Swawole

‘Swawole’ comes from Polish and means ‘Frolics’ (German: Ausgelassenheit, Herumtollen). It represents the thrilling joy of freedom that emerges while I immerse my hands in clay. It’s that electrifying tick of excitement accompanying the whole creative process, from a brainstorm until the unveiling the final results when I open the still-hot kiln full of blazing pots. And, finally, it represents my pleasure to bring my passion to life and share it with others.

Swawole is like Hakuna Matata in Polish
and simply stands for the creative happiness.

Architect at work & Artist in the free time.

My name is Paulina Puciłowska. I live in a wonderful harbor city, Hamburg, Germany. Here I work at renowned architecture office - Hadi Teherani Architects. Every free minute I spend at my studio, creating pottery.

My career has started with completing various academic courses: Architecture & Urban Planning at the Gdansk University of Technology, Design at Gdansk Academy of Fine Arts and an excursion course on Architecture & Industrial Design at Politecnico di Torino.

Where can you find Swawole?

Below is a non-exhaustive list of media that write about my work, pottery and Swawole Atelier. If you find an article that is not listed here, or you would like to write about us, please let us know!

Buy Swawole:

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Swawole Atelier - Eppendorfer Weg 125, 20259 Hamburg

Giovanna Kaffee - Kleiner Griechenmarkt 33, 50676 Köln

Pl

Forum Designu Kraków - Dawny Hotel Cracovia, ul. Focha 1, 30-311 Kraków

Napar Coffee - Most Pauliński 3, 87-100 Toruń

Publications:

En

It’s Liquid - Paulina Puciłowska at Venice Biennale

De

NDR - Filigrane Keramik aus Eppendorf - Video Beitrag

DerHamburger - In Love with Paulap.Crafts

Kiekmo - Stilvoll zu Tisch: Keramik aus dem Swawole Atelier

Kiekmo - Keramik mit Leidenschaft aus dem Swawole Atelier

Eimsbütteler Nachrichten - Keramik von Swawole Atelier

Hamburg.de - Paulina Puciłowska - Glas / Keramik / Porzellan

MitVergnügen - Swawole Pop-Up Store

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Elle - 15 rzeczy, które koniecznie chcemy mieć z wrześniowych Targów Rzeczy Ładnych

Bryła.pl - TRŁ FRESH! - świeży design i mnóstwo premier. Za to uwielbiamy Targi Rzeczy Ładnych

PlnDesign.pl - Targi Rzeczy Ładnych – inspirująco, integrująco i… świeżo!

Magazif - Rekordowa liczba debiutów na TRŁ FRESH! Nowy polski design w Koneserze

Homebook.pl - Rekordowa liczba debiutów na TRŁ FRESH! Nowy polski design w Koneserze

EkoManufaktury - Swawole

Politechnika Gdańska - Wzornictwo z wyższej półki, czyli Salone del Mobile

Trojmiasto,pl - Dzbaneczniki – Paulina Puciłowska

Gazeta Giżycka - Projektantka z Giżycka na prestiżowych targach w Mediolanie

As a young architect and designer, I have participated with successes in a number of competitions, workshops, and exhibitions in architectural, design and artistic fields. Among others:

Ceramics:

• Ceramic lamps 'White Fellows' on exhibition:

– Meet My Project, Salone del Mobile, Milan, Italy 2017
– Anima Mundi Festival – 'Visions', La Biennale di Venezia, Venice, Italy 2017

• Coffee-Making Set. Ritual. on exhibition:

– ‘Rzeczy. Kultura Materialna’, Academy of Fine Arts, Gdańsk 2017

• Individual Exhibition 'Phyllamphorae' – ceramic sculptures, Gdynia 2016

Architecture:

• Honorable Award of President of Gdansk 'for Best Architectural Master Diploma of 2017': Project 'Lary i Penaty – Society on New Canal in Gdansk' in cooperation with my husband Maciej Gerszewski. 2018

