Her inspirations reach back to the finest decades of Polish design throughout the first half of the 20th century, to the objects created by the BLOK group, Władysław Strzemiński, Henryk Berlewi and Katarzyna Kobro. As she explains,
At that time, art was supposed to serve the interests of product design, typography, and so on... I go back to that time by looking at past issues of publications like ARKADY. Many of the designers and illustrators I know in Warsaw look to the past for inspiration. The meshing of art, graphic arts and design could also be seen in the 1950s and '60s, when the organic form prevailed. Forms of soft, asymmetrical contours were introduced, reminiscent of elements appearing naturally in the wild. Architecture is around us on an everyday basis, so intentionally or unintentionally, it influences creative activity. My fascination with Warsaw probably comes from a need to discover something I really like about this city.
The city of Warsaw is among her chief inspirations, having been the hero of her recognisable series of porcelain replicas of Warsaw's most iconic examples of modernist architecture. The clean forms of the Central Station, PKO bank, Supersam market or the Skarpa cinema have been restored in these small, shiny geometric figurines in fine, milky-hued porcelain. What makes her DREAM OF WARSAW project most intriguing is the fact that two of these buildings - Supersam and Skarpa - have been torn down in recent years to make way for your typical office and shopping complexes. What she finds most inspiring about Warsaw is its "wildness", explaining, "This is a city that is pure chaos, a blend of everything, but I think that this is exactly what's interesting about it and what spurs one to action".
She uses her intuition to seam together past and present, yet her projects are not mere replicas of the icons of the past, but present a fresh, youthful recouping of these elements and ideas. Her porcelain takes granny-style tableware and gives it a twist, taking the "oldskul" and interpreting it in her very own way, while paying heed to this form's historic legacy. In creating A DREAM OF WARSAW, her goal was to create something between a souvenir and a collector's piece for those who love the city. As she shares,
I started to think about the architectural symbols of Warsaw. I realized that apart from the Palace of Culture, we hadn't cultivated any such symbols. So I sat down and began to think about what buildings I considered to be such symbols. The pieces of this puzzle came together to create the collection.
At the moment the designer is busy building her Łapińska Porcelana brand and website, which is set to begin running in late October, while continuing to work as a freelancer on graphic design commissions. If that wasn't enough, on weekends hip Warsaw party folk count on Łapińska and her Ménage à trois DJ trio. She and two friends started turning tables a few years ago and found a place for themselves among Warsaw's most popular formations with their girl-power-meets-nostalgic-kitsch style.
Her dream is to one day open a porcelain design studio and shop, which would host workshops, lectures and exhibitions for adults and children, a place full of life and people. "Porcelain pieces are beautiful and working with ceramics have therapeutic benefits, a relaxation technique. Why not bring together these two aspects in one place?"
For more, see: www.lapinska.com
Author: Agnes Monod-Gayraud
11.10.2013