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Sonia Bąk-Tokarska and Michał Tokarski

YOUNG TALENTS
Being Versatile

Sonia Bąk-Tokarska and Michał Tokarski founded Studio Tok four years ago. In addition to their surname, "Tok" also stands for ways of thinking, and thought processes in the Polish language. In this interview, they talk about the role that painting played in their childhood and what a lamp has to do with a sumo wrestler.
8/8/2024

Lilian Ingenkamp: When did you first come into contact with design?

Michał Tokarski: My mother often bought interior design magazines, which I loved to browse through. I also attended painting classes for several years. I think I knew even then that I wanted to do something creative. We were born in the 1990s. It was a time of political upheaval and socio-economic change in Poland. We didn't yet have mobile phones, computers or the internet. Many things were just coming onto the market. I remember that as a child I often made my own toys or small objects. Later, I studied interior design in Krakow, but quickly realised that it was not the interiors that interested me the most, but the objects in them. That's when I decided to apply to study product design at the Academy of Fine Arts.

Sonia Bąk-Tokarska:
I come from a family that was mainly involved in medicine or art – a good mix of rationality and craziness. So maybe that laid not a bad basis for starting out in design. My father studied art restoration and took me to painting classes at the academy. I was given my own canvas and colours and painted with the students already at the age of four years. I like the smell of oil colours and turpentine to this day.

How did your paths cross?

Sonia Bąk-Tokarska: We studied together at the Academy of Fine Arts in Łódź and then in Warsaw. During this time we worked together on many projects. We share a common sense of aesthetics and both value high quality materials and craftsmanship. After our studies, we moved back to Krakow in 2020, where I'm originally from. Now we live on the outskirts of the city in a small village near the Kraków Valley Landscape Park. Our place is surrounded by a picturesque landscape where nature is very close. There are many forests, limestone cliffs and fields.

"Haf Chair"

Who takes on which part in your creative work?

Michał Tokarski: We are very flexible in this respect. We try to support and help each other when necessary. What I appreciate about Sonia's way of working is that she is courageous, makes decisions quickly and is very meticulous and thorough. If something requires extreme precision, I know Sonia will do it best. What I also appreciate is that at the beginning of a project she usually reaches for different books, sometimes even ones that have nothing to do with the topic. That often gives us new insights.

Sonia Bąk-Tokarska:
Michał is a visionary, he has a thousand ideas in his head. When he has decided to develop one of them, which sometimes takes a long time, he thinks about it holistically: what materials to choose, the finishing, the details, how to assemble it, how to pack it, what kind of scenery would be perfect for a photo shoot or even what kind of scent would fit the product. He has an artistic soul, an above-average sensibility and he is a good observer. I am more of a practical person, a realist, I would say. I tend to see limits and obstacles at work, but I make decisions more quickly and I am less afraid of failure.

In your work, you try to avoid obvious concepts and instead utilise different technologies. What kind of craftsmanship do you prioritise?

Michał Tokarski: In our profession, it's natural to be open-minded and curious about objects, people and the world in general. When we deal with different technologies and crafts, we can explore more and understand how something works. This brings us closer to better and more interesting solutions. The "Shaping Methods" project is a good example, where we tested the possibilities of the material, experimented and designed the tool instead of the final product. We try not to commit ourselves to a specific technology or material. We always strive for innovation, for something surprising.

"Shaping Methods"

Your paper lamp is inspired by a sumo wrestler. How did this particular association come about?

Sonia Bąk-Tokarska: In this project, we made many small models by folding, creasing and cutting the paper. All the techniques of finding shapes always turn out to be a very creative process. We like to start the creative phase with manual labour, and paper is usually the best material for this. One of the models reminded us of the specific pose of a sumo wrestler. We liked that and the association remained in the name "Sumo Lamp".

You are very versatile in your choice of materials and work with paper, glass and wood. Which raw material would appeal to you in the future?

Michał Tokarski: We would like to further develop projects with glass as well as paper. As far as glass is concerned, we have been working on a limited, hand-blown collection for a long time. Hopefully we will launch it soon. Paper, on the other hand, especially in connection with lighting, is something we are very interested in and we will certainly experiment with it.

Your design language is very minimalist, but all your designs have small, special details. Does that describe your style?

Michał Tokarski: In fact, the objects we design are usually simple, but we always try to find something that fascinates us, that makes them unique. That's probably why we place so much emphasis on refined and interesting details, which are always the result of research, technology or observation.

Have you ever failed with an idea or a project?

Michał Tokarski: Of course, many times! I think there are even more failures than successes, but I think that's normal when you're just starting out. There are many things that just don't work and then you have to give up the idea or come up with something else. That can be frustrating at times. On the other hand, it's important to remember that failure shouldn't be perceived as the end, but as motivation. I think, every time you fail you learn something new and that is the greatest value of failure.

"Haf Chair"
"Sumo Lamp"