• Special Mention in the Builder Magazine Competition for 'Zen House – a single-family house project', in cooperation with my husband Maciej Gerszewski and talented friends Jakub Charkiewicz and Mokołaj Bazaczek. 2014

Zen House on exhibitions:

- Budma Fair, Poznan 2014
- Złote Tarasy, Warsaw 2014
- Article about the project in 'Builder' Magazine, 2014

• 2nd Place in the International Archtriumph Competition: Project 'Hex-a-Go Holiday Eco-Friendly Lodgings on Maldives', in cooperation with my husband Maciej Gerszewski and talented friends Jakub Charkiewicz and Rafał Makola. 2012

- article about the Hex-a-Go project, 'Architektura – Murator' Magazine, 2013

Design:

• Furniture for Common Space at the Centre of Contemporary Art (temporary installation), Toruń 2014

• Cardboard by-Sitter on exhibition:

– 'Wokół stołu' exhibition, Lodz 2013
– DMY International Design Festival, Berlin 2013

Swawole - die Töpferei in Eimsbüttel, Hamburg

Swawole - The Pottery Studio in Eimsbüttel, Hamburg

Swawole - Studio ceramiczne w Eimsbüttel, Hamburg

Why, how & what for?

I express my sturdy and sensitive soul in a vast spectrum of creative fields.
My biggest passion, however, is pottery, and here I bring it to your hands.

My adventure with clay has started like many others’:
I've been looking for a hobby that would bring me a relief from everyday pressure.
I was amazed how handcrafting completely cleared my mind.

Sustainability in the potter's heart

Made in Europe

Everything from label is made by myself at my home atelier in Hamburg, Germany, and most of the materials and tools I use are produced in Germany and Europe, many of them I simply pick up directly from the local supplier.

Renewable energy

The heart of every pottery studio is the kiln - in my case it's an electric one, produced by a German company, it holds highest standards of energy efficiency and allows to reduce the power consumption significantly. It is powered with electricity from 100% renewable sources.

Vegan, Animal welfare

Even though obviously it is possible to use animal products in pottery - such as leather for some details, or specific ways of courting - I've always sticked with vegan materials. No animals are involved in the process of creation of my arts - neither in the production of materials I use.

Recycling

I am happy to use only recycled and recovered materials for packaging of my shipments - I am lucky to have a direct access to leftovers from office packages: boxes, wrapping paper etc. which otherwise would have been simply thrown away. In my workshop you can find hundreds of samples of clay, colours, glazes and textures - those experiments are mostly done using recycled objects, leftovers from the production process. Ceramic itself is a natural material which is easy to recycle or biodegrade.

Organic & Regional

The beauty of ceramics lies in the fact that you constantly work with the purely organic materials. Germany is one of the largest producers of products for pottery and this way I am able to keep my activity local.

Work-Life-Balance

Even though I've been doing ceramics for years already, it remains a free-time activity to me. Professionally I work as an architect and treat pottery as an inspiring treat to my everyday routine.

Heritage

Pottery belongs to the first crafts ever developed by humanity - it brings me tremendous pride to be able to learn from this ancient heritage and to bring my humble, modern input. All my holiday trips are always somehow connected with pottery. Whether I travel through Germany or Poland, or Portugal and Italy, or other parts of the world, I always search for local trails of ceramic traditions and try to learn from them.

In Poland I am always happy to get inspired by famous Polish designs of tableware, produced by such great manufacturers as Bolesławiec (Bunzlau), Ćmielów, Chodzież, Kristoff, Bogucice, Tułowice and Włocławek.

The country of probably the greatest inspiration for every pottery enthusiast is Portugal. Here I find countless evidences of how beautiful and versatile this material is.

From every trip I bring back numerous souvenirs, items created by local craftsman and artists. Those fill my collection of ceramic world that surrounds me in my atelier.