Poland’s fashion and design landscape is far from stodgy and stale. In fact, the cascade of fresh creative talent is forging a new direction in artistic expression, one that brims with confident, smart and
outward-looking energy.

by Anna J. Kutor

Design, as a conscious element of culture, is about change and improvement. It’s about creating something that is new, individual, more efficient or visually stimulating. Design serves to
enhance people’s standard of living and strengthen a country’s cultural
identity, while creativity in its various forms has become the new engine of
economic growth. Nowhere is this more true than in Poland, where the latest
crop of innovators have established a modern identity for the nation. By
marrying divergent thinking and problem solving with innovative application and
pragmatic business acumen, homegrown artists, designers and craftspeople are
putting Poland on the design map.

Fanciful Forms

Standing at the forefront of domestic design excellence, where tradition meets cutting-edge cool, is the
husband-and-wife designer duo of Konarska-Konarksi. Born and bred in Warsaw,
the bright young tandem launched their label in 1997 and have since tried their
hands at almost everything design has to offer - from paintings to public art,
interior design to graphics and on-air design for television -, making dynamic
figurative aesthetics and whimsical imagery their trademark along the way.
Their overtly non-uniform creations exemplify the ‘change-is-in-the-air’
character and spirit of many of today’s successful design ventures in Poland.
Decalogue, for example, was a poster exhibit on the facade of Warsaw’s Palace
of Culture and Science in 2004 that gave refreshingly different take on the Ten
Commandments. Roosters, an outdoor art installation in 2007, saw the lawn of
the French Embassy freckled with sixteen brightly colored, two-meter-tall
roosters that came alive by rotating in the wind. Moreover, the couple’s most
recent installation, Pegasuses, features five multi-colored mythological
horses standing in stark contrast to the palatial National Library before which
they stand.

“Artists in Poland have very little choice when it comes to cooperating with galleries because of the limited
number of such institutions,” says Beata Konarska, the female half of the
duo. So, in order to sidestep the convoluted and time-sensitive mechanisms of
the art market, the twosome also set up a totally alternative art institution
called ’ Art Store’. Built into the side of a recently-renovated cinema, Art
Store is, in essence, a single-painting installation made public through a
peephole in the wall. “For me as a painter ‘Art Store’ is extremely
valuable, as I get to display paintings fresh off the easel without having to
go through a curator or gallery manager,” Konarska continues. “With
this project, we created kind of living tissue in the city in which people can
see individual artwork 27/4, which express my current perception of
reality”.

Most telling of Konarska-Konarksi’s quirky sense of style is ‘Dog or Bitch’, their
city-centre design studio and concept store inaugurated at the end of 2008. It
is in this streamlined one-room space, as the label on the entrance states,
where they perform “plastic surgery on all things imperfect, take icons into
new dimensions and present psychotherapy of incurably sick toys”. Rows of
orange rabbits, green squirrels, playfully relaxing children and wide grinning
shark heads in a variety of vivid hues line the walls of the store. This
introductory collection of life-sized fiberglass and poly resin characters
(priced between 80-8000 PLN) be expanded throughout the coming months with
posters, graphic art and other offbeat works of art.

Fashion Forward

In the field of fashion design, Poland has certainly grown up in style over the past decade, with a slew of
up-and-coming independent designers turning heads on local and international
catwalks. One of the country’s most exciting and established fashion icons,
Arakadius (from the artistic pseudonym of Arkadiusz Weremczuk), has been
shaking up the fashion scene from London to Kuala Lumpur since the turn of the
new millennium. Eccentricity, sarcasm and playful originality are exactly what
the fashion world has come to love about this 39-year-old trendsetter. Colin McDowell,
one of he world’s foremost fashion historians famously said of him ‘some say avant-garde young designer Arkadius is, like Byron, mad, bad and dangerous to know. Others think he is a fashion great
genius”. In one of his statement-making shows entitled Virgin, he poked
fun at the oh-so-serious religiousness of his homeland, with Madonna-printed
evening dresses and shell tops with papal insignia.

Polish fashion’s hottest duo, Paprocki & Brzozowski, are also in the business of
shaping sexy, sophisticated and easily wearable high-end couture. Since
graduating from the Łódź Academy of Fine Arts in 2002, the style-conscious pair
have created line of female apparel that is aggressive and sensual, flamboyant
and fragile all at the same time. “In our case passion was first, which
then through hard work, perseverance, and loyalty turned into a
profession,” says Marcin Paprocki.

Quality of materials and details are other ingredients in the Paprocki & Brzozowski
success story, to which a new chapter was added in 2008 with the introduction
of “Her Majesty”. A girly line of ready-to-wear clothes for the
hot-weather season, the regal collection was custom-tailored for the Poland’s
largest street-fashion brand Reserved. Scaling back on the glamour but still
bringing the sensual, the new collection boasts floral patterns, clean outlines
and sparkling blue, silver and black dresses that fit to the lifestyle of
frugal shoppers. 

