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Post War Drobe

Maria Gil

Profile picture of Maria Gil

I am an award-winning Polish furniture designer based in London. I studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan and at the University of the Arts London graduating with a bachelor's degree in Product and Furniture Design. With experience in product, fashion and furniture design I use everyday objects as context-driven story-tellers. Motivated by environmental responsibility, I reject redundant designs to craft meaningful products that enrich users' lives.

I am an award-winning Polish furniture designer based in London. I studied at the Accademia di Be...

While in the West in the late 20th century a movement of playful experimentation in design was flourishing, Polish design faced challenges due to economic and political crises. „Post War Drobe” reimagines Polish design history, envisioning an alternative reality where postmodernism had the chance to exist.

Combining contrasting rebar and fabric, often used as substitutes for traditional furniture materials due to resource shortages, „Post War Drobe” references classical wardrobes from before WWII. It mourns the lost cultural heritage, destroyed and looted from Poland during the war. Instead of using the colour, pattern, and humour typical of postmodern designers in capitalist countries, „Post War Drobe,” set in the context of communism, adopts a serious, ghostly demeanor to emphasize the contrast between the two systems.

Final work

A wardrobe made out of a rebar framework and see-through fabric walls with clothes inside, in an empty room with windows.
Close-up onto embroiled signature "Maria Gil 2024" on one of the fabric panels of the wardrobe.
Close-up to the ruffle finish of the wardrobe's base.
Close-up to the sewn-in magnets in the fabric that attach it to the rebar skeleton of the wardrobe.

Taking advantage of the fact that the skeleton of the wardrobe is made out of steel rebar, the fabric is attached with sewn-in magnets which enables easy assembly and even quicker disassembly which supports the process of cleaning the fabric.

Research and process

Ideation page with drawings of different wardrobe designs.

Historical research revealed the obstacles Polish designers had to overcome to be able to produce their work. One of them - material shortages - led me to the canny use of rebar (widely available as a construction waste) and textiles (used instead of doors to cover cluttered shelves). 

Embracing the contrast of the two I came up with the idea of a wardrobe reminiscent of classical closets. The see-through, black fabric expresses the longingness and grief over the Poland from before the war as well as longingness for the ornamental applied arts lost during the WW2, similarily how postmodernists referenced classical furniture to rebel against modernism.

Person using a sewing machine; a wardrobe skeleton partially covered with see-through fabric in the background .

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Post War Drobe

While in the West in the late 20th century a movement of playful experimentation in design was flourishing, Polish design faced challenges due to economic and political crises. „Post War Drobe” reimagines Polish design history, envisioning an alternative reality where postmode...

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