Katarzyna Andrzejczyk-Briks: Since we are going to speak about designing a workspace, I’d like to ask about your own workplace. How does it look? Have you developed any habits– like having coffee at the same time every day, or having some favourite books near you or perhaps listening to music while working? How does Piotr Kuchcinski work?

Piotr Kuchciński: My workplace isn’t special, I just work at a table in the dining-room. When my son is at school and my wife at work I have the time to work on designing because then nobody disturbs me. I used to have a studio, which was my own space and in which I felt completely isolated from the rest of the world. Now I have deliberately chosen to work at home - we have bought a house lately. It is a nice place with a view of the garden, which I am very fond of. 

So, you don’t need anything special when you work on your projects?

>I can design anywhere. I often work outside the home or attend different meetings. As I do my work mostly on the computer, I can work everywhere. I’m able to get focused in various conditions. The problem appears only when I must write something. I need peace and quiet because even music can distract me from my work then. In order to write well, I need to be fully concentrated, focused and alone.

What experience do you use when you design office furniture?

>On the other hand, I think that my productivity gets increased by all the situations connected with functioning at home. For example, the fact that there is a garden right next to our house, where, especially on a warm day, you can have a walk. Thanks to those situations, I can change my way of thinking and get away from it all for a while. You can’t sit and work on the computer non stop. From time to time, you need to stand up, go out into the garden, listen to music and then go back to work and either continue working where you left off or have an entirely new idea and then start working from there.

I transfer the image of my ideal way of working. I just imagine how I could work more efficiently in my present workplace, which is my home. I think how I would have to change it, or improve it not to waste time looking for something. It would be ideal to have everything I need at hand to reduce various distractions. I am planning to create such a place in my own house.

You have been cooperating with Balma for many years. You specialise in designing office furniture…

>Let me say that since the start of my cooperation with Balma, while designing almost all the furniture collections, I have always kept in mind to create such pieces of furniture which could be used at home. 

In order to create an office at home?
>Yes, but there’s more to it. Just take a look at the Simplic table we are sitting at. It is a conference table, but why can’t you have this table in your dining-room or living-room? I have always considered the pieces of furniture in the context of organising house space, too.

Which turned out to be quite prophetic since the current trend in office design is to create offices which resemble the home more and more as they are equipped with some soft pieces of furniture, have plenty of plants and are so colourful. Modern offices also have some special places, which you talked about, to relax or to have contact with nature.
>Indeed, but from the start of my career as a designer, I didn’t want the furniture to look like “working tools or machines”, but, instead, I thought that some warmth and something positive should emanate from the furniture, something we don’t only associate with the workplace, but also with relaxation and rest. A place like home.

Finally, I would like to hear your opinion on prizes and awards. Do you like winning awards? Will the Creator of the Year of 2016 title affect the way you perceive the work you have created so far?

>I don’t believe there is anybody who would mind receiving awards. (laughing) However, I have never sought to win any distinctions. Do I like being rewarded? Well, all the awards, diplomas and titles I have obtained so far indicate that my projects are appreciated by their users. I treat the awards granted to me as an indication that the path I have chosen is the right one. The Creator of the Year of 2016 confirms that I should continue going in the direction that “my designing compass” gives me as the proper one.

Interview by: Katarzyna Andrzejczyk-Briks