8 Polish Souvenirs That Aren't Tacky
Avoid the Polish equivalent of a ‘Mind the Gap’ t-shirt or a figurine of the Statue of Liberty! Stay clear of mass-produced shawls and nesting dolls, and look for these affordable and original items instead.
Picture display
standardowy (864px desktop)
Dried mushrooms on strings, photo: Łukasz Głowala / Forum
Picture image
grzyby_suszone_forum_.jpg
Nothing brings back memories of Poland like the smell of wild forest mushrooms. Even if you haven’t been anywhere near a forest during your trip, you’ve certainly encountered dried mushrooms in classic Polish dishes, like barszcz or bigos. They will last for years when stored properly, and they will also allow you to reproduce that authentic earthy taste in your own kitchen.
Picture display
standardowy (864px desktop)
Manaam, photo: promotional materials
Picture image
maanam_nightpatrol.jpg
Music can also bring back vivid memories. While you’re getting some Chopin for your great-aunts, why not get a unique retro album for yourself? We recommend Night Patrol, a 1980s album by the legendary rock band Manaam ‒ an outstanding English-language record. If rock isn’t your thing, try contemporary folk or jazz.
Picture display
standardowy (864px desktop)
From Andrzej Nowak's whistle collection, photo:Michał Grocholski / Agencja Gazeta
Picture image
gwizdki_ag.jpg
Speaking of music, why not get a Polish instrument as a souvenir? Too expensive, you say? There is one affordable option: a gwizdek, pronounced ‘GFEEZ-dek’, a small folk instrument/toy. Made from earthenware, it is a water-filled flute shaped like a bird, and it makes a pleasant chirruping sound. It doesn’t require any special skill, so you’ll be able to produce a melody without practicing beforehand.
4. DIY Polish architecture
Picture display
standardowy (864px desktop)
‘Blok Wschodni’ (Eastern Bloc), collection of cut-outs, designed by David Navarro and Martyna Sobecka, produced by Zupagrafika, Must Have 2014. The caption reads: ‘Honey, I Shrunk Warsaw’. Photo: Łódź Design Festival 2014
Picture image
full_blok_wschodni_770.jpg
If you’d like something a bit more imposing than a small whistle, you can always take a Polish building back home with you. You can purchase fashionable cardboard cut-outs that look exactly like the real deal. Made by the design studio Zupagrafika, these detailed miniatures of Polish modernist buildings have ‘cool souvenir’ written all over them.
Picture display
standardowy (864px desktop)
'Horsey' beaker by Olek Modzelewski, photo: Mamsam
Picture image
prototypy_prace_4.jpg
‘Ostalgie’, or nostalgia for the designs of the communist period, is in vogue these days in Poland. If you want some typically Polish, communist-inspired design, ceramic beakers from state-owned cafeterias are the way to go. No need to steal some – you can get their contemporary likeness, adorned with stylised retro prints, in most design stores.
6. A surreal painting of Poland
Picture display
standardowy (864px desktop)
‘Warszawa’ by Tytus Brzozowski,, Plac Zbawiciela, photo: courtesy of the artist
Picture image
2015_05_03_plac-zbawiciela_800.jpg
If compulsive photo snapping is not your thing, you could bring back a painting as a keepsake. Tytus Brzozowski, for example, creates attractive and unusual drawings of Warsaw. Most Polish artists and designers sell affordable prints of their art.
7. A classic of Polish cinema
Picture display
standardowy (864px desktop)
Still from ‘The Young Girls of Wilko’ with Daniel Olbrychski and Christine Pascal, photo: Studio Filmowe Perspektywa / Filmoteka Narodowa / www.fototeka.fn.org.pl
Picture image
Kadr z filmu. Na zdjęciu: Daniel Olbrychski i Christine Pascal., fot. Studio Filmowe Perspektywa/Filmoteka Narodowa/www.fototeka.fn.org.pl
Even if you limit yourself to Oscar nominations or Martin Scorsese’s recommendations, there are a lot of excellent Polish films to choose from. If you want one that captures the lost charm and beauty of pre-war Poland, try The Young Girls of Wilko, directed by Andrzej Wajda. The film is based on a classic short story by the great writer Jarosław Iwaszkiewicz. Daniel Olbrychski, mostly known abroad because of Salt, plays a middle-aged man who returns to a country estate he used to frequent in his younger days. Most entertainment retailers will carry a subtitled version of the DVD.
Embeded gallery style
display gallery as slider
Film posters from the Polish Poster School are considered extremely valuable by connoisseurs. Most of them were created to promote foreign films, but they don’t conform to mass aesthetics and often have little in common with the familiar blockbuster posters of recent decades.
Written by Marek Kępa, Apr 2016