Tomasz Urbanowicz
Tomasz Urbanowicz (born 1959 in Wrocław) is a Polish architect and a designer of artistic architectural glass. He finished studies at the architecture department of the Wrocław University of Technology (1978–85). He took glass-window studies at the Fine Arts Academy of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń (1982–85) and worked as an assistant in the Painting and Sculpture Establishment at the Architecture Dept. of Wrocław Institute. In 1987, together with his wife, architect Beata Urbanowicz, he established his own studio, Archiglass, in Wrocław.[1]
His glassworks were featured in Colours of Architecture by Andrew Moor (London, 2006) and in "Contemporary Kiln-formed Glass" by Keith Cummings (2009)
Urbanowicz creates glass compositions mostly for prestigious public utility buildings and company premises,[2] but also to residences. Urbanowicz's artworks took part in World Fair EXPO three times representing Poland; on EXPO 2000 in Hanover (Germany) on Lower Silesia's presentation, on EXPO 2005 in Aichi (Japan) The Composition of the Soul of the Grand Piano was the main artifact in the Polish Pavilion, and on EXPO 2008 in Saragossa (Spain), where the Polish composition Catching the Wind into Sails was a part of national presentation.
Glass creations can be found mostly in Poland, like at the University of Silesia in Katowice, at the University of Technology in Wrocław and in the Highest Court in Warsaw, but also in many places around the world; the glass sphere The United Earth is a central artistic element on European Parliament's agora in Strasburg (France), the glass rainbow Larc en ciel decorates G.Brassens College in Paris (France), green glass castings the lobby of Holsten brewery in Hamburg (Germany), and the composition Blue Sunset in the Ocean cruises around the world on the world's biggest liner Queen Mary 2. One of the most recent Tomasz Urbanowicz's creations is large artistic glass installation in foyer of the newly build Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic building in Bialystok, Poland.
The glass of Tomasz Urbanowicz is an independent, low-budget documentary produced by World in a Coconut Shell studio that premiered on 21 February 2013 in the New Horizons Cinema, one of the biggest auteur movie theatres in Europe. The extraordinary soundtrack has been composed by young local artists. The film is trying to grasp Tomasz Urbanowicz’s vision of the essence of not only his own creativity, but creativity and art in general.