From multifunctional wardrobe to Cepelia – post-war furniture designs by Wladyslaw Sowicki from 1945 to 1954

Abstract

The aim of the article is to discuss and present Władysław Sowicki’s post-war furniture designs, which were created in the years 1945–1954. The standardization of residential interiors in the period in question forced designers to change their approach to designing furnishings for the spaces created according to normative standards. People began to move away from large furniture in favor of smaller, narrower, often multi-functional or segmented furniture that would fit the scale of new, small apartments. At that time, Sowicki started cooperation with the Production Aesthetics Supervision Office (BNEP - Biuro Nadzoru Estetyki Produkcji), later with the Institute of Industrial Design (IWP - Instytut Wzornictwa Przemysłowego), and with Cepelia (CPLiA - Centrala Przemysłu Ludowego i Artystycznego). As part of this cooperation, furniture designs were created in line with the design trends in force at that time - light, economical, functional, using modern raw materials. In this period Sowicki designed, popular multifunctional furniture sets made from bent plywood, consisting of upholstered armchairs with armrests called in Polish „ears”. All of these boasted modern aesthetics, “kidney-shaped” lines characteristic of the design of the 1950s and 1960s. A distinctive group of the designs commissioned by Cepelia, referes to the “exclusive rusticism” characteristic to interiors inspired by traditional workmanship.

The research method adopted for the purposes of the article included a library query, an analysis of the archival material owned by the Władysław Sowicki’s family, as well as a review of the scientific literature. All the furniture designs by Władysław Sowicki discussed in the article remain in the possession of the artist’s family.