One of the latest interior trends of the Polish middle class is the return to favor of postwar design. Armchair 366, designed by Jozef Chierowski in the 1960s, is making a comeback today - literally. Katarzyna Jasiolek reveals to the reader the secrets of domestic design after 1945.
Instead of a striped thick fabric in dark mustard or burgundy, it is upholstered in fabric with hearts, flowers or powdered velvet. The colorful glassware rummaged out of grandma's high-gloss wall unit, figurines with a ćmiel signature or fanciful jugs with a set of cups today make many hearts beat faster. More and more stores are springing up - stationary and online - where you can get these artifacts, often at astronomical prices.
In her book, Katarzyna Jasiolek not only introduces the icons of Polish design after 1945, but also their creators and makers - now forgotten. Reading "Asteroid and half-couch..." allows you to learn about the history of individual objects and the behind-the-scenes of their creation, as well as the history of the formation of Polish design.
The artistic production of ceramics and glass owes much to Wanda Telakowska, as the author herself says, the queen of Polish design. Her activities enabled graduates of art colleges to work in professional design. So these were artists who attached great importance to ergonomics, prevailing trends in the West and durability. Something that, as we know, does not always go hand in hand today.
Camel (1957)
© Lubomir Tomaszewski
Even then, the inspiration for the creation of many chairs and seats was Scandinavian design. Thus, optically light furniture was created, which did not clutter the small apartments of the time. As it turns out today, these designs are timeless - after replacing the seat, they can serve another several decades.
In September, during the First All-Polish Congress of ZPAP in Cracow, Wanda Telakowska delivers a paper in which she postulates the abolition of the division unsuitable for new times - into pure and applied art - and the approximation of art and everyday life. She talks about the participation of artists in industrial and handicraft production, which is expected to result in the appearance of aesthetically pleasing everyday products. The guiding principle for her is "beauty every day and for everyone."
The paper, to put it mildly, is not met with enthusiasm by visual artists. The new vision of art appears to them only as support for the doings of the people's power, and they do not intend to put their hand to it. Telakowska recalls that she was pelted with invectives, and those gathered almost unanimously decided that the paper could not appear in print, as it harmed their interests. The Krakow environment is ready to defend the purity of art with a capital "S." The position of the outraged artists is reflected in the division into two types of art schools announced by the Board of Education in 1947 (more on that in a moment).
Katarzyna Jasiolek "Asteroid and half-cotton. On Polish postwar design".
Marginesy Publishing House, Warsaw 2020
"About what in a moment" you will learn from reading the book, which we encourage you to do!
