BEAUTY FOR EVERYONE EVERY DAY
This motto, in a few words, expresses everything that has been most important to us during the 15 years of Risk made in Warsaw's existence. It could be our motto. Its author was Wanda Telakowska, founder of the Institute of Industrial Design – one of the oldest design institutions in Europe. "We often recognize beautiful items she designed – and those created at the Institute – from our family homes, sometimes without even knowing who to credit for them. That's why, when Michalina Pietrzyk, Vice President of the IWP Board, reached out to us, we knew we were in for a wonderful adventure translating the Institute's archival designs onto clothes – beautiful, everyday, for everyone," says Antonina Samecka, Risk designer.
HOW DID THE COOPERATION BEGIN?
"When I started exploring the resources of the IWP archives and moved to the textiles department, I was incredibly impressed. My first thought was a desire for these patterns to return to the streets, to come alive again. That's why I immediately thought of finding a partner with whom we could produce such clothing. We were very keen for such a company to create these fabrics in Poland and for the clothes themselves to be sewn in Poland," says Michalina Pietrzyk.
"We also looked for a company that was bold, unafraid of intense prints, but also one that had experience with this type of collaboration. It had to be Risk," adds the IWP Vice-President.
TREASURES FROM THE ARCHIVES
To begin with, we took as our starting point a fabric created in 1955 by Danuta Paprowicz-Michno, one of the leading designers at the Textile Department of the Institute of Industrial Design. According to the artist's account, the inspiration for the design came from a visit to the zoo, where she was able to admire wild animals up close – including lynx, which became the main motif of the design. There are also oriental elements and references to folk art, and the overall style is characteristic of the new style of the 1950s.
NEW LIFE
After 70 years, we found this print in the IWP archives, and together with artist Marcin Franczak, we recreated it based on a small swatch of fabric in new, luminous colors – perfect for many springs to come, and then transferred them onto our bestselling dresses.
