On Tuesday, April 8, the largest plan and interior event in Europe will start – Salone del Mobile in Milan. Paged Furniture is 1 of the fewer Polish brands that have been present at this fair for decades. We are talking about what the Polish maker of bent furniture will present with Maja Ganszyniec, a designer who works with brands specified as IKEA, Comforty or DUKA, artistic manager Paged Furniture.
Paged guests in Milan already 44 times. What will we see at the stand you designed?
Maja Ganszyniec:Although Paged has been taking part in the Milan Fair since 1954, for many years it has mainly operated as a state-owned timber export company. Currently, the most crucial thing for us is the product, which is furniture, and building brand awareness. We want to make the audience aware that Paged has been producing bent furniture for over 140 years. Not everyone knows that brands like Paged come from Michael Thonet's old betting.
During this year's edition of Salone del Mobile, we focus on the postwar past of the Paged brand. For the first time we will show the Heritage collection – fresh products that are based on the rich Pagedu archive. To begin, we reached for the B-621 – a task attributed to Marian Sigmund, 1 of the most celebrated designers associated with the company. He was co-founder and manager of the modern plan of the Societal Artists Lada, designed the office interiors of the royal castle in Wawel, Cracow, interiors of cinemas and public spaces of the modernist territory of Nowa Huta, as well as furniture for the Library of the University of Warsaw or offices of Polish LOT Airlines in Okęcie. After the war he became active with Paged, designing furniture intended mainly for export. This is most likely why these projects were and are inactive not known in Poland.
So what will the Heritage line be?
Maja Ganszyniec:We start with a reinterpretation of the B-621 model, a furniture whose photograph is preserved in the rich archives of Pagedu. It is hard to find whether it was a chair with armrests or a seat, so we decided to make 2 products – a dining chair and a lounge chair.
It is simply a re-interpretation, a certain upgrade of this project. We changed the proportions by adapting them to modern ergonomics standards. Today's society differs from the post-war society – we are taller, heavier, better built, which requires adjustment of furniture dimensions. The tallness of the countertops, tables, seats – this has all changed over the last 60 years since Sigmund began designing. The pre-war furniture seems tiny today, so we decided to freshen up, modernize this project. We sign this model by the name of Marian Sigmund and the name of our studio, due to the fact that it is not a reproduction of 1 to one, but a reinterpretation. I believe that any things request to be adapted to today's conditions, and I am convinced that Sigmund would do the same.
We besides want sustainable production, minimising environmental impact, so we have reduced the amount of foam in the seat and, as a basic model, prepared an untapped version.
This is the first step in building a fresh collection, which will include reissues of Paged's archival designs. due to the fact that we offer classic, pre-war thought, modern models and vintage.
This last group we want to extend now in the form of the Heritage collection.
What another news will Paged present in Milan?
Maja Ganszyniec:The second premiere will be the full implemented household of chairs and hokers Nim task by Maciej Karpiak. We first showed it in the autumn at the Orgatec Fair in Cologne, and now we are putting it on the market. The collection consists of a chair with and without armrests, upholstered and untapped variants and a hockey player in 2 heights. This furniture is designed for public spaces, restaurants and offices, but will besides work in homes.
The chair of Nim combines a simple figure with a soft plywood backrest. And like the models mentioned earlier, it is, as you say nicely in English: “generous in size”, that is, generous
In a box. Designed for tall people. It has a deep seat and provides comfort to people of different heights.
In addition, the chair designed by Maciej Karpiak can be stowed, which means that respective chairs can be placed on each other, including those with armrests.
What do you anticipate from this year's edition of Salone del Mobile?
Maja Ganszyniec:There are brands, usually those positioned as luxury ones that effort to make trends, each time show something unusual. They build their position on the fact that they capture and emphasize niche phenomena. So I anticipate to see something again.
like an unprotected table made of completely natural popoli wood. The solutions that are, in advance, not to be implemented on a more massive market.
There are besides brands that implement these trends with any hold and with more common sense, in a more applicable and useful way. But I would like Paged to stay out of trends. This is simply a company that is over 140 years old. That's no way to pursuit a bunny. I think she's more assured about her position and understanding. Therefore, we consciously show ourselves in a restrained way, without fireworks. Paged is more like a well-cut suit than a crazy organization dress.
Some Pagedu chairs are designs from the 19th century, inactive produced and readily purchased. You want those present to be equally resistant to the passage of time?
Maja Ganszyniec:Yeah, definitely, timelessness is the key word. Everything we do, whether in communication or in the plan of a stand, we effort to make it timeless.
Last year our stand was very colorful due to the fact that we had a brand fresh pallet. This year we focus on classics – beige and burdo with a small energy blue. Come to our stand.
When:8–13 April 2025
Where:Hall 5, Stand A20, Salone del Mobile, Milan
