Polish Design - Ada Piekarska - Com-mode

Nice piece of furniture by a Polish designer Ada Piekarska, called Com-mode after Polish word komoda meaning dresser.

Polish Design - Jami Jami packaging by Krzysztof Zdunkiewicz

Original package design concept by Polish designer Krzysztof Zdunkiewicz.
via Łowcy Dizajnu

Polish Design - Maria SC Lamp by Pani Jurek

Maria SC is a pretty amazing lamp by Polish designer Pani Jurek from Gang Design made out of ...test tubes. As you see on the pics you cand do preety amazing things with it - pour colourful liquids in, keep your plants... The name of the lamp pays tribute to the most famous Polish scientis, Maria Skodowska-Curie (yes, she was Polish, her husband Pierre Curie was French). The shape of the lamp was inspired by Art Deco forms.

Poduszak Seat by Tabanda

Tabanda is a a Polish design studio created by (former) architects, specializing in wooden furniture. I already posted about them here, this time I'll focus on one piece of furniture called Poduszak. Poduszka in Polish  means pillow, therefore the name suggests comfortable, cushion-based seating. The whole trick is that the little cushions inside the seat can be taken out and swapped, enabling the user to transform it in a numerous way.

Cube seat made of eight modules of braided birch plywood. Overlapping parts create empty square-shaped areas giving room for soft cushions. Thanks to cushions the seat is comfortable and takes on an interesting, individual look. The cushions may be arranged in various colour and textural compositions, depending on your likings and mood. It is for this particular reason that this piece of furniture can go through countless transformations.

La Urna by LessDesign

Those of you who follow Say Hi! on facebook already know I was at Arena Design in Poznań last week. Obviously, I came back with a bag full of leaflets and business cards and my iPhone's full of photos. One of the first designs I want to show is a little unusual, because it concerns the one aspect of life, we try to avoid talking bout - dying. La Urna is an urn, design by a Polish design squad (as they call themselves) LessDesign. Ceramic vase is supposed to help you keep the best memories of the person, once present in your life. You can apply photos to it, it visually enhances the interior because of the modern shape it has. Would I like to use it myself? I'm not sure. But it enters the world of ugly coffins and gold ornaments, willing to change it.
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Smaki Podlasia by Monika Ostaszewska-Olszewska

Smaki Podlasia - The Falvours of Podlasie - is an original concept of packaging created by Monika Ostaszewska-Olszewska for regional products from Podlasie. The series won a number of awards, to be followed by another one. On Monday Monika won the Debuts category at the Art Of Packaging 2011, the biggest package design competition in Poland.

Kameleon Design Studio at Art Of Packaging

Everyone was talking about the Oscars today and I receieved a call from the organizers of the Art Of Packaging competition. Kameleon Design Studio (that I'm an Art Director of) was nominated for the Polish Oscars of package design. The competition is tough, so I'm not saying we will win, but it's good to be among the best. We are nominated in two categories for two series of premium fish products. I have already mentioned the Connoisseur Seafood series (salmon and caviar), but there is also the one above. Selection of herring packaging for Contimax Selection.

Pomoc Domowa by Brandy Design

Brandy Design is a Polish studio specializing in package design. They just sent us their new piece of work, series of packaging for a new brand Pomoc Domowa (Daily Help). Brandy came up with the name and all of the package design for the line. The use of colour referrs to products seen at construction sites, yellow and black are usually associated with warning signs. The logo features picture of a woman, that reminds me of old communist propaganda posters, which I guess was intentional. In general the whole line shares the design concept for Organic Drop, both based on similar typography layout.

Wallstreet's Corporate Identity for Argo

Last night I participated in an event dedicated to interactive design - Interactive Day, organised by a Krakow based agency Pride&Glory and Tischner European University. I watched two parts of it and will probably write about both. The first one was a short lecture by Wallstreet Different Creature, showcasing their design work, mostly examples of corporate identity. Some of them were really interesting, including their CI for Argo, landscaping company. Part of the message from Wallstreet to young students was to try finding an interesting idea while working on logos and corporate identity, rather than simply focusing on good looking elements an typography. The idea for Argo was to combine the name with elements of nature and landscape. In the end the name of the company is composed of shapes cut out of leaves. You may argue over the originality of the idea but the overall effect is very aesthetic. Which means I am approaching this from a graphic point of view, rather than the creative aspect.

