Mudita

My dad who is a self made designer was a main inspiration to follow that path. I was raised in Poland in the 90's where just after the fall of communism there was not much choice of the products, not talking about the good looking well designed ones. People didn’t have much choice and they couldn’ afford a lot. As a small kid I've always admired what my dad created - that among all the gray concrete reality the beautiful objects made by him occurred and I could have associated and admired them. My grandpa was an architect therefore my grandparents’ home where I spent a lot of time was also very thoughtfully arranged, full of clever and neat solutions. Designer’s path was rooted in my family. It was natural that at some point I started attending drawing classes and as I found design more interesting than architecture to eventually apply to Academy of Fine Arts to become my adventure with design.

Mudita We are a new kind of tech company. We care about freedom, joy and living in the present moment. We believe that great things happen when we’re fully present. We’d like to find a deeper and more stable peace of mind, clarity and focus. We’d like to build authentic relationships. Our mission at Mudita is to make products that bring balance and quality to people’s lives. We’ve reached a moment, where we refuse to be bombarded with more digital distractions, irrelevant information and excessive functionalities. Instead, we need to make space for discovering and embracing who we are and what makes us unique.

Most people say design is about observing, noticing and solving problems. I absolutely agree, however as the word “problem” has a negative connotation I don't like describing it that way. I prefer to describe design as making life easier. Helping people become better, helping them to make progress.

What I personally like is creating objects which are closer to handcraft. On the borderline with art which does not have to be produced in thousands. Their function might be to start discussion, raise questions, give something for thought and start a change by their appeal.

It was a faucet I designed for a competition for some polish company. My first designer’s success. Afterwards there were few more faucets designed in different circumstances. And I loved them all, thinking it was my niche for a moment and I liked that space - more of a sculptural thingy.

When I’m in the right environment with inspiring people without too much pressure and lot’s of intersecting, independent topics.

Pleasure. Excitement. Self development. It’s great to have challenges and get to know new things.

Happiness, sense of accomplishment, relief but also uncertainty, kind of fear.

When people are fancy to use it and it brings them joy and relief in the way. When it makes life easier and the user doesn;t have to think about it.

Usually, sight is the first sense that meets the design therefore the look is the first layer of judgment.

Creating mindful products which have a deeper sense of existence. It’s important to look at the whole product life cycle. It’s great when design not only fosters some activities but also shapes peoples’ behaviours and attitudes.

In my opinion what we can observe in Eindhoven during Dutch Design Week every year is the most developed state of design we are watching right now and I think that’s where we are going - innovations in materials, in processes, in systems like education, design questioning our state as a mankind. We will help companies in what they are doing by teaching them design process, problem solving and user-centered approach.

I live and work in Poland. The cons is that as a nation we are still not surrounded by pretty, functional things in our daily lives. Poles have a very specific taste and we love to criticize it, therefore, it’s not pleasurable to satisfy the average polish customer or rather most of the polish brands targeting the Polish market. The cons is that poles will always have the approach “nothing is impossible”.

I work internally for the client and I’m really happy to be a part of whole brand development.

1)Art deco glass carafe and glasses I heritage after my great-grandma 2)Metal pendant lamp which is a danish classics - looks like a flying saucer 3)Classic Chemex made out of glass and wood 4)Moonshine distilling table which was my master’s project 5)MUJI aroma diffuser which distribute the smell perfectly and has a very cozy light

Be organized in each field - it’s a key to success, everything has a cause and effect sequence, design is a talent is not enough. Be flexible. Have a strong opinion that you are not afraid to express. Search, question and verify things.

Negatives - people like coworkers, clients, think that they know how to make products that they know how to make great things. Sometimes it’s difficult to persuade them to your solutions. You have been a fighter in the way. It’s a great book How I Stopped Loving Design by polish graphic designer Marcin Wicha which explains all the struggle designers come through. Positives - it’s an exciting job! It’s never boring, you learn new stuff with every single project.

I mainly use Sketchbook Also Basic workshop with plywood, foam, acrylic, laser and 3d printer, Fusion 360, Solidworks. as well as Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. I find inspiring books according to projects I work on, I especially like books which show design methodologies.

I got a lot of tricks and tips from my superior while working as a team leader. I make plans which I guess is one of the hated tasks to do. I try to establish 3 goals for the week/sprint and then 3 smaller tasks to do daily to accomplish weekly goals. I track my time, I try really hard not to switch between tasks too often.

What I’ve been doing now for almost 3 years: being ahead of design and a team lead at Mudita. We’ve built an amazing design team with very skilled people I can learn from and we work on the next exciting products.

What I really like at Mudita is that we create mindful products for mindful people. Products which have a bigger sense - we want to change something. Show people calmer life in current hectic times. What I love about that work is that it’s natural that designers take part in product development from the first ideas, research, creating a brief, then all the development process and finally production. As a designer, I also find in Mudita a great balance between creating consumer electronic and more lifestyle “soft” products.

There are a couple of designs my team and I are working on right now. One of them is a minimalist alarm clock Mudita Bell. All in Mudita's philosophy. However, at this moment I can't reveal the details.

I think at this moment we covered most of the things that I can talk about. Thank you!