Joanna, Ewa, Elżbieta, Iza, Dorota and Ina or about the shapes and decorations of Newlook sets and other porcelain utensils

Where can I buy it?! when we see it in stores! — in the decade of the 1960s, such comments filled the souvenir books of the Poznań Fair. The dishes presented at the stands of Polish porcelain factories aroused delight and desire to own. New designs, especially coffee and tea services, were part of the global aesthetic trend under the “New Look” sign. Asymmetric forms, esovate lines of vessel profiles, expressive colors and abstract decorative paintings. Usually given female names — Ewa, Iza, Dorota — they were proposals by young designers who, following Wanda Telakowska's slogan “everyday beauty for all”, tried to change the face of Polish design. This group included artists associated with the Institute of Industrial Design in Warsaw, as well as a number of others. Lubomir Tomaszewski, Danuta Duszniak, Eryka Trzewik-Drost, Adam Sadulski, Józef Septembre, Gabriela Hoffmann- Śleżewska signed the original services, vases and fine porcelain haberdashery. At that time, their names remained unknown to the recipients, today we restore their rightful place.

Barbara Banàs — PhD in Art History, certified curator of the National Museum in Wrocław, heads the Department of Ceramics and Contemporary Glass, deputy director of the MnWR. For more than 20 years he has specialized in the study of the history of Polish design and artistic craft. She participated in many pioneering projects, including in 2000 in the preparation of the exhibition “Common Things. Polish products 1899—1999” (Warsaw, Cracow). For many years she collaborated with the periodical “2+3D”, publishing articles presenting silhouettes of Polish glass and ceramic designers. She is one of the co-authors promoting Polish design achievements and the album publication “Out of the Ordinary” prepared by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. Polish Designers of the 20th Century”. Author of the bestselling article on Polish ceramics of the “thaw” period — “Polish New Look” (2011, 2019 — 2nd ed.). She is the curator of many exhibitions devoted to Polish design and artistic craft, including, among others, the author of the permanent exhibition “Miracle Creator” at the National Museum in Wrocław and monographic exhibitions by Zbigniew Horbowy, Jerzy Słuczan-Orkusz, Erika and Jan Drostów, and recently the exhibition “Glass biographies. Polish designers 1945-2020” (1st prize in the 3rd competition museum book of the year 2024) and “The Big Four and Others. Ceramic chamber sculpture in the People's Republic of Poland” (2024).