OSKAR ZIĘTA
Architect Process Designer Artist
photo by Łukasz Gawroński
Oskar Zięta is an artist fascinated with the formal properties of metals, which he transforms into sculptures that play with the senses, often intimidate with their scale and cross the border between what is possible and what is only imagined. In his works, he uses his original method of metal forming, which gives him endless possibilities of manipulating the material, while not depriving it of authenticity and craftsmanship naturality.
Zięta creates both sculptures based on mathematical precision, as well as organic objects that question Euclidean geometry. His projects are the result of a close relationship between man and the material, a practice already exercised by his father Jan and grandfather Bolesław. While they forged steel with the help of their own hands and heavy tools, Oskar Zięta in his work uses more sophisticated machining methods. He is a 4.0 blacksmith who carves with data, which he materializes in the form of sculptures – that give the impression of being subtly shaped by the natural forces. They contain the truth about the material from which they are made – Zięta deforms and stabilizes metal with internal pressure, on the basis of meticulously collected information about it.
How will it behave under the influence of a certain force? How will a polished surface reflect its surroundings? How will the context influence the reception of a given form? These are the questions that Zięta faces during the creative process based on the idea of a controlled loss of control. At the same time, he leaves the material a considerable margin of freedom, thanks to which he enters into a dialogue with it both in the virtual and real-world – transforming bits into atoms, and these again into bit representations. Thanks to this cooperation with the material, his objects are characterized by a dose of precisely planned poetics.
Born in 1975, Oskar Zięta is an architect, artist and process designer, and the CEO of Zieta Studio. He holds a doctorate from the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule in Zürich, where he worked as a research assistant at the department of CAAD (Computer Aided Architectural Design). At ETH and as part of his own company, founded in 2010, he carried out research, development and implementation of steel stabilization technologies such as FIDU and 3+.
He is the author of the iconic PLOPP stool (2008) and other inflated steel projects on the verge between sculpture and functional objects. Zięta began experimenting with site-specific sculptures designed with the use of the parametric design methodology in 2006 with his Seahorse. Nevertheless, it was not until 2010, when he designed his first larger-scale works: the formally different, but structurally familiar Architonic Concept Space and The Blow & Roll installation for the Victoria & Albert Museum. Since then, he has been constantly experimenting with scale and form, as well as with the social and aesthetic potential of steel sculptures.
Oskar Zięta is also the creator of the highest sculpture in the public space in Poland, WIR (Galeria Północna, Warsaw 2017), as well as NAWA, a pavilion sculpture (Daliowa Island, Wrocław 2017), which contributed to the revitalization of the surrounding urban space. In 2019, NAWA was nominated for the prestigious European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture – Mies van der Rohe Award.
Oskar Zięta’s creative activity has been repeatedly awarded with the most important awards in the field of design, including Designpreis der Bundesrepublik Deutschland Award, Red Dot and Audi Mentor Preis, as well as with a nomination for the Schweizer Design Preis. Zięta collaborated with brands such as Audi, Architonic, Ballantine’s, Pirelli, Victoria & Albert Museum, among others. His works are in the collections of the Museum für Gestaltung in Zurich, the Pinakothek in Munich and the Pompidou Center in Paris.
Oskar Zięta lives and works in Wroclaw, Poland.
