Information Society

Polish designer Szymon Hanczar can spot a trend; three years ago, he designed a sled with wheels in anticipation of the end of snow; Now we find he is hot on the trend of living with less in smaller spaces, living in all of 13m2 (140 SF).

© Jedrzej Stelmaszek

Szymon is an an urban type, and used his little apartment in Wroclaw, Poland as primarily a place to crash. He is quoted in the Contemporist:

For me, primarily it was a bedroom. Plus, let’s say, a storage space. I didn’t want a spacious apartment which would involve plenty of time to take care of. On the other hand – despite the small space – it was not my intention to give up comfort and functionality. So it was really a unique challenge.

© Jedrzej Stelmaszek

For me, that always raises the question of whether one then should be sleeping in a loft with what looks to me to be about two and a half feet high, which you get to by a moving library ladder. If sleeping is the main function, why relegate it to such second rate space?

© Szymon Hanczar

Of course, I am a fan of hanging a bike on the wall. There is no explanation of how he gets it there, perhaps that ladder moves.

© Jedrzej Stelmaszek

David Friedlander at LifeEdited had an interesting take on it:

So far as I can tell, almost all the furniture was purchased at IKEA. The chair is the TERJE. That’s a MALM dresser. I suspect the innards of the cabinets are from the PAX system. Not sure if the table is IKEA. This is cool in my opinion. It shows that you can make a beautiful, livable space with limited funds and very limited space.