Polish Design Arrives at Mayfair Design District with Curated Connections

Now in its second year, ‘Curated Connections’ by On&On Designs continues to present a concentrated view of the depth and range of Polish design today within an international context. Across both venues, the installations present innovation from artists exploring  metalworking, cast aluminium, ceramics and glass.

MINT GALLERY presents ‘BLUEPRINT’

Mint presents ‘Blueprint’ - an exhibition celebrating the reconfiguration of traditional craft techniques as the foundation for bold, contemporary design. Curated Connections continues Mint's collaboration with On&On Designs for a second year, presenting three Polish designers whose practices root contemporary design in material knowledge and hand craftsmanship.

Formsophy, Tomek Rygalik and Mati Sipiora each explore how experimentation and unconventional processes are reshaping contemporary design, and how Polish designers engage with global conversations in design while remaining grounded in their own perspectives, traditions and approaches to making. 

Formsophy, the artist duo of Alicja Prussakowska and Jakub Kijowski, create sculptural objects from cast aluminium and natural stone at their outdoor foundry. At MINT Gallery, Formsophy presents NAR and the debut showing of HANN. HANN, a sculptural coffee table combining recycled cast aluminium with dark basalt, draws on geological processes such as erosion, pressure and the gradual transformation of matter. A single, continuous plane of aluminium stretches across the stone supports, its surface retaining ridges, shallow depressions and traces of the casting process, balanced by precisely cut edges. Basalt carries the density and permanence of geological time, while aluminium records a brief, intense moment of heat and solidification, together giving HANN a presence that feels both elemental and deliberately composed. NAR is a compact sculptural piece set at the meeting point of raw and refined material. Beige onyx with warm copper tones, sits held within a cast aluminium form in a dialogue between opposing qualities of warmth and cold, softness against rigidity. Small in scale, NAR holds its material tensions in a moment of stillness.

Mati Sipiora, a designer and craftsman working from his family’s metalworking workshop, works entirely by hand using traditional tools, such as a lathe and hydraulic press, avoiding automated processes. At MINT Gallery Sipiora presents the Poodle Armchair (2023): sculptural yet inviting, the piece balances bold form with everyday comfort that takes inspiration from the charming qualities of the poodle breed. A blend of avant-garde design and comfort, the armchair features a sleek stainless steel frame with a distinctive tubular silhouette that commands attention with subtle grace, with a velvet, high-quality shearling seat that perfectly balances form and function. 

Tomek Rygalik, founder of Studio Rygalik, presents Miss Irony (2026), an industrial intervention examining the tension between comfort and the austerity of the natural world. The piece sees a table cast in industrial iron forced into a burned tree trunk - a violent intersection of the manufactured and the decaying that reframes luxury as a return to the primal. MINT will also host an ‘In Conversation with Tomek Rygalik’ panel (17 Sept 6-7pm) followed by Private View reception.

MANDARIN ORIENTAL MAYFAIR presents REFLECTIONS

Presented as the latest chapter of ‘The Living Square’, Mandarin Oriental Mayfair's year-round cultural residency with Mayfair Design District, Reflections transforms the hotel into an exploration of light, material and perception inspired by the cultural history of Hanover Square. As part of the programme, Curated Connections presents three Polish designers and artists working across ceramics, glass and metal: Aneta Kocia, Magdalena Zarychta, and Zieta Studio.

Aneta Kocia, a ceramic artist and designer based in Gdańsk, presents the UNDERTOW series exploring the tension between stillness and movement, permanence and transformation. UNDERTOW No.1 has distorted, expanding edges that evoke the movement of water, the erosion of rock and the forces acting beneath the surface. UNDERTOW No. 4’s irregular open form unfolds through undulating and layered planes, evoking erosion and shapes formed by natural forces. Built entirely by hand, layer by layer.

Magdalena Zarychta examines the relationships between matter, process, imprint, light and space. At Mandarin Oriental, Zarychta presents Pulsars, a series of hand-blown glass sculptures in which hand-impressed reliefs preserve the memory of gesture and movement, their shifting layers of colour and transparency revealed by changing light. The series brings together the traditional technique of glassblowing with an observation of structures found in living organisms.

Zieta Studio, led by architect and process designer Oskar Zięta is known internationally for FiDU, his proprietary method of forming steel through internal pressure. At Reflections, Zieta Studio presents Crystal Totem and Crystal Monoliths - sculptural works from Zieta's ongoing Crystals series. Composed of geometric, mirror-surfaced steel modules, the pieces reflect and refract light and their surroundings, generating shifting, kaleidoscopic impressions that speak directly to the exhibition's exploration of perception and reflection.

“Through the fifth and sixth chapters of Curated Connections, we are delighted to continue our mission of placing Polish design in dialogue with London’s creative landscape, returning to Mint Gallery and, for the first time, presenting at Mandarin Oriental Mayfair. These distinctive settings offer Polish designers meaningful international visibility and new opportunities to engage with the city’s design community,” say Anka Simone and Joanna Caron-Delion, founders of On&On Designs.

"We're proud to continue our partnership with On&On Designs for a second year”, says Lina Kanafani, founder of MINT Gallery, “Formsophy, Mati Sipiora and Tomek Rygalik each bring a rigour and material intelligence that sits perfectly within Blueprint's exploration of craft as a living, evolving practice."

“This year, Mayfair Design District asks ‘What Matters Now’ - exploring the ideas, materials and connections that give design meaning. Polish design brings a distinctive voice to that conversation, rooted in craftsmanship and material innovation”, says Anne Laure Pingreoun-Lastro, co-founder Mayfair Design District. “Through Curated Connections and Reflections for the Mandarin Oriental Mayfair, we’re proud to bring these perspectives to Mayfair and create a meaningful dialogue between the Polish and London design communities.”

Curated Connections runs at Mint Gallery from 12–20 September and Mandarin Oriental Mayfair from September to January as part of Mayfair Design District's 2026 programme.

Curated Connections is curated by On&On Designs in partnership with Creative Project Foundation and the Polish Cultural Institute in London. The project is co-financed by the Polish Ministry of Culture and National Heritage under the Creative Industries Institute's Development of Creative Sectors programme.

Image: Pulsars by Magdalena Zarychta at REFLECTIONS, Mandarin Oriental Mayfair