Interior Architecture Connects Europe
INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE CONNECTS EUROPE 2026
Interior Architecture Connects Europe 2026, for the first time, brought together the European interior architecture community in Poland. Organised by the Association of Interior Architects (SAW), the European Council of Interior Architects (ECIA) and the Faculty of Interior Architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, the event was conceived as a meeting space for exchanging experiences and discussing the future of the profession and the role of collaboration in contemporary design. OMNIRES, as the event’s Main Partner, joined this conversation, supporting dialogue between architects, designers and manufacturers, as well as the presence of Polish design on the European stage.
VALUE IN COLLABORATION
One of the forum’s core aims was to foster collaboration between interior architects, designers, manufacturers and craftspeople. Moderated by Małgorzata Szczepańska, the debate on Polish design and craftsmanship focused on increasing value through collaboration, supporting local production, and the potential of Polish brands and creators on the European market. The brand and manufacturer’s perspective was presented by Paulina Shacalis, Creative Director & Lead Designer at OMNIRES. The discussion also featured Kacper Gronkiewicz, Kasia Borkowska and Tomek Pydo of KABO & PYDO, Grzegorz Goworek of Studio Organic, Oskar Zięta and Davina Preca of ECIA. The discussion centred around collaboration as a pillar of enhancement of the quality of projects, support for local expertise and the creation of a stronger footing for Polish design in Europe.
Our profession, like everything around us, is changing dynamically. As interior architects, we therefore must keep reassessing what we design and for whom. The most important theme that held fast in all the meetings was very simple: we design for people.
Anna Olga Chmielewska, interior architect,
Member of the Board of the Association of Interior Architects
TIME FOR POLISH DESIGN
The accompanying exhibition at the Academy of Fine Arts presented contemporary Polish interior architecture as an emerging discipline on the intersection of design, art and craft. Initial inspiration for the original installations created by studios affiliated with SAW was provided by objects of Polish design and manufacture – not as standalone functional items, but as carriers of memories, associations and emotions. Each piece grew out of its author’s personal interpretation, leaving complete freedom in shaping the relationship between the object, the designer and the space.
I wanted to show objects we know well in a completely different context – not through the lens of their functionality, but through the situations, time and emotions we associate them with.
Małgorzata Szczepańska, exhibition curator
SHAME, TAMED
Agnieszka Stefańska, interior architect and author of the installation, found inspiration in shame – an intimate and difficult emotion – placing it in the context of the bathroom, a most private place. Her composition was built using OMNIRES BEYOND fittings designed by Maja Ganszyniec. It balanced the tension between the hidden and the revealed, the discreet and the exposed, and completed the experience with scent as a further, sensory layer. As the work progressed, “shame” (wstyd) was joined by “not” (nie) – an addition that made it possible to tame the emotion without taking away its power. This is how NIE-WSTYD (NOT-SHAME) came about: an installation open to personal interpretation and to an individual encounter with emotion.
What mattered most to me was that the installation be beautiful but not exposing; that it would hold the viewer’s attention long enough for them to confront it to the extent that they themselves feel this emotion. I am very glad that the openness of OMNIRES – as a brand, manufacturer and project partner – allowed me to complete this installation exactly as I wanted.
Agnieszka Stefańska, interior architect, designer of the NIE-WSTYD installation
FINALE AT THE OMNIRES SHOWROOM
The final day of the event was devoted to discovering Warsaw through its architecture. The city walk culminated in a visit by the international group of architects to OMNIRES Studio – an opportunity to get to know the brand, its collections and its approach to design in more detail. The informal atmosphere of the meeting encouraged conversation and became a natural conclusion to four days of exchanging experiences.
Interior Architecture Connects Europe showed the importance of dialogue, the exchange of perspectives and collaboration between different areas of design in the development of contemporary interior architecture. For OMNIRES, taking part in the event was a natural element of the brand’s commitment to design culture and to building relationships with the community of architects and designers in Poland and across Europe.
