Ewa Solarz (b. 1974) – graduated from Warsaw University with a degree in art history. She worked at the Centre for Contemporary Art Zamek Ujazdowski and then for several years as a journalist for a leading Polish interior-design magazine before starting www.domplusdom.pl, an interior design website that focuses on do-it-yourself projects.
She has collaborated with Lodz Design Festival in Poland, where she was responsible for ‘Edukracja’, the edu-creation part of the festival that is geared towards children. She guided the children through the exhibitions, organised workshops and arranged a special playground space furnished with design objects. In 2012, Ewa curated an exhibition on Polish design, ‘Must Have from Poland’ at Ventura Lambrata, part of the Salone Internazionale del Mobile in Milan (Italy).
‘D.E.S.I.G.N. Domestic Equipment: Sleek, Ingenious, Groundbreaking, Noteworthy’ is her first book and focuses on a precise selection of 69 objects created by influential industrial designers from around the world. Solarz shares anecdotes about the inspiration behind these famed objects coupled with practical information such as what the materials used are in production, the company they were commissioned for and the year they were created. Originally geared towards children, this publication is a fun read for anyone with an interest for industrial design.
With World Industrial Design Day just weeks away, the Icsid Secretariat team reached out to Ewa Solarz’s publishers at Dwie Siostry who provided us with some additional background about the book
Q: How did the creation of ‘D.E.S.I.G.N.’ begin?
Dwie Siostry, a Polish publishing house, released ‘H.O.U.S.E.’ a book for children on architecture, presenting 35 of the most extraordinary houses around the world. The book was so well received that a sequel about the objects you could find in a house seemed like a natural progression. Already having been familiar with Ewa’s work, Dwie Siostry approached her with the project and she agreed.
Ewa has always had the ambition to make design education a part of every child’s life. As a child, she rearranged all the furniture in her house once a week, in order to make it look nicer. It seemed appropriate that she pen the second book in our series.
Q: Any plans for more books, in this series or independently?
Last year, Ewa published a second book for children on design with Polish publishing house Wytwórnia. ‘Illustrated ABC of design: 100 objects drawn by 25 illustrators’ is a collaboration between herself and 25 young Polish illustrators who each draw in their unique style. Ewa selected 100 classic design objects and accompanied each with a short description, the year of its creation, the name of designer and the company for which it was designed.
Gecko Press has since published the English versions of H.O.U.S.E. and D.E.S.I.G.N. both originally published in Polish.
