About Us
Interested in collaboration?
Contact us at: info@idkielce.pl
Opening Hours:
Tuesday–Sunday: 9:00 am – 5:00 pm
Closed on Mondays.
The Institute of Design in Kielce is a municipal institution that has been implementing projects in the broadly understood field of design since 2012. We combine design, social, and exhibition activities with education, operating at the intersection of design, architecture, craftsmanship, and new technologies.
Studios and Education
The core of the Institute’s activities consists of specialist studios, including ceramics, visual communication, spatial design, and textiles. Each studio integrates design and educational functions, organizing workshops, training sessions, student internships, and artistic residencies, as well as carrying out research and exhibition projects.
Exhibition Spaces and Reading Room
The Institute of Design is located on Castle Hill, in a 19th-century former prison building in Kielce. This unique venue houses the Main Gallery, the Upper Floor Gallery, and the Gate Gallery.
Visitors also have access to a conference room and a specialist reading room with publications dedicated to design, architecture, ceramics, graphic design, and the history and theory of design.
Projects and International Cooperation
Between 2014 and 2016, we delivered three editions of an international educational program in collaboration with Scuola Italiana Design. Each edition took the form of an 11-week academic and practical creative design course, preparing participants for work in product design and for introducing products to the market.
In 2016, as designers, we represented Poland at the 15th Venice Architecture Biennale, presenting the exhibition Fair Building, conceived by Dominika Janicka. The exhibition addressed ethical issues related to the role of construction workers – the least appreciated yet essential participants in the architectural process.
The Institute of Design is actively engaged in public space through social and urban projects. One such initiative was participation in the international project Activated City (2018), carried out in cooperation with the Adam Mickiewicz Institute, the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw, and the University of Gothenburg. The outcome was an installation designed for the courtyard of Castle Hill, conceived as a space for active leisure and social integration.
In 2025, we co-organized the international workshops From Wood and Clay: Natural Materials for the Architecture of the Future, held in Poland and Iceland, in collaboration with the National Institute of Architecture and Urban Planning and the Iceland Academy of Arts. The program focused on the use of natural materials, local craftsmanship, and sustainable technologies in the architecture of the future.
In the same year, the Textile Studio led by Kuba Święcicki was included in the prestigious Homo Faber Guide, created by the Michelangelo Foundation, which promotes masters of craftsmanship from across Europe.
Awards and Distinctions
The activities of the ID team have been repeatedly recognized at prestigious industry events. In 2013, the Institute of Design received the Dobry Wzór award, granted by the Institute of Industrial Design in Warsaw, for the modular urban furniture project Miejski Salon.
In the autumn of 2024, the exhibition Touching the City by Kuba Święcicki, presented in the Reading Room, received a distinction in the Project of the Year 2023/24 review organized by STGU. In April 2025, the project was awarded an honorable mention in the Best in Design competition held as part of Zlin Design Week.
In May 2025, the project Fermentation Vessel by Marta Dachowska received the must have statuette at the Łódź Design Festival.