Adam Mickiewicz Institute Launches Guide to Polish Design
New Guide Reveals a Rich and Multifaceted Century of Design Through a Compelling Digital Interface
The Adam Mickiewicz Institute announces a groundbreaking new Guide to Polish Design. The new Guide to Polish Design, a digital project which reveals a century of Polish history through the designs that shaped it, is a beautiful example of a living archive, connecting the world with Poland’s rich design legacy online. Curated by Krystyna Łuczak-Surówka, and developed by Culture.pl, the Institute’s web portal offering extensive English-language resources about Polish culture, and BrightMedia, an award-winning Polish agency, it is the first-ever comprehensive compilation of Polish design from the past one hundred years.
Part of the POLSKA 100 international cultural program coordinated by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute to commemorate 100 years of Polish independence, the Guide to Polish Design emerged as a natural extension of the events and exhibitions organized by the Institute to reveal the best of Polish design around the world. Design fairs and exhibitions have always welcomed design enthusiasts in select locations, but a digital compendium provides the opportunity to present Polish design and its history to a more widespread international audience. Saturated with rare and valuable images and videos (most of which were not previously available online), and featuring more than 100 objects from 90 celebrated Polish designers, it gives readers worldwide a unique insight into Poland’s history and culture.
Divided into eight chapters, leading from the Zakopane style at the turn of the 20th century to contemporary studios specializing in ceramics and glass, the guide explores themes from form and function to social impact and industrial manufacturing. Each chapter provides opportunities for a closer look at selected objects; featuring stories about the designs and their fate, as well as the biographies of their designers, all embedded in historical context. Throughout this digital journey, readers will enjoy music composed by Wojtek Oleksiak, a Polish musician and member of the band Jazzpospolita.
“The Guide to Polish Design is a story of what was important to us once, what remains important today, and how these fascinations translate into everyday life,” says curator Krystyna Łuczak-Surówka. “The search for forms, play of colours, changes of function, influence on society, new trends, creative experiments and the pragmatic requirements of industrial production – all of this is part of history and permeates the objects we create for everyday use. It is here that the social role of designers comes into full view. For some, it will be a new adventure, a discovery of new chapters from Polish history. Those already familiar with Polish design will have the opportunity to deepen their acquaintance. There is much more to the history of Polish design to discover. This is what makes it fascinating for virtually anyone.”
The Guide to Polish Design joins three existing multimedia guides put out by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute earlier this year, exploring the topics of photography, electronic music and cinema respectively. Each of these guides contains hundreds of photographs, film clips and sound bites provided by the national archives and a number of contemporary artists. The series is a special release from Culture.pl, and will include a fifth guide, focused on fashion, in the winter of 2020.
Readers can discover the Guide to Polish Design at designguide.pl.
The Guide to Polish Design is run by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of its program promoting Polish design worldwide.
Guide to Polish Design: designguide.pl
Written and curated by: Krystyna Łuczak-Surówka
Organized by: The Adam Mickiewicz Institute
Social: Facebook, Instagram and Twitter: @culturepl
he project is organised by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute as part of the international cultural programme marking the centenary of Poland’s regained independence. Financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage of the Republic of Poland as part of the multi-annual NIEPODLEGŁA programme 2017–2022.
Global Promotion of Polish Design
The Adam Mickiewicz Institute, a state-funded cultural institution, is responsible for promoting Poland and Polish culture abroad. We present high quality initiatives and events in the fields of music, theatre, art and design. So far, the Institute has held over 8 thousand cultural events, seen by nearly 60 million viewers in over 70 countries. It also runs the Culture.pl website – the largest and most comprehensive source of knowledge about Polish culture. A special tab on design presents the latest trends in contemporary Polish design and the newest projects from Polish designers.
One of its priorities is the international promotion of design, architecture and fashion which reflect the best of Polish culture and creativity. The key to success in the pursuit of this goal has been possible thanks to the fruitful cooperation with our great partners which include La Triennale di Milano, Wanted Design, London Design Festival, Milan Design Week, Dutch Design Week, Vienna Design Week, London Design Biennale and Dutch Design Week to name but a few. Apart from securing a regular presence of Polish design, fashion and architecture at most important events worldwide, we also engage in preparing educational programmes, conferences, publications and digital projects such as multimedia guides to Polish design and fashion.
