The first postwar exhibition of Polish industrial design is on display in Frankfurt as part of the Month of Polish Culture-under the patronage of the European Central Bank and the National Bank of Poland.

The exhibition is intended to highlight products designed and manufactured in Poland. It is based on a range of items selected by a special commission composed of theoreticians, journalists, design practitioners and exhibition organizers.

The display includes items that can successfully be offered to consumers. The organizers' guiding idea was to stress Polish industry's compliance with copyright regulations and spread awareness of the need for industrial design.

The exhibition also features endeavors that are usually excluded from industrial design shows: press publications and computer games.

The numerous products presented at the exhibition prove that Polish factories are technologically prepared for competition with demanding markets and that designers have learned the ropes of the market. The problem lies in the promotion of well-designed niche products made in Poland.

Unfortunately, a good product is not enough. Stable distribution channels are indispensable. Reaching distributors who cooperate with experienced and established producers is not easy. The costs of promotion and marketing are beyond the means of domestic producers, who usually avail themselves of offers to exhibit their products. A serious program for promoting Polish design is consequently needed to promote Poland as a young, developing and dynamic country that can contribute new values to the European market.

While Poland stands little chance of competing with cheap Far Eastern products, Polish manufacturers, by establishing organized trading abroad, can count on their own niche-mass-produced, well-designed, mid- and top-level products. However, products of this kind require intense promotional support.

Polish industrial designers could follow in the footsteps of their Italian counterparts who-with their traveling international exhibitions-do not promote the image of a specific product, but first and foremost create the image of Italy as a country of designers and design.