Highlights from #PLDSGN: Up-and-Coming Designers from Poland at WantedDesign
An exhibition and pop-up at WantedDesign in Manhattan is spotlighting emerging Polish design, from ceramics to jewelry and even toys. Titled #PLDSGN: Up-And-Coming Designers from Poland, the exhibit is presented by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, an organization dedicated to showcasing Polish arts and culture on the international level. Throughout the exhibit, one trend is clear: a growing preference for sustainable manufacturing and the reduction of environmental impact.
Goods will be for sale at WantedDesign at the Terminal Stores in Manhattan through May 21, and at WantedDesign’s IC Store in Brooklyn from May 23 through June 13. The presentation coincides with the Institute’s launch of its Guide to Polish Design, a comprehensive online document surveying a century of Polish design. Here are five highlights from the exhibition.
Read more: Highlights from WantedDesign Brooklyn
Look at Me Plates by Magda Pilaczynska
Illustrator and designer Magda Pilaczynska adorns each of her porcelain dishes with spirited graphics and gilded detailing. Look at Me Plates measure 25 inches across and are equipped with a hanger, so they’re suited to walls as well as tables. Plus, each piece is unique—Pilaczynska crafts and fires each one by hand.
Bubble 06 lamp by UAU Project
To sustain its goal of zero waste and zero emission, UAU Project generally makes its products to order—like this Space Age-inspired lamp, Bubble 06, which the company designed and 3D printed in recyclable bioplastic at its Warsaw studio.
Bangle Bag No. 2 by ATOMY
ATOMY’s line of exclusively hand-sewn bags use only regional materials and plants, and none of it goes to waste. Take, for example, its Bangle Bag No. 2, which is handcrafted of fully organic, vegetable-tanned cowhide leather. It sports a robust wax coating for water resistance, along with a pair of circular 3D-printed handles that lend the tote its name.
Carbon jewelry by bro.Kat
Strongly influenced by its roots in Europe’s Silesia region, design collective bro.Kat forays into fashion with a new collection of carbon jewelry referencing the region’s days as a wealthy exporter of coal. It’s a project befitting the company’s name, which is both a nod to its home city of Katowice and a play on words, translating, roughly, to “black gold.”
Espresso cups by Fenek
At only four centimeters tall, these artisanal cups by Fenek are perfectly scaled for espresso. Handcrafted in porcelain, each features a small face—one of the Warsaw-based studio’s several hallmarks—along with quirky glazes in a range of abstract patterns.
Read more: Q&A With WantedDesign Co-founders Odile Hainaut and Claire Pijoulat
