Interviews met Mirek Struzik

I have an extensive background in art, design and engineering. I graduated with an MFA in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław in 1989, after eight years working in design studios and earning several invention patents. Since then I've designed and installed large-scale public sculptures for clients including Emaar Properties (Dubai), the City of Dallas, Texas A&M University, the National Museums of World Culture (Stockholm), and Hsinchu Science Park (Taiwan), among others.

I have an extensive background in art, design and engineering. I graduated with an MFA in sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław in 1989, after eight years working in design studios and earning several invention patents. Since then I've designed and installed large-scale public sculptures for clients including Emaar Properties (Dubai), the City of Dallas, Texas A&M University, the National Museums of World Culture (Stockholm), and Hsinchu Science Park (Taiwan), among others.

Three things matter most: the site's context, engineering feasibility, and artistic effect. I always start with research into the site's history and surroundings, then sketch concepts, build scale models that get 3D-scanned, and develop the piece digitally with my team using CAD and lighting simulation software before anything is fabricated.

Designing itself is a kind of emotional tension — breaking through barriers and limitations. Once a piece is realized, that turns into pride and satisfaction, mixed with stress about how the public will react

Eight years in design studios before finishing my degree, and experience as a machining technician, gave me a practical, hands-on understanding of materials and engineering that most artists don't have. My biggest supporters were the Sugarman Foundation in the US and the opportunity to create a series of sculptures for the Botanical Garden of the University of Wrocław. Artistically, I've been most influenced by studying modern sculpture — Katarzyna Kobro and Kandinsky especially.

Kinetic sculpture is where I'm headed next — moving past dynamic lighting into sculptures that actually move. I'm developing a photovoltaic design from LAGI Mannheim and hope to build a working prototype this year.

Do the hands-on, practical work yourself — materials and tools, not just drawings.

Don't let the art outrun what can actually be built — feasibility and artistic ambition have to be solved together, not the art first and the engineering after. Trust your intuition when judging your own work, but never at the expense of what the client and the site actually need.

I wake up late, around 8, and start by contacting my team and suppliers, then work on models and sketches through the day. Because many of my clients are in other time zones, afternoons and evenings often go to video calls with people around the world.

I don't design to what's currently hip. My form language — biomimicry, steel, light — comes from nature, not from trend reports, and I'd rather it stay recognizably mine than follow a season.

For public sculpture specifically: whether the scale is right for the site, whether the piece has something to say, and whether it fits the character of its surroundings. Beyond that, I rely on intuition — and on whether the piece still holds up years later.

I always feel sort of a hunger for improving my designs and this feeling never truly goes away. But at some point it gets weaker and then I know it's time to move forward.

The Dandelions installation under the Burj Khalifa for Emaar in Dubai (2017) — fourteen monumental sculptures, and still the most important experience of my career. CODAworx also recognized the Dubai Dandelions among its top public sculptures. Right now I'm most excited about the kinetic sculpture project and the photovoltaic prototype for LAGI Mannheim.

Katarzyna Kobro and Barbara Hepworth — if I could talk to any designer across time, it would be one of them.

I live and work in Wrocław, Poland. [MIREK: favorite city, and whether music is part of your creative process — both open questions.] Distance from the major art markets actually helps me see things freshly; the drawback is that Poland has no public art investment programs, so most of my work happens abroad. I believe good design affects people psychologically, for the better — that's part of why I design for public space rather than private collections.

I start every project alone — concept and early sketches — then bring in a team of computer graphics experts and engineers once I know what I want to build.

My clearest example is Fruits of Knowledge in Dallas — alongside the sculpture, we're running a contest for children and teenagers to write stories and make art inspired by it. Seeing a piece spark other people's creativity is one of the most rewarding parts of this work.

My Platinum A' Design award is a very strong point in my resume and it also results in a nice boost for my website www.struzik-art.com positioning in search results.