I am going to post one more example of their work later on, but in general I had the impression that while they had some really (really) interesting design ideas while given absolute freedom, it wasn't always as convincing when they had to work with a demanding client. What I mean is that very often graphic designers have to work with clients who operate on the market and there are number of factors that have to be included in the design work. So you're not entirely free to go ahead with the most crazy and creative ideas, you are somewhat tamed by the reality. But I do admire the work that pushes the limits or expresses one's point of view. And Wallstreet's work often does just that.

Natalia Gruszecka's Porcelain

In ♥ with the ceramics by Natalia Gruszecka...

Joanna Łyczek's Carpet

Very folky, very trendy. Carpet design by a Polish designer Joanna Łyczek.

Plywood furniture from TABANDA

Today I went through a little internet horror, as my emails got hacked and spammed all the contacts from my adressbooks with a dramatic cry for help from Madrit, were - supposedly - I had been held at gunpoint, robbed and thus asked for financial help. Both my emails were reset and as a result I was also blocked from accessing Blogger, until the whole situation got cleared.

Shortly then I'll just say that the above set of furniture follow the recent trend to rediscover plywood. It was designed and made by a Polish studio TABANDA (created by former architects maugosia malinowska filip ludka i tomek kempa).

Glamstore - IBIZA series

Recently there has been a lot of fuss around folk inspired designs. But I have a feeling that sometimes it's just an easy way to spruce up your design - by adding couple patterns copied from google picture library. I love designs that really rely on culture and take it seriously. I remember posting on The Dieline package design by Monika Ostaszewska, who took time to research the folk culture of Podlasie region in Poland and apply it to her packaging concept, based on a typical pattern of double-warp fabrics from Podlasie Region. Her concept won several awards, proving it is worth to dig deeper.
I don't know much about the design above - furniture pieces sold in Glamstore - but I do appreciate the intricate work put into painting of patterns. Really beautiful.

Log Clock

Raw log of pinewood with clocks. Cut off as many as you need. By gogo.

Crocheted Carpet by OOdesign

HOW it works: 8 hexagons connected in a tricky way so that you can lay them flat to form a carpet or pile them to use as a sitting cushion. WHAT it is made of: old clothes (T-shirts, fleeces etc) cut into stripes and then crocheted. By OOdesign.

Puff-Buff Inflated Lamps

Have you ever seen inflatable lamps? I have, recently. They're fantastic. Slightly expensive, but soooo original. By puff-buff design. Check out few more pics after the break.

Felt and Cardboard Animals by Boogie Design

I have a thing for sheep. Every time i go to ireland i end up taking photos of the sheep. My brother thinks I'm a freak, and perhaps I am, but these animals stole my heart. This cuuuute cardboard version is soon to be sold on-line by boogie-design. They usually make things from felt, like the slippers for children featured above, but I hope the sheep will start a new chapter in their designing.

Paulina Ptasznik - Recycled Furniture

Two weeks ago I published a short post about amazing work by Katie Thompson. I am still impressed by the way she turns old and sometimes devastated objects into new and desirable pieces of furniture. I was surprised to see something - well, more than similar - by Paulina Ptasznik, graduate of Fine Arts Academy in Poznan. No matter who came up with the idea of using suitcase to build an armchair first - I still ♥ it.

Clocks by AT Design

Do you like the classic clocks by George Nelson? You might like these as well. They were made by AT Design (their website is yet to come) and the whole trick is that the colourful pieces can be moved on the clock as they have a magnetic tape underneath.

Babees Honey

Hello and welcome back to our daily design updates! I am back from Poznań and arena design and both my head and camera are full of incredible pictures of the best Polish design. I need to unpack and get organised first though, so for now I'm going to leave you with another example of great package design by Ah&Oh Studio - their babees honey. I think it's pretty delicious.