Discovering the Future of Poland through Design Innovation

As one of the countries in Central Europe, Poland has shown its amazing progress in the last 30 years since the end of the communist era. In this period, the Polish have emerged to be one of the most progressive countries in terms of economic growth. Their policy of economic liberalisation has helped them become the sixth largest in the European Union with the GDP per capita at purchasing power parity growing on average by 6 per cent over the last 20 years. The country that was once known for its grim historical background stemming from second world war is now becoming one of the leaders in the continent. Last September, Indonesia Design was invited by the Embassy of the Republic of Poland to visit the country to experience its latest innovation through design and technology.

Although the bilateral relationship between Indonesia and Poland was officially established in 1955, the historical links between Poland and Indonesia have existed since the colonial era of the Dutch East Indies in the 19th century where many Polish people began to migrate to East Indies. Did you know that Medan’s airport Polonia was named after Poland? The airport was built on a tobacco plantation that was once owned by Baron Michalsky in 1872, a polish immigrant that named his estate “Polonia”, a Latin name for Poland.

From 1955 until now, the bilateral relationship between the two countries has been strengthened through trade and investment. Poland mainly sells machinery, military equipment and weapons, and chemicals to Indonesia, and buys coal, textiles, wooden furniture, crude palm oil and agricultural products from Indonesia. On November 2018, this great bilateral relationship was further strengthened by the opening of the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH) in Indonesia with a mission to enhance the commercial ties between the two countries. In this current time, the relationship has increased to other sectors such as cosmetic, R&D, education, culture, energy and tourism. With a population reaching more than 37 million people, Poland is Indonesia’s largest trading partner from Central Europe, with a bilateral trade value reaching US$640 million.

In terms of design, Poland has an extensive list of designers and artisans known worldwide. Big names from furniture designer Jozef Chierowski (366 Armchair and founder of 366 Concept), architect Daniel Liebskin (master plan architect for the reconstruction of the World Trade Center site in Lower Manhattan) and Andrzej M. Choldzynski (designer of Plac Wilsona of the Warsaw Metro), to design brands such as 366 Concept (retro furniture), Reserved (a retail fashion brand founded by Marek Piechocki and Jerzy Lubianiec), and YES (a jewellery company founded by Magda Kwiatkiewicz) are just a few examples of Poland’s design power. Another big Polish company, INGLOT, founded by Wojciech Inglot in 1983 has even been established in Indonesia. This cosmetic company has been known to create makeup design through their extensive colour collection and 400 shades of nail polish.

During this one-week journey, Indonesia Design was taken to Warsaw and Gdansk where we met with many great practitioners of various industries and experienced their future innovation in technology and design. We also visited great museums with award-winning architecture design to have a better understanding of the history of Poland. Based on this short trip to Poland, we were impressed by the tenacity of the Polish as a nation as well as their great achievement in developing advanced technology for the future. The country continues to produce great talents in this field that keeps the spirit of Marie Curie alive through many breakthroughs. During our meeting with the representative of the Ministry of Entrepreneurship and Technology, we learned that Poland is using their advanced technology to develop the space program through their institution called Polish Space Agency that was established on 26 September 2014.

There are so many great things about Poland from historical sites to the new creations that we have discovered on this trip. It is also interesting to learn the similarity between Indonesians and the Polish. Both nations are filled with warm and hospitable people. We smile after hearing “Apa Kabar?” in the same manner that “Dzien Dobry!” will put a smile to every Polish who hears it.