GLASS WITH CLASS. KROSNO`S DESIGNERS. Wszewłod Sarnecki, Jan Siedlecki, Beata Szajna

GLASS WITH CLASS. KROSNO`S DESIGNERS. Wszewłod Sarnecki, Jan Siedlecki, Beata Szajna

Opening of the exhibition and meeting with Beata Szajna: Night of Museums, 17.05.2025, 4:00 p.m.

WSZEWŁOD SARNECKI

He studied at the Secondary School of Arts and Crafts in Chernivtsi, Ukraine. In 1953, he managed to join family that had been repatriated to Poland.

He worked in a porcelain manufacturer “Tułowice” Zakłady Porcelitu Stołowego in Tułowice. Then he graduated from the Ceramics and Glass Faculty at the Higher School of Fine Arts (currently: E. Geppert Academy of Art and Design) in Wrocław, 1965. He worked as chief designer in Krosno Glassworks, Krosno, 1964–1973. There created a modern studio modelled on Western European plants, consisting of a team of trained glassworkers. He worked with the “Minex” Foreign Trade Centre, which enabled him to travel around the world. He has been awarded many prizes, including the following: Golden Mercury for Krosno Glassworks in the  field of design and aesthetics of industrial production. He designed, among other artefacts, the socalled Olympic sets for the Olympic Games in Mexico, 1968, and Munich, 1972. He achieved spectacular results, and his works are a perfect example of artistic glass created in an industrial plant.

In 1973, he moved to join his family in Warsaw. For a year and a half, he worked as a conservator on the restoration of the Royal Castle. In 1975, he took a job at the Foreign Trade Headquarters “Minex”. In 400 m2 he organised a showroom where the products of Polish glassworks were presented. In addition to overseeing the work at “Minex”, he travelled throughout Poland, where he helped to set up commercial showrooms, and around the world, setting up short-term promotional showrooms in various countries and, annually, several exhibitions of Polish glass and ceramics.

In 1985, he resigned from his job at “Minex” and set up his own studio in Warsaw. He continued to design glass, make ceramic mosaics, refurbish chandeliers and antique furniture, and paint pictures. He has also taken part in plein-air glass-blowing workshops in Poland and abroad, and has won awards. In 2022, he received the Silver Medal for “Meritorious Service to Culture Gloria Artis”. His works have been exhibited in Poland and abroad and can be found in Polish and foreign collections. He is considered to be one of the best Polish glass designers.

JAN SIEDLECKI

Graduated with honours from the Faculty of Industrial Forms of the Academy of Fine Arts (currently: Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts) in Kraków, 1973.

In the years 1973–2008, he worked at Krosno Glassworks (currently Krosno Glass S.A.) as a specialist in glass design. According to his own calculations, he has created almost 40,000 designs. Many of them have won awards and distinctions, including: First prize for table glass design for Refiex, Institute of Industrial Design, Warsaw, 1988; main prize (ex aequo) in the CEVIDER design competition, Valencia, Spain, 1991, 1993; “Good Design 96” mark, Institute of Industrial Design, Warsaw, 1997; DOMEXPO Gold Medal at 99 Poznań International Fair, Poznań, 1999; Promotional Emblem of the President of the Republic of Poland “Teraz Polska” for the drinks set MONO, 1999.

The MONO series was shown at the exhibition “Common Things: Polish Products 1899–1999”, organised at the National Museum in Warsaw, 2000, presenting works by 120 Polish designers. He has participated in 11 individual exhibitions in Poland, Norway, and the USA, and 28 group exhibitions in Poland, Germany, Switzerland, Czechoslovakia (currently: Slovakia), and Spain. He has works in museum and private collections, including the Schoen Palace Museum in Sosnowiec and the Podkarpackie Museum in Krosno. Siedlecki’s glass nonpareils (a vase and glass) were placed in the collection of the Corning Museum of Glass in New York, USA, 1977.

Since finishing his work at KHS Krosno, he has been creating unique objects made of glass, drawings, graphics, and paintings; he also works with photography

BEATA SZAJNA

Graduated from the State High School of Fine Arts in Rzeszów, 1989. Graduated at the Faculty of Art at the University of Rzeszów, 2012. 

Since 1998 she has been employed as a specialist designer at Krosno’s Glassworks (currently Krosno Glass S.A.). She designs glass, and creates her own collections and designs for clients from all over the world. Her works have been presented at roughly 30 group exhibitions and fairs in Poland, Germany, Austria, Italy, France, the United States, the UK, Israel and the United Arab Emirates. They are also part of the permanent exhibition of the Glass Heritage Centre in Krosno; in 2019, she presented her projects there at a solo exhibition.

Winner of numerous awards and distinctions, including “Złote Ville” for the Molly art glass set, 2014; Laur Klienta, 2011; Dobry Design for the Vinoteca carafe, 2015. Her Samara vase, designed for the Frankfurt Fair in 2005, was one of the most-bought products of Krosno Glassworks in the first decade of the 21st century – over 25,000 vases were produced and sold.

She also works in the field of visual arts (including painting and drawing). A common theme in her work are birds. She belongs to the Ornithological Group, with which she travels round numerous areas of Poland in search of the rarest and most interesting species of birds.