DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.23631#0106
102 in general and furniture design in particular. At the Milan Triennale oi interior design in 1957, Poland
presented styles adapted to the needs and requirements of the country's rapid development, which were
produced mainly by Oskar Hansen and Jolanta Owidzka. Shortly after, the art ol designing interiors,
furniture and fittings became closely linked with the work of architects and possibilities of the furniture
industry. An important role fell to the Institute of Industrial Design and the Institute of Timber Techniques
in Warsaw. In their search for simplicity and functionality, Polish designers frequently reached to
Scandinavian examples and often applied plastic and prefabricated elements. For small size Hals in standard
apartment houses new kinds of adjustable furniture were designed and quickly won popularity. As in
other crafts, open-air meetings were organized for furniture designers to facilitate exchange of
views and experiences and competitions were held. New concepts originated in academic centres, 111
particular in the Warsaw and Cracow Academies of Pine Arts. More interesting and original examples
of new furniture were shown at annual exhibitions. Again inspiration was sought in folk crafts, particularly
in the painting of the sub-Carpathian region. Young graduates of Antoni Kenar s school in Zakopane
attempted to shape pieces of furniture according to the rules of sculpture and wood-carving, carving
them out of solid massive blocks of wood, sometimes leaving the bark on, occasionally adding ornaments
in bas-relief. Many such 'sculptured' pieces of furniture were made by Wladyslaw Trojan, Antoni Rz^sa,
Andrzej Rochacki, Wladyslaw Pawlik and Andrzej Szczerba.
In jewelry, there was a departure from the traditional materials, gold, platinum, precious stones and
pearls, in favour of silver, amber, coral, semi-precious stones, enamel and copper. Search for new shapes,
colours and symbolic meanings was less evident here than in weaving, ceramics and glassware.
Nevertheless new shapes, colours and symbolical meanings were tried out, the mam influence being until
the year [970 the art of Max Ernst, Hans Arp, Giorgio de Chirico and Salvador Dali. Here also the
trend was to make jewelry primarily for exhibition display. Jewelry was to give pleasure to visitors viewing
exhibitions, not necessarily to satisfy their desire for personal adornment. Among the first to break with
traditional jewelry were Jadwiga Pruszkowska-Zaremska and Jcrzy Zaremski, who made objects in silver
and semi-precious stones, sometimes even ordinary stones. Olgierd Vetesco gave his jewelry sensitive,
restless Art Nouveau outline; Aleksander Kruszewski gave preference to a sculpture-like figurative style;
Mamert Celmihski turned to oriental art for inspiration; Danuta and Szczesny Kobielski developed an
original expressive style with frequent use of thin silver wire; Jerzy Sendlak made pieces of brilliant
colours with coral; Andrzej Ciechanowski produced mirror mosaics mounted in white metal or copper;
while Konstanty Tiutin favoured colourful mosaic compositions. Jewelry in pure style, free of all ornaments,
appeared after 1970. In recent years, technically excellent pieces of jewelry have been made by Joachim
Sokolski, who combines silver with various unconventional materials, such as titanium or acrylic; Jacek
Rochacki who skilfully associates tradition with modern requirements; Jacek Bys/.ewski who mounts
pieces of ivory, tortoise-shell and even leather in silver frames; Jacek Kobielski who links silver with mother-
of-pearl in soft biological shapes; Marcin Zaremski who makes brooches modelled on comic strips;
and Kuba Radomski who produces rings fashioned of extremely thin silver wire, set with minute feathers
clipped into various shape.
Interest in the latest styles in jewelry was reflected in special reviews organized in the Copper Museum
in Legnica in 1979 and 1980, and exhibitions held in the Warsaw Museum ol Artistic and Precision
Crafts. A small group of artists who called themselves the Museum Group (previously known as UFO)
was formed in 1980, and registered with the Polish Artists' Union. This group is associated with the
Goldsmith Art Museum in Kazimierz Dolny on the Vistula, opened the year before, mainly thanks to
Michal Gradowski, an art historian and well-known expert in the goldsmiths1 craft. The Museum Group,
which includes Warsaw artists only (Jacek Byszewski, Seweryna Gugala-Stolarska, Jolanta Oldachowska-
Ryba, Jacek Rochacki, Joachim Sokolski, Jerzy Stolarski and Jadwiga, Jcrzy, Lukasz, Marcin and I'omasz
Zaremski), organizes reviews and symposia, thereby establishing firm theoretical foundations for its
future development.
* ■* •*
In conclusion, let us reflect briefly on changes which the role of crafts has undergone in Poland
in the course of centuries.
