Józef Chierowski

Lifetime

1927–2007

Country

Poland

Manufacturers

Dolnośląska Fabryka Mebli

Józef Marian Chierowski was born in Lviv in 1927. He studied at the Faculty of Interior Architecture of the State Higher School of Fine Arts (PWSSP) in Wrocław, now the Academy of Fine Arts, where he obtained his diploma in 1952. His diploma was number 1 – he was in the institution’s first graduating class. Chierowski’s teachers included Władysław Wincze, Marian Sigmund and Marian Steczowicz.

He was associated with the furniture factory in Świebodzice. The type 366 armchair was created there, conceived as an inexpensive, simple-to-assemble piece of furniture that could be quickly put into series production. The armchair was presented at the 3rd National Fair in Poznań in 1959, and approximately 500 thousand examples had been produced by 1967; the National Museum in Warsaw dates its example to 1962. Until 1970, the armchair was produced by Dolnośląska Fabryka Mebli in Świebodzice, and later, among others, by factories in Świdnica and Głuchołazy. It found its way into homes, public spaces and diplomatic missions, and was also exported. An example of the armchair is held in the collection of the National Museum in Warsaw.

Chierowski also designed furniture and pianos for instrument manufacturers in Kalisz and Legnica, as well as interiors, including voivodeship public libraries in Wrocław and Kalisz. From 1976–1980, he headed the Department of Design at the Wrocław university, and later ran the Furniture Design Studio together with Piotr Karpiński. In 1960, he received an award from the Design Council. He died in 2007.

Armchairs from Polish factories of this period can be found in the Vintage Polish Designer Armchairs and PRL Furniture collections.