Bubble Forest grows out of the same principle behind all my work: nature has already solved most structural problems, and my job is to translate its micro forms to a monumental macro scale.

The main goal was creating a piece that will become a real, iconic landmark for the place it was made for - CAP3000 shopping mall in Nice, France. The real audience are people who come there, I wanted to give them something that will make their visits more interesting and that they would want to take a photo with.

It started a series of sculptures that keeps growing. After the Bubble Forest, I created many more sculptures utilizing similar techniques and design language. I'm now also working on creating kinetic version of a sculpture based on the same concept.

Around 4 months.

I was considering a number of options for this location and we discussed them with the client. Finally, together we decided that the Bubble Forest. What convinced us to make this choice was proximity of the sea and being inspired by the natural phenomena

STRUZIK ART LTD designs, fabricates and installs every sculpture ourselves, working with trusted steel and engineering partners — we are not an intermediary and nothing is outsourced to another studio. I have no plans to license the design or its production rights to another company.

Nature was my inspiration, as usually. This sculpture was created for a specific location by the beach. The idea was to consider how oxygen comes from the floral vegetation on the bottom of the sea.

It was all my own creation, I avoid taking inspiration from the work of other artists and always strive towards creating something completely new.

People who come shopping to CAP3000. I love seeing selfies people take and post in Instagram.

I try not to compare my work to other sculptures, I'm quite sure Bubble Forest is a very unique work.

The name is not as important as the sculpture itself, for me. The name is rather descriptive and serves a more practical function.

Everything that was available back then - from basic sketches, through 3D scanning of a model and advanced CAD tools and ray traced lighting simulations.

When looking at the sculpture, viewers see many different things, as it is open for interpretation. Some people see jellyfish, some see bubbles of air, some see seaweed. However, I'm very happy that they all trace back to my initial inspiration. I think that it's a very unique success.

Realizing eighteen trunks at monumental scale needed a full team beyond the concept: structural engineers, steel fabricators for cutting, bending, welding and electropolishing, and lighting programmers for the RGB system.

Three roles: engineering technology makes an eighteen-trunk steel grove structurally possible at this scale and safe in a high-traffic public space, and lighting technology gives the work a second life after dark — slow, continuous color transitions rather than anything abrupt, so it never competes with or startles the people around it. Additionally, I use very advanced surface processing technology. Electropolishing allows it to "lead" the light along the surface, rather than simply reflect it.

There are some aspects of design that need to be data based - we need to approach the engineering very strictly, because of needed structural integrity of the sculpture. Moreover, material properties need to be compared due to their different characteristics, including light dispersion aspects. Same goes for designing the whole lighting system and its electronic system.

The main challenge was structural: eighteen tall steel trunks in a public, high-foot-traffic commercial space have to be engineered like small buildings, each independently safe, while still reading as one grove. A second challenge was logistical — fabricating in Poland and transporting and installing the full set in Nice. However, my team is very experienced and it all went smoothly.

I take part in international competitions all the time - it's the main source of my clients.

This project gave ma a lot of amazing experience. I closely cooperated with French engineers responsible for building the CAP3000 shopping. I was especially satisfied after not only my sculpture was awarded the platinum design award, but also the building itself was selected as one of the best architectonic pieces of art in Europe that year.

I'd add a word of thanks to CAP 3000 and Altarea for trusting a grove of eighteen steel trees inside a shopping center — it's an unusual thing to commission, and it's exactly the kind of daily, unglamorous site where I think public art belongs.

I have an extensive background in art, design and technology. I graduated from Academy of Fine Arts in Wroclaw, Poland, I spent 8 years working in industrial design offices and I’m also an experienced machining technician. I’m also an inventor and own several patents.

Constant amazement with beauty of nature. I design to appreciate it by transferring natural structures from micro to macro scale.

I mostly design sculpture for public space and wish to work with art as much as possible.

The most important thing is practice and contact with actual materials.

