Goshico is a brand created in 2004 by two sisters, designer Małgorzata Kotlonek and Aga Kotlonek, producer and technologist. They now have over 180 women's accessory designs in their range. Belgian audiences awarded Goshico's felt bag ornamented with a pattern referring to folk papercuts from Łowicz region, or "wycinanki" in Polish. The bag comes from their collection New Folk Koguty. Małgorzata Kotlonek says:
There is a lot of emotion to Goshico bags, they relate to our childhood, to Łowicz’s papercuts and things which were done by our dad. These are not ordinary bags to me, they are made out of our passion.
Previous Goshico bags were results of their hobbies. Małgorzata had worked as a make-up artists in films and photo shoots. Aga graduated in economics and worked for a large corporation. They created bags initially for themselves and their friends. Małgorzata adds:
People were interested in the bags, more and more people wanted to own them. Friends of our friends wanted to buy them and eventually we established our brand. We didn’t expect that our projects will be meet with such an enthusiastic reception. At some point, our hobby became our job.
The second audience prize was shared by Joanna Bylicka from Chillout Studia for a black console from the Astralony collection, and Adam Spała, owner of Fabryka Porcelan AS Ćmielów, for miniature porcelain sculptures designed in the 1950s and '60s by artists from Instytut Wzornictwa Przemysłowego – the new sculptures are hand-made, true to original forms.
Jeremi Nagrabecki from Galeria Velt received third prize. His award-winning design is a desk lamp, Leda, resembling a swan’s neck. Made from white transparent glass, the lamp is formed with the use of traditional methods. This project has been already awarded with a Red Dot design prize in 2012.
Polish industrial designs were displayed in Woluwe Shopping Centre in Brussels from the 27th of May to the 8th of June. It was the 19th edition of Designed in Poland, organised by the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency, in collaboration with the Trade and Investment Section of the Polish Embassy in Brussels. In the past years Polish designs have been exhibited in Berlin, Budapest, Helsinki, Coppenhagen, Lisboa, Madrit, New Delhi, Prague and Vienna.
Around 15,000 people visited the exhibiton in 2013.
Source: PAP, paiz.gov.pl, edit. JN, 30.07.2013
Translation: GS 07/31/2013