Wanda Telakowska

Graphic artist and designer, key figure of Polish postwar design. She was born on 20th April 1905 in Sosnowiec and died on 15th January 1985 in Warsaw.

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Wanda Telakowska

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Wanda Telakowska, photo: Institute of Industrial Design

Graphic artist

She studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw and quickly became a respected graphic artist awarded in many important exhibitions.

In 1938, she was employed by the Ministry of Religious Affairs and Public Education as a vocational schools inspector. It was then that she became interested in teaching, especially in developing student creativity and aesthetic sense. According to her, a real teacher was a person who helped students explore and improve their abilities and talents.

In the Ministry of Culture and Art

World War II destroyed Telakowska’s artistic output almost entirely. She gave up on graphic arts, focusing exclusively on design instead. Telakowska wanted everyday objects to be both beautiful and functional, holding a belief that they should be designed by well-qualified and adequately educated artists.

In March 1945, she became the head of the Planning Department of the Ministry of Culture and Art, which was soon renamed the Production Department (1945-1947) and then transformed into the Production Aesthetics Supervision Bureau (1947-1950). The main tasks of these units were to organise co-operation between visual artists and producers, prepare artists for the collaboration (through, for example, internships in factories) and gather projects that would serve as models and inspiration for future works.

In 1946 Przegląd Artystyczny (Artistic Review) published an announcement issued by the Ministry of Culture and Art and Ministry of Industry, inviting visual artists and architects to co-operate with the industry sector. In order to prepare for mass production properly, every manager was asked to clearly specify their demands and the conditions under which the objects were to be created.

As at that time the industry sector was barely functioning, the commissioned projects were mostly meant for craft workshops that used cheap, local materials. The Production Department, and later the Production Aesthetics Supervision Bureau, organised practice studios in which projects and prototypes of furniture, toys, metal objects, prints on fabric, clothes, accessories and other everyday objects were created. It was assumed that the artists working on handicraft patterns would gradually take up jobs in the industry sector. Telakowska used different methods to prepare them for it.

The industry sector, however, was not eager to implement new projects. During the times of the socialist economy, the demand would always surpass the supply, so there was no need to vary the production.

In the Institute of Industrial Design

Wanda Telakowska podczas otwarcia wystawy "Próby włączania samorodnej twórczości ludowej do wzornictwa przemysłowego", 1953 , fot. IWP — Wanda Telakowska while opening the ‘Próby włączania samorodnej twórczości ludowej do wzornictwa przemysłowego’ exhibition, 1953, photo: Institute of Industrial Desgin

The Institute of Industrial Design was founded in the fall of 1950. Its aim was to continue the Production Aesthetics Supervision Bureau’s projects and conduct scientific activities. Wanda Telakowska worked there as an art director until 1968. Projects that had been gathered since 1946 by the Production Department and Production Aesthetics Supervision Bureau marked the beginnings of the Institute of Industrial Design’s showroom.

Studios of clothing, furniture, prints and painting on fabric got a new location. What’s more, new workshops dealing with different matters were formed over the years and the old ones changed their names and range of activities. Projects by visual artists employed at the Institute of Industrial Design, prototypes for industry and also goods for sale, such as ceramics, printed fabrics or even furniture (small series production) were created there. They were available in some shops in Warsaw in the 1950s and 1960s.

A very specific method of designing was particularly important to Telakowska. Its objective was to have specialists and amateurs – folk artists, children and youth – co-operate in so-called designing teams. The first of such groups were formed in the 1940s, whereas the last ones, in the 1970s. They chiefly designed patterns for printed fabric and woven fabric, as well as embroidery and lace. Sketches done by the teams were later perfected and produced in the Institute’s workshops. Some of these were then put into factory production. Telakowska was convinced that this method would make Polish designing not only genuine and Polish but also modern and vital.

In 1978, when Telakowska retired, she helped arrange the Institute of Industrial Design’s donation to the National Museum in Warsaw. She did not want the projects, models and prototypes that had been gathered since 1945 to be scattered.

Telakowska’s work was frequently used – against her will – by the authorities as a smokescreen, in order to keep up the appearance of prosperity and dynamic development under a socialist economy. The Institute of Industrial Design’s unique works were presented at international exhibitions as a sign of high living standard in Poland under the communist regime. Often, they were prototypes unavailable to the mass audience.

Her position amongst other designers changed over the years. After the Polish thaw in 1956, many young designers deemed Telakowska’s views conservative and wrong. Her designs were believed to derive from applied arts, which was something contrary to the vision of modern design. Neither her fascination with folk art nor the idea of cooperation between visual artists and amateurs was understood.

Wanda Telakowska was special in many respects. Her wit and brilliance were fabled. The album that she left behind – full of her sketches, caricatures, poems and dedications to many writers, artists and politicians – is not only a fascinating document but also a peculiar portrait of this exceptional woman.

industrial design