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period, craftsmanship at its best served to
perpetuate and add splendour to both spiritual and temporal authority. Objects of artistic craftsmanship —
presented styles adapted to the needs and requirements of the country's rapid development, which were
produced mainly by Oskar Hansen and Jolanta Owidzka. Shortly after, the art ol designing interiors,
furniture and fittings became closely linked with the work of architects and possibilities of the furniture
industry. An important role fell to the Institute of Industrial Design and the Institute of Timber Techniques
in Warsaw. In their search for simplicity and functionality, Polish designers frequently reached to
Scandinavian examples and often applied plastic and prefabricated elements. For small size Hals in standard
apartment houses new kinds of adjustable furniture were designed and quickly won popularity. As in
other crafts, open-air meetings were organized for furniture designers to facilitate exchange of
views and experiences and competitions were held. New concepts originated in academic centres, 111
particular in the Warsaw and Cracow Academies of Pine Arts. More interesting and original examples
of new furniture were shown at annual exhibitions. Again inspiration was sought in folk crafts, particularly
in the painting of the sub-Carpathian region. Young graduates of Antoni Kenar s school in Zakopane
attempted to shape pieces of furniture according to the rules of sculpture and wood-carving, carving
them out of solid massive blocks of wood, sometimes leaving the bark on, occasionally adding ornaments
in bas-relief. Many such 'sculptured' pieces of furniture were made by Wladyslaw Trojan, Antoni Rz^sa,
Andrzej Rochacki, Wladyslaw Pawlik and Andrzej Szczerba.
In jewelry, there was a departure from the traditional materials, gold, platinum, precious stones and
pearls, in favour of silver, amber, coral, semi-precious stones, enamel and copper. Search for new shapes,
colours and symbolic meanings was less evident here than in weaving, ceramics and glassware.
Nevertheless new shapes, colours and symbolical meanings were tried out, the mam influence being until
the year [970 the art of Max Ernst, Hans Arp, Giorgio de Chirico and Salvador Dali. Here also the
trend was to make jewelry primarily for exhibition display. Jewelry was to give pleasure to visitors viewing
exhibitions, not necessarily to satisfy their desire for personal adornment. Among the first to break with
traditional jewelry were Jadwiga Pruszkowska-Zaremska and Jcrzy Zaremski, who made objects in silver
and semi-precious stones, sometimes even ordinary stones. Olgierd Vetesco gave his jewelry sensitive,
restless Art Nouveau outline; Aleksander Kruszewski gave preference to a sculpture-like figurative style;
Mamert Celmihski turned to oriental art for inspiration; Danuta and Szczesny Kobielski developed an
original expressive style with frequent use of thin silver wire; Jerzy Sendlak made pieces of brilliant
colours with coral; Andrzej Ciechanowski produced mirror mosaics mounted in white metal or copper;
while Konstanty Tiutin favoured colourful mosaic compositions. Jewelry in pure style, free of all ornaments,
appeared after 1970. In recent years, technically excellent pieces of jewelry have been made by Joachim
Sokolski, who combines silver with various unconventional materials, such as titanium or acrylic; Jacek
Rochacki who skilfully associates tradition with modern requirements; Jacek Bys/.ewski who mounts
pieces of ivory, tortoise-shell and even leather in silver frames; Jacek Kobielski who links silver with mother-
of-pearl in soft biological shapes; Marcin Zaremski who makes brooches modelled on comic strips;
and Kuba Radomski who produces rings fashioned of extremely thin silver wire, set with minute feathers
clipped into various shape.
Interest in the latest styles in jewelry was reflected in special reviews organized in the Copper Museum
in Legnica in 1979 and 1980, and exhibitions held in the Warsaw Museum ol Artistic and Precision
Crafts. A small group of artists who called themselves the Museum Group (previously known as UFO)
was formed in 1980, and registered with the Polish Artists' Union. This group is associated with the
Goldsmith Art Museum in Kazimierz Dolny on the Vistula, opened the year before, mainly thanks to
Michal Gradowski, an art historian and well-known expert in the goldsmiths1 craft. The Museum Group,
which includes Warsaw artists only (Jacek Byszewski, Seweryna Gugala-Stolarska, Jolanta Oldachowska-
Ryba, Jacek Rochacki, Joachim Sokolski, Jerzy Stolarski and Jadwiga, Jcrzy, Lukasz, Marcin and I'omasz
Zaremski), organizes reviews and symposia, thereby establishing firm theoretical foundations for its
future development.
* ■* •*
In conclusion, let us reflect briefly on changes which the role of crafts has undergone in Poland
in the course of centuries.
During the Middle Ages and the Renaissance period, craftsmanship at its best served to
perpetuate and add splendour to both spiritual and temporal authority. Objects of artistic craftsmanship —