Independent Identity

Spicing up the life of fashion-savvy locals are the irregular but neatly tailored creations of Dagmara Rosa. The
29-year old designer expresses her kooky, smart and slightly racy individuality
through her garments, which are multi-textured, patchwork pieces in mostly
sombre tones of black, brown, grey and white. Her latest collection, inspired
by insects, silent movies and city surroundings (think Warsaw’s block buildings
and grey streets), featured lots of layering and flexibility. These designs, as
well as others, are now on display at the Warsaw-base boutique Fashion_By and
in a few select stores in London, Berlin, Paris and Tokio.

A similar sense of confidence and vitalistic force is present in the creations of
Gosia Baczyńska, a progressive-minded couturier who debuted her self-titled
label in 2000. Having studied ceramics and glass design at the Wrocław Academy
of Fine Arts, Baczyńska hones her skills in the field of fashion while working
with various acclaimed designers in London. Under her own label she has
developed a well-distinguished style that is lauded for its diaphanous dresses
and painstakingly crafted blouses made mostly from brash and metallic fabrics -
pampering today’s urban fashionista with uncompromising glamour and romance.

“Raw-edged and bold, subtly feminine, unabashedly romantic and somehow mysterious even, my
clothes appeal to modern women who believe in craftsmanship and original
vision,” says Baczyńska. In her latest collection she animates the
medieval canvases of Flemish artists Rogier van der Weyden and Hugo van der
Goes by incorporating their work into the garments using an original fabric
imprinting technique that blends the real draping with the imaginary fold of
the print. As for future plans, she is in the process of setting up a flagship
venue on Warsaw’s Floriańska Street that will brings together a workshop and
retail space for her new pret-a-porter collections and individual designs.

United They Stand

Although creative types are notoriously individualistic, many have benefited from interdisciplinary collaborations and entrepreneurial endeavors such as the Young Polish Designers Foundation
(YPDF). Initiated by Dutch business magnate Dion Heijmans in 2005 with the aim
of pooling, supporting and promoting Poland’s freshest and most talented
fashion designers. In a few short years, this vision was brought to fruition by
the organization’s general manager Anna Rembielińska and creative director
Wojtek Witczak, and the foundation now represents the works of around 50.

“We bring together creations of promising students and start-up practitioners who
want to sell their designs,” explains Rembielińska, looking effortlessly
stylish and sassy in the showroom of the foundation. “Once the designers
have a clear idea of what they want to create, they present their pieces and we
do what we can to make it work. This way, we consider the foundation to be a
stepping stone to further development and marketability for rising fashion
talents.”

Stationed on the second floor of Warsaw’s Promenada shopping arena, the YPDF showroom
stocks the very latest models of about a dozen fledgling designers, continually
shifting from one season to the next.Some stand-out pieces of the current
display include the works of Agga B., Marek Witt, Mateusz Tomczyk, Agutti and
Dora Krincy. The avant-garde selection of garments - predominantly dreamy
cocktail dresses and evening wear - are united in their intricate
craftsmanship, select materials and, as Witczak highlights with a
matter-of-face authority, calm elegance. Above and beyond the pool of
individual designs ,the foundation has also rolled out it’s own line entitled
‘YPDF Limited Edition’, with the new spring/summer collection coming out in
April.

Ace Accessories

Jewellery design is yet another artistic
discipline where Polish artist’s demonstrate their unlimited creativity and
bespoke style. Leading the Poland’s glitter bunch is Apart (a name derived from
the initials of its owners, Adam and Piot Rączyń), a 100-outlet enterprise specializing in high-style silver and diamond jewellery and wedding rings. Next in line is the Poland’s longest-operating jewellery company, W. Kruk, a “since 1840” operation offering a over-reaching range of gold and silver
jewellery, gemstones and branded watches. The third largest player on the
market is Yes, a Poznań-based jewellery retailer operating over 70 franchise
outlets throughout the country. Over the years it come to be recognizes as a
brand that delivers inspirational yet affordable gemstone-studded silver and
gold necklaces, earrings, brooches and charms. 

A horde of well-known independent jewellery artists are also contributing to the
growing prestige of Polish design. Designers such as Maryla Dubiel, Jarosław
Westermark, Marcin Tymiński, Jan Suchodolski and Marcin Gronkowski, among
others, offer a kaleidoscopic diversity of lightweight ornaments that make a
strong statement. Working with precious metals and gems and a whole lot of
ingenuity, their creations represent a melange of tradition and modernity,
culture and nature.

Amber, an amorphous organic material found in abundance along the shorelines of the
Baltic Sea, has formed the base of a diverse range of jewellery designs. A
great example of this is Ambertop, a luxe jewellery label founded by Agata
Hryniewicz who says “amber reminds me of music: it’s full of passion,
charm and elegance”. First launching a flagship store on the tiny coastal
town of Braniewo in 1996, Hryniewicz’s hand-made ethereal creations fast became
a firm favorite of sophisticates in the know, so much so that the company set
up a second outlet in the French city of Bordeaux a year later. ”

“Nowadays, the jewellery market is swamped with cheap and tacky pieces, so the priority of
creating something unique is becoming ever more important,” says
Hryniewicz. Definitely standing out from the crowd, her line of exquisitely
sculpted and detailed necklaces, pendants, bracelets and rings, among others,
all merge natural materials like corals, pearls and especially amber with gold,
silver and copper. “Creating hand-crafted jewellery that is not just a
product but a piece of art has been my life-long passion and some people say
that having a passion is like having a second life.”