This September, our work was presented in Paris as part of "The Matter of Earth: A New Generation of Polish Collectible Design", an exhibition bringing together a new generation of Polish artists and designers working across ceramics, glass, metal, textiles and other forms of contemporary craft.

Presented at the Institut Polonais in Paris during Paris Design Week 2026, the exhibition was a continuation of "From the Same Earth", a project initiated in 2024 at Villa Pniewski in Warsaw. The Paris edition expanded the original story with new artists, new commissions and a broader reflection on the role of material, craftsmanship and personal history in contemporary Polish design.

For us, being part of the exhibition was an opportunity to place Huba Studio’s work within this wider landscape and to see our objects in a completely new context — alongside artists and designers whose practices, although very different, share a sensitivity to material, process and the relationship between an object and the place from which it emerges.

A new generation of Polish collectible design

"The Matter of Earth" looks at contemporary Polish design through the practices of artists who are increasingly turning towards material, craft and processes rooted in the physical world. Clay, stone, metal, glass, linen and wool become more than simply materials for making objects. They carry memory, place and experience. Many of the artists presented in the exhibition draw inspiration from their homes, family histories and local landscapes, returning to traditional techniques while developing their own contemporary languages.

As curator Eleonora Bojanowska explains, this generation is interested in going back to the sources of local tradition and materiality — recovering things that may have been interrupted or forgotten.

This approach feels particularly close to our own practice at Huba Studio. We work primarily with stoneware and black ceramics, using wood firing as an essential part of the process. Local clays, minerals, stone and wood ash become part of our material vocabulary, while the fire introduces an element that cannot be completely controlled. Each firing leaves its own traces on the surface of an object, making the process itself part of the final work.

Our practice is rooted in the landscape around us and in an interest in the relationship between material, place and time. Rather than treating ceramics simply as a way of producing functional objects, we see them as a form of material research — one that allows us to explore local resources, traditional techniques and contemporary forms at the same time.

From Warsaw to Paris

The Paris presentation marked the next chapter of "The Matter of Earth" and brought contemporary Polish collectible design to an international audience during one of Europe's most important design events. The exhibition was conceived not simply as a presentation of individual objects, but as an immersive environment. Designed by Bartosz Brylewski, the scenography created a gradual process of discovery. Metal and Polish linen screens divided the space, revealing individual works in stages and creating an almost theatrical atmosphere within the rooms of the Institut Polonais.

The exhibition also extended beyond the visual. A specially created scent by Maciej Chmiel, an atmospheric film by Aleksandra and Julia Powalacz documenting the artists and their working processes, and photographic documentation created by the artists themselves introduced additional layers to the exhibition.

The result was a multisensory portrait of contemporary Polish craft — one that made it possible to experience the works not only as finished objects, but also through the materials, gestures and processes behind them.

At the end of the exhibition, a plant installation formed a still life incorporating smaller objects. Its theme of transformation and impermanence echoed one of the central ideas of the exhibition: that material practices, like nature itself, exist within cycles of disappearance, renewal and change.

For our studio, "The Matter of Earth" was particularly meaningful because it allowed our work to enter a conversation about what contemporary Polish design can be today. 

At the exhibition, we presented two groups of works that reflect different aspects of our ceramic practice. The first was a series of black vessels built from hand-cut slabs of clay, polished with an agate stone and fired in a traditional wood-fired kiln. Their metallic black surfaces result from reduction firing, a technique with a centuries-old history in the Polish lands, while their forms draw on the archetypal geometry of some of the earliest structures, exploring a timeless language of form rooted in the history of craft. Alongside them, we presented a series of bowls made on a traditional wooden potter’s wheel, using clays, stones and ashes collected and processed around our studio. Their forms enter into a dialogue with Chinese and Korean ceramics from the 10th to 14th centuries, while locally sourced materials, wood firing and our own ash glazes give them a distinctly contemporary and place-based character. The resulting colours — olive greens, earthy browns and amber-like reds — draw from the landscape around us.

We are interested in a form of design that does not separate art, craft and design into rigid categories. Our objects are made by hand, but they are also the result of research into materials, techniques and the landscape around us.

Working with local clay, ash, minerals and wood, and firing our ceramics in a wood-fired kiln, means accepting a degree of unpredictability. The flame, ash and atmosphere of the kiln become collaborators in the process. Marks, colour variations and changes in texture are not imperfections to be eliminated, but evidence of the process through which each object came into being.

This way of working connects us to a much broader movement within contemporary Polish craft and collectible design — a renewed interest in material knowledge, traditional processes and the possibility of creating objects that carry a sense of place.

The exhibition

"The Matter of Earth: A New Generation of Polish Collectible Design" was curated by Eleonora Bojanowska and Bartosz Brylewski and organized by the Visteria Foundation and the Institut Polonais in Paris.

The exhibition brought together:

Jan Ankiersztajn and Anna Jechorek, Bartosz Brylewski (Bart Brylew Studio), Jakub Ciemachowski and Piotr Kołakowski (Huba Studio), Marek Ćwięk, Jakub Kijowski and Alicja Prussakowska (Formsophy), Daniel Kołodziejczak (Studio Daniel K), Marcin Kuberna (Grôpk), Anna Milczanowska, Agnieszka Owsiany, Bartek Stawiński and Aleksandra Zawistowska (Szkło Studio).

The exhibition also featured video art by Aleksandra and Julia Powalacz and a scent created by Maciej Chmiel.

Exhibition design: Bartosz Brylewski
Graphic design: Kaja Kusztra
Project management and production: Matylda Polak
Set design: Ferwor
PR & communication: Szymon Machnikowski / Perrier Communication / Royal Heroes
Creative consulting: Hanna Rydlewska
Copyediting: Aleksandra Boćkowska
Translation: Joanna Figiel and Dorota Malina

The project was supported by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, with Paris Design Week and DESA Unicum as partners, under the honorary patronage of the Embassy of Poland in Paris. Media partners included Vogue Polska Living and Harper’s BAZAAR Polska.

The exhibition was beautifully documented by Studio Brinth.

For us, "The Matter of Earth" was not only an exhibition in Paris. It was a chance to see our work as part of a wider, evolving story about contemporary Polish design — one in which material, craftsmanship, place and personal experience are becoming increasingly important. We are grateful to have been part of this chapter.