AN INSPIRING NIGHT AT THE ROYAL RIFLE FACTORY

On 9 July, the workshop of Gdańsk's Tabanda design team became the centre of beautiful ideas for the local creative industry and visitors to Gdynia Design Days. On that summer night, the Barlinek/Tabanda/DesignAlive NIGHT filled the interiors of the Royal Rifle Factory (Królewska Fabryka Karabinów KFK) with the scent of wood, tickling of the senses and personal interaction. This provided the atmosphere for our announcement of a new collaboration on the second edition of the Creations from Nature project.

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After the success of last year's spatial installation by the architect Przemo Łukasik, this year the Barlinek brand and Design Alive magazine entrusted the development and execution of an interactive exhibition at Łódź Design Festival to the Tabanda group from Pomerania. Why? The designers have developed a style based on subtle contrasts and not-so-obvious combinations, where themes inspired by nature creep into modern geometrical forms, and raw, industrial accents are linked to vivid, mild colour schemes. The first conceptual has already been done — the joint project by Barlinek, Tabanda and Design Alive is already taking shape. "We'll invite festival guests from Łódź to an experiment in the Carpentry Shop of the Senses. The name of our enterprise alludes to the discovery of the smell, feel and also taste of natural wood," explains Filip Ludka of the Tabanda design group. Dorota Karbowska-Zawadzka, head of marketing at Barlinek, said that the wood that the company has been using to produce natural floors for hundreds of years is also familiar to the Tabanda group. "We didn't have to consider it even for a moment when the idea came up to involve them in this year's project," she added. For her part, Ewa Trzcionka, editor-in-chief of Design Alive stated: "It's no coincidence that we're matching them up." Recipients of the title Creator 2014 in the Design Alive Awards, they describe their driving force as being a fascination with the material — a desire to probe its potential and limitations. Plywood is the group's calling card, after all.

The venue for the Barlinek/Tabanda/DesignAlive NIGHT was Gdańsk's Dolne Miasto. "This is a district forgotten for years, now coming back to life," says the hostess Megi Malinowska, while the guests at the event visited the coastal trio's studio, workshop and carpentry shop, and enthusiastically produced miniatures of Diago chairs. "We started from a tiny, unheated studio. As time passed, we yearned for somewhere proper and that's how we came across the noble but forgotten building of the Royal Rifle Factory. We made a big studio open space, which provided shelter not only for us, but also for our creative friends. The fact that we operate together under one roof means this place functions as a home, shelter and space for our self-realisation. We are a creation which supports and complements itself. Everyone here has some talent and expertise in some field. A lot of great projects come out of our collaboration," adds Megi Malinowska. Tabanda's studio is filled with the creative rhythm of teamwork — apart from Tabanda, in other words Megi with Tomek Kempa and Filip Ludka, it is also the venue for Maciej Szajewski with the Szajewski Advertising Photography team (author of nearly all the group's product photos) and Marcin Zdziuch from The Montaż (editing) group involved with film, animation and graphics, creator of many of Tabanda's promotional films.

Barlinek/Tabanda/DesignAlive NIGHT 
MIEJSCE: Królewska Fabryka Karabinów w Gdańsku 
ORGANIZATORZY: Barlinek, Tabanda, "Design Alive" 
PARTNERZY: Szajewski.com fotografia reklamowa, The Montaż, Bistro Pobite Gary 
MUZYKA: Matat Professionals [Boiler Room Debuts // S1 Warsaw // WWA]głosem: