Klobouk dolů

Long before they began giving shape to Egoé's products and the whole of Pole designu, they were experimenting with drawing, watercolour, linocut, work with modelling clay and other artistic techniques. The exhibition The People's School of Life, prepared specially for this year's WiFič VEN!, presents childhood work by the people who today shape what we design, make and sell at Egoé. Every artist in the exhibition shares one thing in common: they took their first artistic steps at local art schools, known today as ZUŠ. The "Lidušky" weren't just a training ground for future professional artists. They gave children a place to create regularly, to learn to look, to concentrate, and to turn their own ideas into something concrete. In an era that had little room for individuality, they often served as a small island of freedom and imagination. Of course, the works on display don't yet reveal who will one day become a designer, an architect, or a Red Dot Design Award winner. But they show something perhaps more important: that every professional achievement starts somewhere — with a first line, a first idea, the first thing made with your own hands. And with someone who gives a child the time and space to try. This tradition lives on today at Pole designu through Výtvarná polepšovna, a creative workshop not just for children. Here too, people draw, make, experiment, make mistakes and start over. Our aim isn't to raise future prize-winners. We want to encourage the courage to create, and to show that there's no sharp line between a child's drawing and "real" design. There's a path between them.