Paweł Grunert

Born in Warsaw in 1965, Paweł Grunert is a designer, creator of artistic furniture and sculptor. The objects he creates fall somewhere between sculpture and applied art. He uses natural materials such as branches, straw, earth, grass, hay, reeds and wood, but he also employs bricks, fabrics and metals. He has designed and created around two hundred sculptures, spatial arrangements and pieces of furniture.

Most of all, Grunert loves to create chairs. 'I dream of fields sown with chairs that grow just like grapevines in France', says the artist. Two of his chairs are growing in front of the entrance to the Modern Art Gallery at the Leon Wyczółkowski District Museum in Bydgoszcz. Chairs were also the topic of his diploma (gained with distinction), which was received from the Furniture Workshop at the Faculty of Interior Design in 1990. From 1990-1991 he worked as an assistant at this workshop and from 1993-1994 he was employed as an assistant at the Visual Forms workshop. He began exhibiting in 1988 when he participated in a group painting exhibition entitled Arsenal. He has a few large, individual exhibitions under his belt, including: Dom (House 1993), Obiekty (Objects 1995), Pokaz w fabryce (Show at a Factory 1997), Meblarium 1 (Furniturarium 1 2002), Galeria Opera (The Opera Gallery 2003). His sculptures, objects and unique items of furniture may be found in private collections, and in museums in Poland and abroad.

Paweł Grunert usually works alone because, as he puts it, he gets along very well with himself. Even though he has created a few hundred closets, tables and chairs, his works may more often be found in galleries rather than in stores. 'I never got involved with the furniture-making industry, which I regret. Not a single project of mine has ever been put into production'.