On the 27th of November, 2023, in the Warsaw headquarters of the DESA Unicum auction house, we held the Polish Design – Ukrainian Reconstruction charity auction! The auction was organized by the BRDA Foundation in partnership with DESA Unicum and was supported by nearly 40 artists and designers. Funds gathered at the auction will allow BRDA to continue the WINDOW project, in which the Foundation’s team gathers and sends windows to Ukrainian social organizations working on reconstruction homes destroyed due to war.

The WINDOW project is an awarded social action that addresses one of the many crucial challenges in Ukraine – in this case, the lack of windows. Sending reclaimed windows – obtained from renovations, demolition sites and producers’ storage units – to Ukrainian non-profits allows citizens to come back to their houses. There is nothing more dignified and important than a warm, dry, safe home that you can return to – this is what BRDA is contributing to. So far, the Foundation sent 1863 windows to Ukraine, supporting close to a thousand families, schools and community centers. An exhibition inspired by the WINDOW project received the main prize at this year’s London Design Biennale. The project is a sustainable, simple and quantifiable form of support. However, although windows are obtained for free as donations, the project’s logistics, organizing transport, packaging is quite a cost – and the solution comes in the form of an auction!

Polish designers from many generations with various creative interests are also looking for more and more prosocial and sustainable directions in their projects. That is why the ongoing solidarity of Poland’s creative industry with Ukrainian activists is so moving. In this case, it will allow to send a minimum of 2000 windows to those in need by the end of next year – that’s hundreds of households that remain homes for thousands of people. The auction presented works of, among others, Oskar Zięta, TOTEM Studio, Marcin Rusak, Aleksandra Kujawska, Malwina Konopacka or Splot. We saw sculptures, decorative textiles, a wide range of glass and ceramics. Auctioneers also had the rare opportunity to purchase a one-of-a-kind table by Studio Rygalik. The vast spectrum of objects arrives at a perfect time, right before the end of the year, when there is nothing more touching than a socially engaged present.

At the beginning of November BRDA and DESA published an online catalog of all the objects available at the auction (in Polish and in English), together with a preface by Agata Szydłowska, author and design expert and historian. The Foundation brought objects available at the auction closer to the audience on their website and social media.

Together, we gathered over 70 thousand PLN!!!