Polish designer Alicja Patanowska transforms mining waste into a striking installation that asks us to pause, touch and reflect on the environmental cost behind our everyday objects
Photography by Alka Murat featuring a closeup of Alicja Patanowska’s The Ripple Effect at the V&A
What is it that makes us hold on to some objects and discard others? For Polish designer Alicja Patanowska, this question has become the focus of her practice. Her latest work – from an installation of 2,000 handmade tiles to a series of porcelain vessels – examines the lifecycles of the things that surround us.
Working from her eponymous studio in the countryside of southwestern Poland, Patanowska creates beautifully understated objects imbued with meaning. Her work – The Ripple Effect, We Are the Weather and Infinity – has been shown at the Royal College of Art in London, at Concordia Design Wrocław and, most recently, the V&A during London Design Festival in September.
Her latest intallation The Ripple Effect, commissioned by the V&A and supported from the Adam Mickiewicz Institute and the Polish Cultural Institute, examined the hidden consequences of copper mining and its environmental impact. But Patanowska maintains that her practice, above all, remains rooted in reflection.
Photography by Alka Murat featuring Alicja Patanowska
‘The most important message for me is to give the audience an opportunity to stop and reflect,’ says Patanowska. ‘I truly believe that each of us can change something, however small, and that reflection can be a beautiful beginning for that change.’
Patanowska describes her practice sitting somewhere between ‘art and design’, a space she has deliberately cultivated since her time at London’s Royal College of Art. She graduated back in 2014 with Plantation, a hydroponic system that transformed discarded glassware into purposeful forms for growing herbs and plants.
‘For many years I’ve been drawn to ecological questions and to a non-anthropocentric perspective,’ she explains. ‘That, along with embodied knowledge and direct contact with materials, is really the core of my work.’
Photography by Alka Murat @fot.al featuring Alicia Patanowska’s Plantation
‘I wanted to show how every act of taking natural resources carries both environmental and social consequences,’ she continues. ‘Each consumer shapes the ripple of these actions through their choices. By presenting a beautiful object, I hope to give people the chance to stop and reflect – to think about what they buy, what they throw away and to find a new connection to the things they own.’
The Ripple Effect made this message tangible through its design. Eight copper-coloured tiles, scattered among 1,992 blue ones, represent the 0.4 per cent yield of copper from mined soil; the remaining 99.6 per cent is waste. ‘The technical aspect shows the proportions of earth needed to produce even a small amount of copper,’ Patanowska says.
‘This isn’t just about copper – it’s the same story for gold, silver, nickel, all mined resources,’ she continues. ‘And it’s local to me. Poland has the largest post-filtration reservoir collecting mining waste in my region, but the problem is global: every copper mine looks much the same.’
Photography by Alka Murat featuring a closeup of Alicja Patanowska’s The Ripple Effect at the V&A
The physicality of the installation was central to its message. Visitors were encouraged to sit on the bench integrated into the plateau, touch the rippled tiles and engage directly with the material. ‘Touch is a sense we don’t use enough anymore,’ Patanowska observes. ‘We’re interacting through screens, not our hands. Feeling the texture reconnects us to the work and to the process of making itself.’
Each tile, individually hand-thrown and shaped, carried subtle variations, showcasing exceptional craftsmanship and the embodied knowledge of its maker. ‘It’s about process as much as result. Handmade objects reveal effort, connection and care. In a world of overproduction, that’s the message I want to share.’
The aesthetics were deliberate. ‘Beauty has huge potential,’ she says. ‘In fine arts, beauty is often forbidden; it must shock. I also address problems, but through beauty. I call it a silent protest. You can change things subtly, without shouting. Working with a big institution like the V&A makes this strategy work – people can touch the work here and the tactile experience sparks reflection.’
Photography by Alka Murat featuring a closeup of Alicja Patanowska’s The Ripple Effect at the V&A
Her Polish upbringing informs this approach. ‘Being close to nature and making things with your hands is part of my identity. My grandparents taught me to respect natural resources, whether collecting leaves or preserving materials. That shaped the way I approach craft, sustainability and responsibility.’
Patanowska’s ambitions extended beyond the gallery. 5Rhythms meditation workshops accompanied the installation to encourage visitors to pause, reconnect with themselves and reflect on their relationship to the material world. ‘It’s about slowing down, even moving meditation – reconnecting with the ground, with others and with your own feelings,’ she says.
Combining material research, ecological advocacy and artisanal skill, Patanowska creates work that is both beautiful and deeply contemplative. She reminds us of how the objects we surround ourselves with mirror the choices we make and, perhaps, also hold the potential for change.
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