As part of the WGW section, Craftica Gallery presents a solo exhibition by Zofia Sobolewska Ursic, an artist working at the intersection of craft, design and sculpture. The exhibition shows new works developing her original formal language.
The focus is on a series of works based on experiments with straw intarsia and spatial forms in wood and metal. The starting point is the object ‘La Nature est un temple’ – Nature is a temple, inspired by the work of Stanisław Wyspiański and a quotation from a Charles Baudelaire poem, combining utilitarian value with deep symbolism.
The exhibition explores contrasts: organicity juxtaposed with geometry, rawness with decorativeness, and tradition with modernity. The artist uses straw not only as a decorative material, but also as a vehicle for sculptural qualities and a subtle sensitivity to light.
The works are maintained in a subdued, natural colour palette, and floral motifs have been transformed in a poetic and metaphorical way. The exhibition encourages reflection on the role of ornament, craft values and new ways of defining utilitarian objects in the context of contemporary art.
The collection opens with a cabinet made of raw, hand-carved oak, whose dark texture is contrasted by a luminous surface achieved through straw marquetry. This utilitarian piece of furniture combines elements of folk art with bourgeois aesthetics to create a narrative of the shared and complex history of social classes, underlined by the artist’s personal commitment.
Five objects will be presented at the exhibition: the second edition of the cabinet and, as a premiere, a dressing table, a chariot, a casket and a table. All of the works are decorated with straw marquetry, and wood (oak and black poplar topiary) and aluminium have been used to make them.
Zofia Sobolewska Ursic (b. 1982) lives and works in Krakow. She studied architecture at the Universität für angewandte Kunst (die Angewandte) in Vienna, under the direction of Wolf D. Prix, Zaha Hadid and Hernan Diaz Alonso, among others.
In her artistic practice, she uses a variety of materials such as wood, glass, metal, stone and straw, exploring their properties and meanings. She acquired and perfected the skill of marquetry with straw at the prestigious Parisian Ateliers Lison de Caunes, with the granddaughter of André Groult, one of the masters of this technique in the art déco era.
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The curatorial text was prepared by Adrian Madlener:
Pastoral Posture
Marking a shift from the opulent ornamentation of the Victorian era to the geometric purity of high modernism, the Art Nouveau style of the early 20th century emerged as a form of softening this turn. Its proponents sought to balance the technological advances of the Second Industrial Revolution by reintroducing motifs drawn from nature and re-establishing long-established craft practices that had been almost entirely supplanted by these innovations. Others, on the other hand, saw this romanticised episode as a way of reclaiming a distinct identity, especially on a collective level.
In Poland, the movement coincided with Peasantomania, a phenomenon characterised largely by the superficial adoption of elements of rural life, closer contact with nature and tradition, by the urban elite in order to reinforce a divided national image. The country was marked by a long period of geographical divisions and foreign invasions. This state of affairs continued to shape its position for much of the 20th century.
A versatile artist, Stanislaw Wyspianski sought to explore the spirit of the age on a much deeper, inner level: using folkloric symbolism as a tool to analyse the existential dimensions of self-determination. He challenged earlier attempts that had proved ineffective in this regard – those that pejoratively pigeonholed peasants as naïve. In contrast, the artist sought to fully appreciate this marginalised community as the fullest embodiment of Polish virtues and perseverance. In works such as Wesele (The Wedding), a drama recounting the marriage of a peasant woman to a representative of the Kraków intelligentsia, Wyspiański sought to expose the weak link between the urban elite and the peasantry that they were ostensibly meant to represent, but ultimately failed to truly embody. Much of the set design used exaggerated symbolism in the form of satire.
For contemporary designer Zofia Sobolewska Ursic, also a versatile artist, it was the candid, almost scientifically accurate floral motifs that Wyspianski painted in the Basilica of St Francis of Assisi in Kraków that attracted her to his work. “In a way, these decorative panels don’t fit in with the surroundings,” she explains. “I’ve always been fascinated by this critical tension.”
Contrast is an obsession that has shaped much of her career, as she combines her training in modern design technologies gained at university with her practice of straw marquetry at Ateliers Lison de Caunes, heir to the renowned French master of the Art Deco era, André Groult. The juxtaposition of opposites, both in material and technique, remains for her a way of expressing a deeper meaning and conveying stories with which one can identify. Sobolewska Ursic achieves credibility by embedding and distilling these experiments into legible forms: recognisable furniture and objects.
“Straw is a material with many dimensions,” – Sobolewska Ursic says. “Historically it was used as roofing and insulation in country houses. In the marquetry technique, it has long been used as a luxurious surface finish. One application is durable, the other delicate.”
It is undergoing a transformation. It begins as a humble raw material, only to be transformed into a rich, luxurious material. One could say that this is the most penetrating and yet concise, albeit subtle, demonstration of what Wyspianski ultimately wanted to express,
the inner expression of the peasant as the most authentic embodiment of Polishness. In honour of his work and innate commitment, Sobolewska Ursic has developed a holistic capsule collection of functional artworks that fully embody the contrast between symbolic folklore and bourgeois furnishings.
Cabinets, screens and other furniture typologies were decorated with innovatively cut and intricately applied intarsia motifs made of straw. The roughly chiseled and carved blocks of wood, the legs of the booths and tables, act as a contrasting element, introducing a visible but subtly marked tension, much like the set design of Wyspianski’s Wedding. There is something distinctly Art Nouveau about this endeavour, and not just as a nostalgic interpretation or social commentary, but also as a way of slowing down the relentless and uncontrollable march of technological progress. At a time when fears about the dominance of artificial intelligence are becoming increasingly justified, there is a growing collective need for the familiar and the tangible. There is an increasing search for physical objects that have real, personal meaning, rather than those that merely outwardly manifest an aspirational conformist attitude.
And yet there is less and less of a need to display these mementos in a spectacular manner, as was the case in the stately homes of Krakow’s intelligentsia in the early 20th century. The doors of the cabins were traditionally fitted with glass panes in order to fully display the contents: to demonstrate their wealth and knowledge. On the contrary, Sobolewska Ursic’s cabins are completely closed and their contents fully concealed.
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Adrian Madlener is a Brussels-born, New York-based journalist specialising in collectible and sustainable design. He focuses on topics showcasing the best examples of craft-based experimentation and regularly contributes to magazines such as Architectural Digest, Cultured, Domus, Dezeen, Dwell, Hypebeast, FRAME and Wallpaper*. Madlener is also the author of monographs on Italian polymath Vincenzo De Cotiis and Czech architectural firm Chybik Kristof, and has curated exhibitions on the history of American design, contemporary glass, falsy kat culture and tool theory. He has advised numerous architectural studios, design brands and cultural institutions. He recently co-founded a sub-stack dedicated to design criticism EXT.RUDE.D. Madlener graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven and from the Parsons / Cooper Hewitt master’s programme in design history.
WGW 2025: 19-21 September 2025
the exhibition runs until 28 September, 11am – 7pm.
The exhibition is presented in the space of Studio Jaskółka in Warsaw, at Warecka 8 / entrance from Kubusia Puchatka Street.
source: Craftica Gallery
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