"10 Questions to an Interior Designer" is a series of short talks inspired by "10 Questions to...". This time our attention is turned to interior designers. In today's episode, Roland Stańczyk talks about his approach to design.
Roland Stańczyk — architect, graduate and fellow of the Faculty of Architecture at the Warsaw University of Technology, scholarship holder at the University of Detroit. He was involved in advertising animation, set and visual design of television programs. In 1999, he founded his own studio, RS Studio Projektowe. He is vice president of the Stowarzyszenie Architektów Wnętrz. Designing luxury interiors of residences and residential apartments in Poland, the United States and the United Kingdom, he reinterprets historical solutions, giving them a contemporary form. He manages the development process, working with the best contractors in Poland and abroad. His portfolio also includes completed interior designs for public facilities: stores, offices, restaurants and spa salons.
1. For me home is...
Family. A place that gives a sense of happiness and security. A slice of the world organized according to the rules of mine and those closest to me. It is also a space where family memories are collected, recorded in objects, furniture and works of art. Finally, it is also the nature surrounding the house. Domesticated and wild animals. There is a place in the house where, standing at the intersection of the axes of opposing windows, one can look to the four sides of the world.
2. The key to successful interior design is...
I do not know if there is a universal and reliable key. Success depends on the coincidence of many factors:
- Work, talent and commitment
- Wisdom of the architect and investors
- Mutual alignment
- Sensitivity and the ability to listen
- Quality of substance and context
- Mood and timing
3. I look for inspiration in...
It's not quite a conscious process. I live, travel and observe. On the one hand, nature, its beauty, wisdom, power and ruthlessness. On the other, the creations of man, reflecting his genius, creative sensitivity, curiosity and wisdom, but also hubris and selfishness. I try to understand how everything depends on each other and how it is constructed — invented by God, nature and man. These sensations come back in the creative process.
4. In cooperation with an investor the most important thing is...
Trust. Listening. Knowing and understanding — this is one side. The other is: knowledge, experience and standards. Professionalism.
The first depends to some extent on chance. A newly acquainted person is, in the initial period, a difficult unknown. The latter definitely depends on ourselves. Our sensitivity, diligence and talent.
The answer is very much in line with that of a successful project.
5. My favorite design style is...
I perceive the closure and repetitive design within a certain style as a creative limitation. Of course, I recognize the efficiency of such a business model. The client knows what to expect when coming to a studio designing in a homogeneous style. I try to avoid designing in line with current trends. I like the boundaries between styles to be blurred. It is the context, including the human one, and the substance that define the design. Certainly, I am an enemy of pretense: stone should be stone, wood should be wood, and stucco should be plaster.
6. The most valuable object in my home is...
Objects, even the most valuable, are less important. Valuable is, difficult to define the soul of our place. The multiplicity of memories and the significance of events. Images of encounters and emotions preserved in memory. Memories from all over the world are also taken home. It accumulates them all. It is also a place that witnesses everyday life. Finding happiness in seemingly unimportant, simple activities.
7. The most common mistake in self-decoration is...
First of all, I appreciate the fact that someone chooses to decorate his space personally. He then gains the advantage of individuality. I prefer personalized interiors with mistakes than those designed and executed perfectly, but without the spirit of the residents. Designing is a difficult art. Backed by years of acquiring knowledge and experience. Mistakes in amateurs are inevitable. The most serious are those functional and disruptive proportions. Typical is the inability to give up, resulting in a lack of uniformity.
8. My favorite material is...
In measurable terms, it's wood and stone. Natural, used for millennia. Subject to processing. Also the modern ones changing their face, bringing new aesthetic values. These are materials that are durable and age beautifully. Ecological. Looking more abstractly, I would call creative materials the space and the mutual proportions of the elements that make up the interior. I operate with them.
9. A trend I would like to see pass away already is...
I deplore many aspects of the shoddy, „marketized” Warsaw architecture being built in the 1990s. The city suffered a lot of aesthetic and spatial damage that is difficult to reverse. I dislike the prefabricated concrete fences and multicolored cubes flooding the landscape. The tacky signs, advertisements and banners. Spatial disorder, randomness, lack of respect for context. Ubiquitous concrete. The hardest thing for me to come to terms with is the stupidity, rudeness and indiscriminate selfishness behind the aforementioned.
10. Someday I would like to live in...
I like my place. I hope that I will have enough strength and fitness to maintain it and at the same time feel unlimited in it. Living in the suburbs requires increased mobility. It forces one to be active. Sometimes the thought comes to mind that living in the center, we would be closer to culture and the urban spirit. However, space and nature still prevail.
Check out other conversations in the series 10 questions to an interior designer
