She is here and he is there – Aleksandra Stencel and Patrik Illo

Polish Institute, Nám. SNP 27 Bratislava 

Alone together – Aleksandra Stencel and Patrik Illo

The creative life of a good designer feels like an endless ride on a roller-coaster. He must constantly be creative, hard-working, empathic, communicative, and ready to face any challenge. A healthy self-confidence, but not an ego, is an essential characteristic he should possess. Important is also that he has a view of today’s and yesterday’s world, an ability to inspire himself and to process, both intellectually and emotionally, revive and vary what he sees, but at the same time resist the temptations of imitation (even those made by himself). In the contrary world of free art, the designer does not create artefacts, but practical objects that must keep their functionality. The designer is therefore an originator of everyday little joys, which are the best medicine when we have a feeling that the world is spinning too fast and we’re starting to lose our footing. Whereas a good designer warms the cockles of the heart, a bad one rubs us the wrong way.

Aleksandra Stencel and Patrik Illo, individually as well as together, are among the top Central European designers. They cooperate with both smaller and larger glass companies in Slovakia, Poland and the Czech Republic, and together they create under their own brand named ILLOLA. Although each of them has their own distinctive style, they are united by rational poetics, an emphasis on elegant forms and imaginative details. However, they are not afraid of exaggeration, wit and contextual contrast either, while they always manage to avoid intellectual poses and literalness. After all, the name of the exhibition SHE IS HERE AND HE IS THERE proves this. The exhibition presents implemented designs from Polish designer Aleksandra Stencel for the Slovak company RONA, and from Slovak designer Patrik Illa for the Polish glassworks KROSNO and WRZESNIAK. Then, it is further accompanied by their current individual and joint projects within their brand ILLOLA.

Aleksandra Stencel and Patrik Illo are among those designers who have managed to not only find their spotlight amidst the strong Central European competition, but also to keep it. Their work is very desirable: a number of their designs have successfully been sold all over the world. They repeatedly prove that it is possible to come up with a creative idea that can be aesthetically remarkable as well as functional and commercially successful. Although their unobtrusive design is literally democratic and affordable, it is suitable to be used both in a common flat and a luxury interior, it looks appropriate everywhere. And this kind of advantage is rarely seen in contemporary glass design.

Text:
PhDr. Petr Nový
Chief curator of the Glass and Jewellery Museum in Jablonec nad Nisou, Czech Republic