Barbara Banaś

A PhD in art history and is a diploma-bearing curator of the National Museum in Wrocław, running the Ceramics and Contemporary Glass Department.

She has spent over twenty years researching the history of Polish industrial design and artistic crafts. She has participated in many pioneering projects, such as co-creating the Common Wealth: Polish Products 1899–1999 exhibition (Warsaw, Krakow) in 2000. She worked for many years with 2+3D magazine, publishing articles that featured Polish glass and ceramics designers. She co-authored Out of the Ordinary: Polish Designers of 20th Century, a book which promoted Polish design achievements, prepared by the Adam Mickiewicz Institute. She curated many exhibitions devoted to Polish design and artisan crafts, including the Miracle-Workers permanent exhibition at the National Museum in Wrocław. Her monographs include: Krystyna Cybińska (2008), Zbigniew Horbowy (2009), Hanna and Leszek Nowosielski (2010), Ludwik Kiczura (2013), Jerzy Słuczan-Orkusz (2019) and a bestselling work about Polish ‘Thaw’-era household ceramics, Polish New Look (2011, 2019–2nd ed.)