The New School of Form by Li Edelkoort

The famous Dutch trend-setter is the director of a new school of design talent, opened last October in Poznan, that seeks to gain visibility on the international design map.

Poland's concrete and productive commitment to the world of industrial design continues and Designing The Future is an event organised for the official opening of Concordia Design, the first Polish Creative Centre for Business. The centre is an incubator that will gather and transform the ideas of promising young talents in an exceptional location—a 19th-century printing house in the heart of Poznan, Poland. There is, however, more. After a promotional tour of the Young Polish Design exhibition (also presented at the Milan Triennale in 2009), the region of Wielkopolska—in the west of the country, just two hours by train from Berlin—invited the famous trend-setter Lidewij Edelkoort to act as its ambassador and direct a new talent school with the delightful name School of Form, situated a few metres from the historic printing house, where courses commenced in late October with more than 150 students.

A branch of the School of Social Science and Humanities (SWPS), the School of Form is divided into the four disciplines of Industrial Design, Communication Design, Fashion Design and Domestic Design, innovatively combining the study of the Humanities with technical subjects to allow students to achieve recognised and accredited specialisations. Poznan is a city known for the historic Treaty, its tall narrow houses and chimneys that are always lit—at least in November. Now it seeks to gain visibility on the international design map following in the footsteps of the already renowned and successful, but less fascinating, Eindhoven.

Concordia Print Workshop is a laboratory dedicated to printing and graphics, shared by adults and children.

The opening of the centre was all-female save for the regional governor, Leszek Wojtasiak, who proudly cut the ribbon. A host of different activities, panels and workshops were organised for the Open Day of the new educational pole, including a lecture by Agnieska Jacobson-Cieleka, a curator and journalist already featured in the Unpolished Design exhibition, director of the Lodz Festival of Design and now director of the School of Form alongside Edelkoort. For the official opening, the team organised a packed agenda of presentations and workshops, bringing together key national names in design. The Polish Design exhibition project was created in collaboration with local and foreign businesses and curated by the designer Dorota Koziara, originally from Poznan but who works in the Navigli district of Milan and has a long professional relationship with the Atelier Mendini behind her. The exhibition presented objects by designers such as Tomek Rygalik and Tomek Augustyniak, as well as the results of cooperation between Polish company Noti—founded in 2005 and four years later awarded an honourable mention by the Red Dot Awards—and the students of the Faculty of Art and Design of Poznan University.

The logo for the New School of Form.

Oskar Zieta created an ad hoc installation entitled Fidu Football, reviewing different formulations of his collection, and the young Marta Krupinska exhibited her selection in Young Users. German company Schattdecor—also based in Poland—supports the design course with the excellent printing quality of its colourful decorative papers and Tomek Rygalik is present not only as a designer but also as curator of the Real Industry exhibition for Comforty, featuring the use of materials such as concrete and Corian. There was huge interest in Mothers of Invention, a project by the three "Ladies of Design" and an open dialogue between Patrizia Moroso and Patricia Urquiola, whose professional partnership is based on years of close and proven collaboration, curated by Lidewij Edelkoort who says "Patrizia and Patricia have a history of editing updated versions of classic forms. Ignoring the rules and definitions, they breathe new life into old genres, transforming a chair into movement, a sofa into a sculpture and a stool into a crystal. They see the furniture world as a landscape of islands and hills and interiors more as panoramas than decoration. These two women have totally transformed this previously male-dominated profession."

The centre is an incubator that will gather and transform the ideas of promising young talents in an exceptional location—a 19th-century printing house in the heart of Poznan, Poland.

A branch of the School of Social Science and Humanities (SWPS), the School of Form innovatively combines the study of the Humanities with technical subjects.

The list of workshops was long and partially targets the uninitiated, a way to draw in those who are curious about this world and involve the whole city. Do-It-Yourself conducted by Monika Jakubiak explored the omnipresence of the word design in today's world—from our morning cup of coffee to the pillow we fall asleep on at night passing via the car that takes us to work, the clothes we wear and our mobile phones. Another workshop was called Think Thang Family Workshop REmaking Things, conducted by Katarzyna Jankowska and Marta Klaus, who turned all kinds of old seemingly useless objects found lying around the house into fresh objects by adopting a method described by the curators as "PROJECT/PROCESS/PRODUCT", a sort of how-to module devoted to those who want to make things themselves.

<i>Marble Vox—Become a Designer for your Room</i> taught children to create unconventional pieces from what they found in their bedrooms. — *Marble Vox—Become a Designer for your Room* taught children to create unconventional pieces from what they found in their bedrooms.

Marble Vox—Become a Designer for your Room was for children and taught them to create unconventional pieces from what they found in their bedrooms. A workshop on printing and graphic design, Concordia Print Workshop, for adults and children both, gave everyone access to a super-equipped printing shop to satisfy all their 2D desires. Cut-outs With Robots conducted by Dorota Kabala, A! Open Experimental Arts and Design Studio by Dorota Bialeka with Marta Bialeka and Michal Szuszkiewcz and the atelier Ceramic Gingerbread directed by Olga Milczynska were all unmissable.

The <i>Marble Vox—Become a Designer for your Room</i> workshop. — The *Marble Vox—Become a Designer for your Room* workshop.

We now have to wait and see what this educational pole full of big promises and potential produces, a good dose of creativity with a two-way link to the most enlightened local businesses, open to Polish and foreign students alike. "We want to give students from all over the world a first-class education and, at the same time, broaden Poland's creative scene, which has, in just a few years, taken giant leaps in the world of industrial design and is gradually making a name for itself", stated the curator Agnieska Jacobson-Cieleka, who stressed "commitment and courage are not lacking. A few years ago, this school was just a dream but we worked hard and secured the financial support to achieve this great project. The programme will be serious and key. We want to do, and give the students on the course of the School of Form, a great deal."

Creativity and numbers are magically combined for these four specialisations at the School of Form. People here are talking about "business-designers". Is it a new expression we must come to terms with? Visit www.sof.edu.pl and follow its beating heart.
Maria Cristina Didero

The New School of Form by Li Edelkoort

The famous Dutch trend-setter is the director of a new school of design talent, opened last October in Poznan, that seeks to gain visibility on the international design map.

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