Polish Design Season: A collective of young Polish designers presented the Polska Folk exhibition as part of Tent London during the London Design Festival last month.

The exhibition, curated by Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka, included furniture, lighting, graphics, products and architecture influenced by traditional Polish folk patterns and craft techniques.

Kafti Design work with local manufacturers and Polish companies to produce their lights, such as the Estrella lamp (second image) and the Moth lamp (above), both made from polypropylene.

Roosters Carpet by Joanna Rusin and Agnieszka Czop is made up of multi-coloured cut-outs in the shape of roosters that can be pulled out and repositioned, changing the layout of the rug.

Joanna Rusin and Agnieszka Czop also designed a striped rug made up of varying depths of coloured strips of felt, which when put together form a rug with a wavy surface.

T-shirt designers Chrum exhibited their designs Fish & Chicks (above) and Let's Make Love (below).

Maple Chair (below) from Platform is a stackable plywood and painted steel chair whose design is taken from the form of a Maple leaf.

Sentimental Wreath (below) by Bogdan Kosak is a series of porcelain objects including vases, candlesticks and a jewellery stand.

Polish Expo 2010 Exposition Pavilion concept (below) by WWAA Architects has an impregnated, CNC-cut plywood façade mounted on a steel construction.

Folk carpet (below) by AZE Design is inspired by traditional weaving techniques that still exist today. Folk motifs were taken and modified to resemble pixelated computer graphics and screen printed onto the Baize rug.

Piotr Stolarski at Gogo Design designed Log Clock (below), a series of clock mechanisms embedded into planks of wood.

Consumers would then saw off and customise as many clocks as they need.

See our previous story on Log Clock.

Trunks (above), by Malafor, are stainless steel and oak stools with attached handles. See our previous story Here.

The Wreath Lamp by Agnieszka Lasota is based on a traditional wreath placed on the roof of a newly constructed building.

See our previous story on The Wreath Lamp.

Ladder (above) by Malafor is a raised seat made of wood, aluminium and felt.

Here's some info about the exhibition:

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Polska FOLK
Young Polish designers will exhibit as part of the London Design Festival. At Tent London, a group of young Polish designers will present a show as part of POLSKA! YEAR.

Polska FOLK will present a series of new designs that illustrate the influence of folk motifs and techniques on contemporary Polish design, decorative arts and architecture. It is an attempt to provide a synopsis and gather in one place a selection of works inspired by folk art and crafts, form, materials, ornament, technical solutions and poetic folklore.

It will be among the first comprehensive presentations of Polish contemporary design in the UK. The invitation for Polish artists to take part in the festival shows that contemporary Polish design, well rooted in Poland’s heritage and cultural diversity, may be attractive to a sophisticated European audience. The traditional patterns used in Polish decorative arts make Polish design unique.

Materials and local crafts say a lot about Polish tradition and background. As a result of this, Polish design has a clear identity and meaning while being at the same time a part of the European design mainstream. This is confirmed by the international awards won by some of the works exhibited here.

Polska FOLK will present products manufactured in limited editions, one-off designs and prototypes, designs waiting to be discovered as well as a selection of well known Polish designs. Some of the exhibits presented have already achieved international acclaim, while others are still waiting for their turn. All of them deserve to be appreciated not only by the art connoisseurs but also by the public at large.

“Coming back to our roots and traditional techniques of production has been a strong trend in the last decade, not only in Poland but in all of Europe. It’s about looking for your own identity, diversity and uniqueness, coming back to the local and regional at the time of globalization and mass media. This phenomenon can be observed not only in industrial design - but also in fashion, music and cuisine” – says the curator of the exhibition, Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka – “At the exhibition, we present the most interesting works inspired by Polish culture and crafts, especially by their simple folk roots. The artists are fascinated by rural ornamental motifs – laces, colourful stripe patterns, paper cuts, aprons, traditional forms and natural materials. However, they look at their heritage with irony and humour, with no excessive solemnity. The exhibition presents achievements of designers belonging to the 30-something generation. This is the most interesting group of Polish designers. Educated after the transformation in Poland, the majority of them also produce and promote their own work. The common features of the selected objects are, most of all, the emotion and humour they display.”

The exhibition will show work from: Malafor, Joanna Rusin and Agnieszka Czop, Aze Design, Agnieszka Lasota, Platform, Chrum, Kafti, Bogdan Kosak, GOGO as well as the architectural design of the Polish pavilion for the EXPO 2010.

Polska FOLK is organised by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute in Warsaw and the Regional Museum in Stalowa Wola (Poland), with the support of the city of Stalowa Wola.
Curator of the exhibition: Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka

Follow all our stories about Polish design this month in our special category. More details about Polish Design Season on Dezeen here.