A new book examining the important role of women in Polish design, was published recently by Blueprint’s Product Editor Gian Luca Amadei. Discovering Women in Polish Design was launched on 23 September at the Young Creative Poland exhibition as part of London Design Festival. The launch was accompanied by a panel discussion ‘Discovering Polish Design’ chaired by Vicky Richardson, editor of Blueprint and included three of the designers featured in the book; Zuzana Skalska, Maja Ganszyniec and Ewa Gotebiowska.

Maja Ganszyniec by Dario Lombardi

The book contains interviews with women who are leading the fast-evolving design industry that until now has received little exposure in the west. Portraits were specially commissioned  from Vienna-based photographer  Dario Lombardi. 

 The design industry in Poland, through socio-political circumstances, has been largely dominated by women, who have been pushing and championing design against all the odds, through the war years, communism, social reform and now the expanding industrialisation brought by the free market economy since 1989. From Wanda Telekowska, who in 1950 initiated the Institute of Industrial Design in Warsaw, to Agnieszka Jacobson-Cielecka, Ewa Gołebiowska and Teresa Kruszewska, the history of Polish design is punctuated by these incredibly talented and passionate women who are striving to change the design consciousness of their country.

The book, through interviews and conversations with designers as well as leading women from the design industry, provides a snapshot of the burgeoning scene and how the women profiled in the book are leading the Polish design revolution.

Subscribers to Blueprint received a complimentary copy of the book with the October issue. Copies can be purchased for £17.99 from Amazon, The Wapping Project and will soon be available in all good design stores.