A great designer has a lot of practical experience.

When it’s about sculpture in public space, I take many factors into consideration: if the piece’s scale is adequate, it’s message and character of the surroundings.

Everyone should invest in good design, because it’s the best way to give things unique character.

I keep thinking about a technologically advanced kinetic structure.

My biggest supporter was the Sugarman Foundation in USA. Equally important was a chance to create a series of sculptures for the Botanical Garden of University of Wrocław.

The main obstacle was the terrible situation in Poland of the communist era. It was impossible to travel and ordinary aspects of life were difficult.

To have constant satisfaction about the way my works become one with places they are at and how they are appreciated by the crowds.

They always expect the “WOW” effect by the end of my work.

Art always affects people psychologically in a positive way.

I’m working developing my idea of Bubble Forest.

The Dandelions in Dubai, that were awarded as one of the TOP 100 sculptures in public space by CODAworx and Bubble Forest in Nice.

Six months.

Technology is of utmost importance in my work. I always work with cutting-edge materials and equipment.

I work all sorts of power-tools, lasers etc.

My works undergo a coloristic metamorphosis along with changing time of the day and night. That’s why I choose reflective materials, such electropolished, stainless steel.

I appreciate the human ingenuity.

Books about modern art and sculpture by as Katarzyna Kobro and. Kandinsky

By building many small-scale models of my designs.

August Rodin, Katarzyna Kobro, Barbara Hepworth.

It all evokes stress related with each next project.

Golden Polish autumn.

I must satisfy my internal drive to create.

I was more creative than the other children.

I was born in 1956 in Żarów, a small industrial town in Lower Silesia, Poland. [MIREK: what first drew you to art — a person, a moment, a place?] My path wasn't a straight line. Before completing my degree I spent eight years working in design studios, where I obtained several invention patents. I graduated in 1989 from the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław with a Master of Fine Arts in sculpture, and I also studied industrial design. So I never felt I had to choose between artist and designer. For me a sculpture has to be both: an idea, and a properly engineered object that will stand outdoors for generations.

STRUZIK ART LTD is my studio in Wrocław, Poland. We design, engineer, fabricate and install large-scale sculptures for public space, mostly in electropolished 316L stainless steel with programmable RGB lighting. We are not an intermediary: the same team that develops the concept takes it through 3D visualization, engineering, fabrication, shipping, installation and after-care, working with trusted steel specialists in Wrocław and licensed structural engineers in the countries where we build. Our works stand in Europe, North America and Asia — from Burj Khalifa Plaza in Dubai and Etnografiska museet in Stockholm to the City of Dallas, Texas A&M University and Tongluo Science Park in Taiwan.

Design is a form of creativity that raises both the aesthetics and the functionality of objects and places.

I like designing sculptures for public spaces.

Furniture from the Bauhaus school — for its simplicity and functionality.

A logo for the student work cooperative "Spółdzielnia Pracy Studenckiej Robot".

Acid-resistant stainless steel.

Whenever I happen to have a good idea — there is no set time for creativity.

I focus on two things: achieving an artistic effect that satisfies me, and feasibility — all my designs must be possible to build in practice.

A kind of emotional tension that leads to breaking through barriers and limitations.

Pride, satisfaction — and stress about how the public will react.

Many factors make a design successful. For me it is important to meet the client's requirements perfectly, to meet my own expectations, and, as a result, to actually create something new.

Most often I rely on my intuition.

It's a huge responsibility, because a designer's work can last for many years, even generations, and we risk creating something that will irritate a great many people. On the other hand, a good design will survive the test of time.

It's uncharted territory, but we face a serious risk of uniformity — so many designs will end up too similar to each other.

My last exhibition was part of LAGI 2022 Mannheim — Beautiful Forms of Energy, an exhibition of renewable-energy art designs at BUGA 23, the German Federal Horticulture Show in Mannheim (2023). I don't focus on exhibitions - I keep installing permanent sculptures in popular places. For me, it's better than exhibitions.

