surface.

Do you have a particular approach to the design process?Some things flow out as if by themselves, in which case several variations of one design can come out all at once. With other designs, I have to set them aside and then approach them again with a fresh look or mind set. My collections and pieces always come into being in my own time. I only declare them finished when they actually are.

Can you tell me something about the production process? Where do you source materials or products from?I create and make all my jewellery in my studio at Venusberg. I get local support for plating, engraving and setting. My foundry is a small family business in Pforzheim. I have known all my suppliers for over 10 years now. The gold and silver I use comes mainly from recycled material.

Apart from a striking idea, what else is important for your work as a designer?It’s the creative process that fulfills me the most. Being able to create a high-quality piece of jewellery with my own hands, in which material, proportion and surface are in complete harmony at the end. But none of that would be possible without my foundation of being a professionally trained goldsmith. The craft is the basis for longevity, quality and detailled precision of all my pieces.

Your jewellery is extremely reduced and pure. Which artists or architects inspire you?I like the minimalist architecture of Mies van der Rohe. In fashion, I have always been accompanied by Jil Sander with her timelessness and her refinement in reducing things to the essentials. I also love the flower photographs by Karl Blossfeldt. The objective way he captured nature’s ornamental beauty with its details and structure is always an inspiration for me.

If you had to name one – which one of your designed A.M. pieces are you particularly proud of?Always the one I see on the ear, on the neck or on the hand of a wearer. For me, this is a wonderful confirmation of my work each and every time.