JOINT EXHIBITIONS
2008, “YDMI Award 2008 German Design Council”, Red Dot Award, Product Design, Essen/Germany
2010, PLOPP exhibited at the Saatchi Gallery, by Phillips de Pury, London/Great Britain
2010, “Young Creative Poland” exhibition, Salone del Mobile di Milano, Milan/Italy
2010, “Idea and Imagination Experience Hall”, Seoul Design Fair
2012, Designers’ Open in Leipzig/Germany
2013, “Future Nomads”, DMY International Festival of Design in Berlin/Germany
2015, “Open Ended” (curatet by Lidewij Edelkoort), Kazerne Gallery, Eindhoven/Germany
2017, “Future is Now”, Norman Foster Foundation, Madrid/Spain
2018, KOOKU living spaces, Art Basel, Basel/Switzerland
2020, “Chez un connaisseur”, RINCK & Savannah Bay Gallery, Paris Design Week, France
2020, “Design without borders” (Határtalan Design), curators: Szilvia Szigeti and Tamás Radnóti, Kiscelli Múzeum, Budapest/Hungary
2020, “La Manufacture a labour of love”, curators: Lidewij Edelkoort and Philip Fimmano, Gare Saint Sauveur, Lille, The Design Capital, France
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010, “Blow & Roll” installation, Victoria & Albert Museum, London Design Festival, London/Great Britain
2011, “Reflections”, Vienna Design Week, Vienna/Austria
2013, “Stilwerk” limited edition design gallery at the Design Days Dubai, Dubai/United Arab Emirates
2013, Chippensteel 0.5 is exhibited at “Common Roots” in Design Museum Holon, Holon/Israel
2014, “Polish Design: in the Middle of”, Dutch Design Week, Eindhoven/Netherlands
2014, “Polish Job”, Milan Design Week, Milan/Italy
2018, “Polish(ed) Reflections”, Jerke Museum, Recklinghausen/Germany
2015, 2019, IMM Cologne, Cologne/Germany
2019, Zieta at Salone Del Mobile, Milan/Italy
2020, “Deformations of reflection – reflections of deformation”, City Museum of Wrocław
2020-2021, “INFLATALES. Oskar Zięta’s Steel Stories”, GAGA Gallery of Architecture, MOS Scene at the Theatre of Julius Słowacki in Cracow
2020, “Deformations of reflection – reflections of deformation”, City Museum of Wrocław, Poland
2020, “MIRRORTOPIA”, Concept 101 Showroom, Beijing/China
2020, Oskar Zięta at the Line Park & Gallery All, 11 July 2020 – 26 July 2020 (Liuhe Road, Xihu District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang/China)
2020, Oskar Zięta at Maison Joseph, 8 August – 13 September 2020 (Binjiang District, Hangzhou City, Zhejiang/China)
2020, “CADA CANTO CADA CONTO. ART, ARCHITECTURE, CERAMIC AND DESIGN”, CABANAmad Gallery, Lisbon/Portugal
2020-2021, “INFLATALES. Oskar Zięta’s Steel Stories”, GAGA Gallery of Architecture, MOS Scene at the Theatre of Julius Słowacki in Cracow, Poland
COLLECTIONS
Baden State Museum, Germany (2010)
Victoria & Albert Museum, Great Britain (2010)
Centre Pompidou, France (2011)
Pinakothek der Moderne, Germany (2011)
Holon Design Museum, Israel (2012)
Musee des Beaux-Arts, Canada (2012)
Zurich Design Museum, Switzerland (2013)
Museum für Gestaltung, Switzerland (2013)
Museum Jerke, Germany (2014)
Denver Art Museum, USA (2015)
Vitra Design Museum, Germany (2016)
National Museum of History and Art, Luxembourg (2016)
Museum of Copper, Legnica (2016)
Museo Nazionale Della Scienza E Della Tecnologia
Leonardo Da Vinci, Italy (2016)
Four Domes Pavilion, Poland (2016)
Museu Nacional do Conjunto Cultural da República, Brasil (2017)
National Museum in Warsaw, Poland (2017)
City Museum of Gdynia, Poland (2017)
National Museum in Cracow, Poland (2018)
City Museum of Wrocław, Poland (2020)
AWARDS
YDMI Award German Design Council, 2008
DMY Award for Innovation in production process, 2008
Best Product Design for PLOPP, Red Dot Design Award, 2008
Forum AID Award for PLOPP, 2009
Nomination for Unterdruck, Schweizer Design Preis, 2009
Technology Award, Materialica, 2009
DesignPreis der Bundesrepublik Deutchland Award, Rat fur Formgebung for PLOPP, 2009
Audi-Mentorpreis for Oskar Zięta by Architektura & Wnętrze, 2011
LODZ DESIGN Must Have Award for Drab, 2011
LODZ DESIGN Must Have Award for the 3+ Chair, 2013
30 Most Creative People of Wroclaw – President’s Prize, 2015
Dolnośląski Gryf – Economic Award – “For the pioneer of the digital age”, 2016
Architektura-Murator “Innovation in Architecture” Award for NAWA, 2019
German Design Award for NAWA, 2019
Mies van der Rohe Prize Nomination for NAWA, 2019
LODZ DESIGN Must Have Award for ULTRALEGGERA, 2020
MATERIALICA Design + Technology Award 2020 Best of Award in the Product Category for ULTRALEGGERA, 2020