I get my inspiration from nature. I observe it and transpose objects and structures found in nature from the micro to the macro scale.

I try to achieve distilled, synthesized forms in my sculptures, based on an analysis of nature.

I live in Poland. One benefit of this place is that we see many things from a certain distance, which often makes a fresh approach to a topic easy. On the other hand, Poland has no public art investment programs, so I mostly work in other countries.

Most of my clients are large real estate developers. I also cooperate with many business and technology partners all over the world.

Look for people who can think outside the box.

I always start with thorough research into the subject and everything surrounding it — this can include the planned installation site's history and cultural context. Then I think of concepts that could work and sketch them. I make scale models, which are 3D-scanned, and from that point I proceed with my team, developing the designs in the computer space using 3D modelling and CAD software as well as lighting design software. We prepare realistic renderings, including videos and lighting simulations, set accurately in the represented surroundings.

LG OLED TV, Alienware laptop, Atlantic watch, Sony camera, a coffee table that I made on my own.

I wake up late, around 8, and start by contacting my team members and suppliers, then work on models and sketches. I work with many clients in other time zones, so I often spend afternoons and evenings on video calls with people from all over the world.

Young designers must do a lot of manual, hands-on work at every stage of the process. They need to personally use the tools and materials to really learn them — without that, they will never get genuinely good and create designs that actually work.

The biggest positive is always having a chance to create something genuinely good and successful. A negative is the stressful nature of always trying to meet the client's needs.

Where possible, always stick to the golden proportions — and to feng shui principles.

Imagination, the ability to break your own limitations, and a deep understanding of materials and their processing methods.

Designing always starts with pen and paper, but then we work with high-end computers and software such as Rhino 3D, Twinmotion, Blender, SketchUp, ESA Pro 2 and many others. For hardware, it's a whole studio full of heavy-duty metal processing tools and machines — everything for cutting, welding, grinding, polishing and bending.

It's very hard — I manage a sheer number of projects at once, and their rotation is unpredictable.

I mostly design large-scale sculptures for public spaces. These are complex projects, often using advanced materials and technologies, including electronics for dynamic lighting control. The process usually takes a few months of the whole team's effort, not just mine.

Clients ask many different questions, but the most common is about the durability of the object and the time needed for the project.

The most important experience in my career was the project for Emaar in Dubai — I designed, built and installed a set of 14 monumental Dandelions right under the Burj Khalifa in 2017.

A very wide spectrum: from real estate developers such as Emaar, through scientific facilities and universities (e.g. Texas A&M University, Academia Sinica), to municipalities (e.g. the City of Dallas).

Projects where the sculpture becomes part of a community's daily life — at a library, a university, a hospital, an airport. In Dallas, Fruits of Knowledge came together with a contest in which children and teenagers write stories and make art inspired by the sculpture. When a work starts other people's creativity, that is the most rewarding thing for me.

The next big step will be to incorporate not only dynamic lighting but also kinetic elements, so that the sculptures actually move. I have also created a photovoltaic design for LAGI Mannheim and hope to build a functional prototype this year.

I start by developing the concept and early sketches on my own, but as soon as I know what I want to create, I assemble a team of computer graphics experts and engineers. Together we create 3D models, renderings and realistic lighting simulations.

I can't say much because of the confidential nature of my contracts, but I can disclose that I'm working on a kinetic sculpture project.

It's best to email me at ms@struzik-art.com. I also encourage you to visit my website, www.struzik-art.com, where you can see all my recent projects in hi-res photos and videos, and learn more about my company, STRUZIK ART LTD.

I'd like to thank the people who make these works possible — our team, engineers, fabricators, and the cities and institutions that trust an artist from Wrocław with their public spaces. And to everyone who stops by one of my sculptures after dark: stay a few minutes, the light changes slowly.