House with a kimono and stars

For years, Joanna Hawrot has run her eponymous fashion brand. Right after graduating, she became part of Kraków’s bohemian scene – designing costumes for performances and curating artistic events. In her practice, disciplines would meet, and fashion was always part of a broader context: a plastic, spatial, symbolic, and conceptual action. Fascinated by Japanese culture, she reinterpreted the traditional kimono cut, which became the hallmark of her collections since 2009. Cut from three-meter lengths of fabric, HAWROT kimonos quickly became a pretext for dialogue with some of the best Polish artists: Aleksandra Waliszewska, Maurycy Gomulicki, Angelika Markul, and more recently Bownik & Tomek Wichrowski.

They soon entered the museum circuit, featured in exhibitions – most recently at the Manggha Museum in Kraków (2023), and soon to be shown in a solo retrospective at the National Museum in Wrocław (June 2024) and in Tokyo (autumn 2024). This multidisciplinary thinking led to the creation of HAWROT HOME. Launched in 2022, the pioneering concept best reflects the brand’s syncretic and holistic spirit.

“I created this place with myself and my family in mind, but over time I realized I wanted to share it. I’ve long been guided by the philosophy of ikigai – the idea of combining passion and mission. That’s why instead of kayaks or bicycles, the heart of HAWROT HOME is sculptures, textiles, objects, carefully selected utilitarian items, and even part of my private collection. All enclosed in a black ‘box’ of wooden architecture, surrounded by fragrant pine forest that peeks inside through panoramic windows. You can sit on the bench here and look at the stars. This is my everyday life, what I feed on, and these are my true foundations,” says the founder of HAWROT HOME.

Located about an hour’s drive from Warsaw, on a plot that was once part of a summer holiday colony, HAWROT HOME is ruled by silence – both acoustic and visual. Its sloped roof and black cladding make the discreet structure blend seamlessly with the wooden holiday architecture of the 1970s. Inside, calm prevails: raw wooden walls, grey resin floors perfect for barefoot walking, and muted furniture in white and powder pink form the backdrop for the works of invited artists.

The HAWROT HOME FW2023 exhibition revolves around the theme of nature. The living room’s focal point is a monumental wooden work by Anna Bera – an object reminiscent of a stone weathered by natural forces, its surface holding a thin layer of moisture, like a mirror, reflecting the interior. Above the lounge area hangs a lamp by Justyna Oboladze. Inspired by patterns found in nature, she created a unique joining system that can bud into any form she designs. Pink glass tiles framed in brass, illuminated from within, cast geometric shadows, becoming the luminous axis mundi of the space. Under the ridge beam, at a height of seven meters, hangs a textile by Marta Niedbał, winner of the ING Foundation Award.

The cobalt-and-orange irregular piece, with its fleshy texture, is not only a return to the idea of grounding and regeneration achieved through manual work but also a story about traveling between the natural and human realms. Meanwhile, the pink star by Maurycy Gomulicki, migrating between the interior and garden of HAWROT HOME, is a tender poem in the artist’s signature style – an oversized camp-pink star fallen from the sky, a romantic spectacle of death, a fleeting moment frozen in time. The interior also features Joanna’s own design – a silk curtain created from a work by Aleksandra Waliszewska.

“Some thought the idea of exhibiting art in a suburban rental house was far-fetched. But from the start, I wanted to take it out of the official, gallery, white-cube context and place it in an informal, intimate, wild one. Here, the works resonate differently, more quickly, and because they’re within arm’s reach, every guest can feel how much they actually bring to our lives,” says the owner, inviting visitors to the small town in the Dobre region. “Only good moments happen here,” she promises.

Photos: Budzik Studio