The ideal country for designers is one that promotes its design abroad, with the effectiveness of Italy or Switzerland, not Poland. And one where universities are approached by companies in search of projects and collaborations. And also one in which the country does not export wood at no cost, but leaves it for its own furniture industry, said designers during a discussion in the Salon of ‘Rzeczpospolita’ devoted to cooperation between the industrial design sector and business.
Cooperation increases brand reach
‘If we refer to the furniture industry, we are one of the few countries in Europe that has factories and is able to give the opportunity to cooperate with designers in terms of creating products that will be sold all over the world, we are the first in Europe and the second in the world distributor of furniture, so we have great potential,’ said Michał Mrożewski, owner of the PR agency Profundo, which cooperates with the brand Paged. He emphasised that the result of cooperation between designers and brands are products that are sold abroad at a higher rate.
The designers pointed out that design helps sell abroad, but also – the country's brand. One of the panellists pointed out that a Polish company produces its products in Pomerania, but thanks to a company in Switzerland – it sells these goods under the Swiss brand, which allows it to have a much greater sales range. 'This is the weakness of the Polish brand, it is enough to stick the Swiss flag and it improves the positioning of the products,' agreed the designers.
Is design appreciated in Poland?
It is important to be recognised abroad and to make the skills of production companies credible to the clients, but the atmosphere for industrial design and its recognition – in Poland – is also important.
'For me, an important moment was the opening of the permanent exhibition of Polish design achievements after '45 at the National Museum. This exhibition was opened several decades too late and the collection is too small, there are missing links in this chain,’ noted Paweł Kubara, design & marketing manager of the Comforty brand.
