This post from the series “Boleslawiec artistic community” was prepared within the framework of the project “Boleslawiec – 30 years of local government” implemented by the Museum of Ceramics and the Boleslawiec Cultural Center – International Ceramics Center
Magdalena Gazur is a graduate of the Faculty of Ceramics and Glass at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław – she obtained her diploma in 2006 in the 1st Applied Ceramics Design Studio led by Professor Lidia Kupczyńska-Jankowiak. Between 2005 and 2006, she also studied at the University of Wolverhampton (UK) at the Faculty of Ceramics (2006) and at the Faculty of Graphic Communication (2005-2006). In 2010, she completed the postgraduate course “Design Design in New Product Development Management” carried out by the Institute of Industrial Design in cooperation with the Warsaw School of Economics. Since 2013, she has been working at Fabryka Naczyń Kamionkowych “Manufaktura” in Bolesławiec as a chief designer and member of the team responsible for building the plant’s brand.
Although after her studies she became an assistant in the ceramics design studio at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław, she did not intend to devote herself to designing industrial forms. She first came to Bolesławiec in 2009 as a participant in the 45th International Ceramic and Sculpture Plein-Air. In 2010-2011, she served as the commissioner of this plein-air. During the plein-air workshops, she was often a guest at the ” Manufaktura”, thanks to which the owners of the plant noticed her talent and offered her cooperation. Soon, still as an external designer, she created the first breakfast set, which was very well received. As a result, she was offered permanent employment. Since then, she has already designed several unique collections combining the search for new product developments with the tradition of Bolesławiec ceramics. She is most sentimental about the first of these, entitled “The 1960s”, as she makes no secret of the fact that she is greatly influenced by the Polish industrial design of the 1960s and 1970s.
Magdalena Gazur is also the initiator and co-author of the “Polish Table” project, as part of which three Lower Silesian producers: Bolesławiec Manufaktura, Porcelana Krzysztof from Wałbrzych and Huta Szkła Kryształowego Julia from Piechowice, have jointly created three sets of dishes combining stoneware, porcelain and glass. The breakfast set No. 1, which is part of this collection, was awarded the “must have” mark at the Łódź Design Festival in 2016.
She considers looking at human behaviour at the table and translating it into forms and shapes in the design process to be very important and the most difficult part of her work. It is only then that she sees how much she still has to learn. And although he is aware that the efforts of a designer are often invisible to the ordinary user, he is not discouraged by this, because his work is guided by the motto: “the best design is the one you can’t see”.
Magdalena Gazur also works as a lecturer in the Department of Interdisciplinary Activities in Ceramics and Glass at the Academy of Fine Arts in Wrocław. At the same time, she is involved in computer graphics and exhibition activities. She has curated many exhibitions on contemporary industrial design. Collections of vessels designed by her can be found in the collections of the National Museum in Kraków and the National Museum in Wrocław.
2005 Group exhibition “New Designers”, London (UK)
2007 Distinction in a competition for a gadget promoting Wrocław
New Faces – New Work” group exhibition, The Gallery at Bevere, Worcester (UK)
2007/2008 Exhibition Wolverhampton Society of Artists, Art Gallery, Wolverhampton (UK)
2008 Distinction in ” Identification of Place” sculpture competition
Distinction in the competition for the development of the space of the Xawery Dunikowski Boulevard in Wrocław
2009 Group exhibition “Wrocław Design”, Łódź – Braunschweig (Germany)
Collective exhibition “Design- Antidesign”, Museum of Architecture, Wrocław
IV Bienal Internacional de Cerámica “Ciudad de Talavera”, Talavera de la Reina (Spain)
Collective exhibition “non objective”, Łódź Design Festival
Post-exhibition of the 45th International Ceramic and Sculpture Plein-airs, Bolesławiec Cultural Centre, Bolesławiec
2010 International Ceramic Exhibition “European Ceramic Context”, Bornholm
Post-exhibition of the 45th International Ceramic and Sculpture Plein-air, Arsenal Gallery, Wrocław, Poland
2011 Scholarship of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage for the project “Urban Jewellery”.
Prize of the Rosenthal company for a set of plates ” Stamp” at the Arena Design fair in Poznań
Award in the competition for the best packaging of the year “Pearl among packages” in the category Free Style, at the Art of Packaging fair in Poznań
2013 “must have” distinction for the “Modern” collection designed for the Stoneware Factory “Manufaktura” in Bolesławiec, Łódź Design Festival
2015 “must have” distinction for a breakfast set designed as part of the “Polish Table” collection, Łódź Design Festival
2018 Exhibition “New design in Bolesławiec ceramics”. – presentation of the “Flower Line – Roses” collection, Bolesławiec Cultural Centre – International Ceramics Centre, Bolesławiec
Exhibition “Polish Culture Trip 2018” – presentation of the “Flower Line – Roses” and “1960s” collections, Gdańsk , Poznań, Szczecin
“Night with Design” – presentation of the collection “Flower Line – Roses”, Interior Gallery “Domar”, Wrocław
Exhibition ” Circle/Dot/Dash” – curator of the exhibition, presentation of the collection “Flower Line – Roses”, Łódź Design Festival
2019 Distinction for the collection “Flower Line – Roses” at the International Trade Fair “Trends Solutions” in Frankfurt
Curator of the exhibition “Tribalism”, “Night with Design”, “Domar” Interior Gallery, Wrocław
Curator of the exhibition/project “On the Table”, Łódź Design Festival
