Sarmite Polakova

Sarmite Polakova a Latvian origin designer living and working between Amsterdam (NL) and Frankfurt (DE). In 2015 she graduated from the Design Academy Eindhoven where she developed a special interest in raw materials and research. Her body of work focusses mostly around transforming unassuming, natural materials into a new purpose and series of design objects through extensive theoretical and practical research. The design objects become the main carriers of the narrative.

Case in point is her ongoing project PineSkins. It consists of a design collection of pine bark products with unusual aesthetics from forests that are breaking the existing stereotypes of traditional bark products. Sarmite seeks to show that there is more to the pine tree than its cheap timber. Its bark is carefully harvested and given its own identity through the unique texture, colors and scent. Such kind of design approach has never been applied to this tree and thus it has become a unique material with a high familiarity factor intuitively connecting with its’ audience. This project has been exhibited in various design i.e. Dutch Design Week (2015, 2018), “Earth Matters” exhibition in Tilburg Textile Museum curated by Lidewij Edelkoort, MAISON& OBJET, Design Week Shanghai and Milan Design Week (2016, 2019) as well as being published in Frame magazine, Ad and Elle Décor.

Sarmite envisions the bark in everyday products to bring a piece of nature in people’s homes. The contemporary design objects invite people to slow down, experience the tactility and smell of the forest.