One hundred images showcasing a century of Polish history and culture are headed to Toronto this month for the 2020 DesignTO Festival.
Illustrated by the country’s best graphic designers, The ABCs of Polish Design is an exhibition curated by Ewa Solarz and organized by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute.
The exhibition merges past and present, interpreting the heritage of Polish design through the lens of contemporary Polish graphics. Each object in the display will be accompanied by a corresponding graphic design created by 25 Polish illustrators.
This group of visual artists includes people at various stages of their careers from experienced masters of the Polish school of illustration to emerging and established designers, and recent graduates.
The exhibit includes items traditionally associated with design like furniture, glass, and porcelain, as well as fonts, logos and kids’ toys.
The pieces also vary in ubiquity with more singular contemporary designs, such as art objects and prototypes that have never entered mass production, alongside popular pieces that have been used daily by Poles for the last 100 years.
The objects are presented in chronological order, highlighting the way certain materials, topics and forms recur throughout the last 100 years of Polish design.
The ABCs of Polish Design can be visited from January 18 to February 16, 2020 at The Bakery (2 Fraser Avenue).