Poland is the world's third-largest furniture exporter, with a 6 per cent share of global exports and a value of €16.8 billion. However, it is a sector under pressure to find more profitability. The country’s advantages beyond price will be key to unlocking this.
Forte, which has made furniture since 1992, runs four factories and a particle board plant in Poland. It employs more than 3,000 people and exports around 90 per cent of its output. It stood out as a pioneer of data-driven performance management with constant tracking of output and control as it feeds its retail network and clients across Europe.
However, design and material thinking was clearest at 366 Concept, which manufactures mid-century Polish furniture. The company's namesake, the 366 Armchair, was designed by Józef Chierowski in 1962 and, as a Polish design classic, is reminiscent of millions of 20th-century interiors across the nation. Now produced in high-quality materials, it is part of a collection that also features the reinterpreted Hour Glass chair, updated by Krystian Kowalski.
Reflecting a strong trend that has the potential to drive the future of Polish furniture, Krystian Kowalski’s design education includes schools in Western Europe. He, like many others, has returned to Poland to establish a studio and help define 21st-century Polish design and manufacturing. Alongside high-profile and adept outfits such as Zieta Studios and Studio Rygalik, the emphasis on design continues to develop with the support of government agencies such as the Creative Industries Institute and the long-established Institute of Industrial Design.
The sector is supported by a large-format furniture and furnishing trade show. We visited the Warsaw Home & Contract fair, featuring a wide selection of native and international brands. Material knowledge and circular design thinking are starting to appear, imported by pioneers such as Tarkett and adopted by new Polish manufacturers such as Vank and Costka. Davis Fabrics, based in Bielsko-Biała, includes recycled polyester fabrics, reflecting a growing demand for recycled materials as part of its made-to-order products.
Lighting design and technology came through at KLUŚ, a manufacturer near Warsaw of modular LED profiles, tapes and luminaires. It proudly demonstrated its capacity and flair alongside its design heritage throughout its modern setting; not least its Red Dot Award-winning Tulip light. Bright times ahead, with lighting pointed to as a fast-growing global segment, projected to grow 3.8 per cent a year.
Across these visits, we continued to witness the case for Polish furniture being made away from just price competitiveness. Manufacturers are conscious of Asia’s connected logistics and supply chains that create price advantage, and are responding with design, materials and data-driven innovation rather than trying to match it.
Poland already boasts a well-developed ecosystem of skilled manufacturers and subcontractors to the furniture industry and a programme of significant national investment: Port Polska, a new airport 37 kilometres west of Warsaw due to open in 2032, comes with a 480-kilometre high-speed rail line with links across the country and well beyond. As one of Europe’s largest infrastructure projects, the airport promises to boost access, capacity and efficiency for all business in Poland.
So, plenty of advantages and success stories. But will those stories be told? There is a lack of joined-up promotion for Polish furniture and design, and its ‘international brand’ abroad has been identified as a weakness for the sector, according to a sector report by PKO Bank Polski. It’s a familiar problem; silos tend to work against design promotion. By working across sectors and embracing promotional expertise, such as the tireless work by London-based On&On Design to promote Polish design, Polish furniture could start to have the profile it deserves.
‘Polak potrafi’ needs to be believed when it comes to shouting about the nation's design potential.
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Material Matters joined a study tour of Warsaw's furniture and interiors sector, hosted by the Polish Investment and Trade Agency (PAIH) in October 2026.