Igor Polasiak: Crafting beauty in wood and stone
people • makers
Igor is dedicated to creating high-quality three-dimensional art in solid wood and stone. He has the privilege of collaborating with individuals who prioritize aesthetic values, a sense of beauty, and refinement in the arts. His expertise spans joinery, stone-cutting, antique restoration, elevation decorations, and sculptures, with a strong emphasis on attention to detail and professionalism as the foundation of his work.
WEBSITE: igorpolasiak.pl INSTAGRAM: @igorpolasiak.pl
Words: designeers
SEPTEMBER 2024
designeers
Can you give us an introduction to what you create? Describe how you make products with wood and stone?
igor polasiak
I design furniture, utilitarian objects and sculptures. Raw but detailed, structural but emphasising the beauty of the material, utilitarian but from the realm of art. I guess that's how I see it.
These are objects that are based on Japanese carpentry joints, without nails, screws and often without glue as well. I have long been fascinated by this way of thinking about carpentry. I am constantly trying to develop these skills. It gives me the freedom to create and the certainty that these objects will last a very long time.
designeers
What drew you to this type of work and how did you get into this field?
igor polasiak
Being a child I always had a lot of activities - I went to music school, art high school, then the Academy of Fine Arts. This time was very developing for me. One day I was given the opportunity to sculpt in clay and I momentarily realised that this was it. Later on in my studies I had the opportunity to work in various materials: stone, ceramics, metal and finally wood, which has stayed with me ever since. Although I must admit that stone in my first year of academia was also very interesting for me. Nowadays I occasionally glance at this material, but rather sporadically.
After the academy, I worked as a carpenter and learnt the craft, but the resulting objects were kind of incomplete, something was missing. I'm always looking for something that makes my heart beat harder, something that impresses me and that's how I came across Japanese craftsmanship. Japanese craftsmanship changed the way I thought about design and the object itself. It was like a key word for randomly scattered letters. Then I decided to open my own studio.
There are a lot of values running through my life enlisted from when I went to music school, played guitar, piano. There, perfecting every musical phrase and craftsmanship was a daily occurrence, hundreds of hours of practice, and it shaped me and made me not afraid of challenges or hard work, to be honest, I love working hard, it makes everything make sense.
designeers
A design piece or object you are currently working on?
igor polasiak
Apart from commissions for clients, I am currently working on a chair made from Padouk wood. It is a high-back chair and is probably the most sculptural utilitarian object I am working on so far. I think it's hard to describe it clearly, you'll have to see it.
designeers
Where do you draw most of your inspiration? Are there any locations, spaces or items that inspire you?
igor polasiak
Inspiration comes from outside. Often on short trips to the mountains with my wife, we collect stones in streams. We treat it as a momentary respite, but it takes us an hour. Often these stones have such incredible shapes and structures. I already have two big boxes of these stones. Nature and its richness is an inspiration. When I go to my wood supplier I always look for a board from a random species of wood that appeals to me. It doesn't have to be perfect, on the contrary, its non-perfection is what I look for. Often such boards linger in warehouses for a very long time because nobody wants them. I have several such boards and when the time comes for one of them, it suddenly becomes clear that it is going to become a sculpture or a piece of furniture. I'm not the kind of artist who designs and then looks for the material to make an object out of. For me, it has to be a contact and conversation with already existing matter. Then I propose something and matter responds, and I believe that this is when we touch what we call the truth.
“I'm not the kind of artist who designs and then looks for the material to make an object out of. For me, it has to be a contact and conversation with already existing matter.”
igor polasiak
designeers
Your favourite piece you’ve created to date:
igor polasiak
I'm usually very critical and distrustful of my work, but there are some that I look at and feel that I didn't make them. And those are the best ones for me. Certainly one of the sculptures in the series " The power of things" but also chairs or a bench.
designeers
What do you do when youre not working and how do you maintain a good work / life balance?
igor polasiak
There is a problem with artists. I have a constant sense of living in constant immersion, constant thinking. Every trip to rest brings inspiration and pulls me back to work, every day at work leaves me drained of inspiration and in need of rest. If we can call this a good balance then mine is this. I grew up in the cult of work, it shaped me. I work all day into the evening, but without rushing. Anyone can come to me, talk to me, sit down to have a coffee, I'm available but still at work.
designeers
On your coffee table right now?
igor polasiak
I'll be honest and admit that I haven't read fiction for a while, apart from fine professional literature. Currently "A Cabinetmaker's Notebook" by James Krenov.
designeers
Favourite hotel in the world:
igor polasiak
The Peninsula Tokyo.
designeers
Design hero:
igor polasiak
Sashimono Kenji Suda. When I look at his works, it definitely makes my heart beat harder. Not only for the fact that his boxes are beautiful, but also for the fact that they are perfectly crafted.
