The exhibition seeks a common thread across contemporary Polish design and presents the most interesting work and achievements of young designers. It proves that Polish design, which draws on rich Polish experiences and traditions, is a distinct phenomenon, attractive and worth knowing.
Works on display include the well-known, award-winni,ng stools by Oscar Zięta, glass and porcelain objects by Bogdan Kosak, Karina Marusińska and Monika Patuszyńskia the Red Dot award winner Malafora's “blow up” sofas, works by Agnieszka Bar and unique sofas from the duo Czop/Rusin.
Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka, curator of the exhibition, says:
In preparing these events, we are always faced with the question of what do we want to prove? It is that the Poles design like everyone else? Or that they design differently? Surely the process of selecting materials and creating is special. The designers use materials that are available, affordable, and natural: wood, plywood, felt, and recycled materials. Most often they make their objects themselves or with the help of local craftsmen. Many of the works are prototypes, unique pieces, or limited editions.
The exhibition has been shown at prestigious design festivals and museums of applied arts including the Salone del Mobile in Milan, the Designer’s Days and Design Week in Paris, Inno Design Tech Expo in Hong Kong, the Museum of Applied Arts in Cologne, and the Museum of Design in Helsinki.
Explaining the genesis of the project, the curator says:
We presented the work of young Polish designers for the first time in September 2009 at the design festival Design September in Brussels. It turns out that Polish design is attractive to European consumers and that our designers have interesting, surprising, and unique ideas. The Unpolished exhibition has thus become cyclical – every year there are new artists to show interesting projects across Europe.
Jacobson-Cielecka is the artistic director of the Łódź Design Festival and co-organizer Paweł Grobelny is a designer and curator of design exhibitions. The Unpolished project is produced by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw and the Regional Museum in Stalowej Woli, in cooperation with the Lviv Academy of Fine Arts.
Source: press materials, ed. by SW 18.06.2013, translation: AA 19.06.2013