Eclectic APARTMENT

This apartment belongs to me. It can serve well as an example of a space kept in an unusual style, where concrete walls and ceilings mix with stylised wooden doors, cornices, modern artworks and souvenirs. I cannot imagine a space lacking all these elements.

We can learn a lot about the owners from their 100m2. Starting in the hall, which turns into a long corridor running to the lounge, we have paintings, graphics and posters hanging on both walls. Graphics are a wedding gift from my university friend, graphic designer Aleksandra, and they moved with us to the new apartment. The posters, apart from bringing in additional artistic value (the so called ‘Polish poster school’ is surely known to everyone), are illustrating some of my favourite films: Frantic and Rosemary’s Baby. All that is complemented by an aboriginal painting my husband brought from Australia.

In our daughter’s room we hung another painting from Australia. We chose it with her. It shows a warrior from under an aboriginal holy mountain, Uluru. Next to the warrior hangs a painting by a young Polish artist: Paweł Słota. As soon as I saw this painting I knew I had to have it. It shows a dog that looks exactly like our dog Pele. It was obvious that I will contact the artist and the painting will hang above our daughter’s desk.

I waited for it for over a year and a half because it was travelling around different exhibitions across Poland but it was worth it. Another painting by this artist was my gift to my husband. For some time it hung in the office but now I found a spot for it on the concrete war in the lounge. This is what makes such rooms more flexible; a piece of an empty wall is a space where you can hang elements bought or obtained later. It is similar with every piece of the floor. It is good to have a foundation (a couch, a carpet…) and the rest will come with time. Just like an arm-chair, a classical piece of design, which I bought for my husband; like a gold bar, which we bought in an antique store in Krakow and carried, while walking our dog on a leash, through the whole old market square... Same case with a Spanish cupboard, which used to serve as a mini-bar but is now an ideal piece of furniture to showcase souvenirs: Japanese teapot, Israeli candlestick and others. A painting by Joanna Woyda hangs above the cupboard, one we bought six years ago.

It made me think about our home, seaside, early-summer. Now the painting hangs in the office, it gave its spot to another purchase – an inspiring photograph by Sonia Szóstak. Who knows what else will appear on our walls. Our friends, photographers from Sopot, keep showing us their photos. That is how we obtained beautiful Tuscan cypresses and a busy crossroad in Mea She’arim. Currently we also got some masks from different trips: one from Tibet and two from Venice. They hang on a concrete wall in the lounge. My love for posters is also exhibited through few designed by Młodożeńcy in the dining room and two by Dawid Ryski in our daughter’s room. I also found a way to draw from my passion: I placed a photograph of the Tatra Mountains in the shower, of Liliowe Pass and Kasprowy Wierch in winter. It might not be perfect but it is my own and it brings back pleasant memories. This is why I always tell the owners: “It does not have to be perfect”. It should just make them feel at home.