Polish architect Sebastian Pitoń creates fairy-tale cottages in the beautiful Tatra Mountains, located on the border of Poland and Slovakia. With their sloped roofs, natural stone, and artistic use of wood, his homes are a mark of strong, proud highland culture and folklore.
The 53-year-old, who started his adventure with cottages at the end of the last century while he was still in his 20s, believes “modern trends” are ailing our world and taking us away from the traditional path. He aims to highlight good old-fashioned architectural practices and says his forebears sought to create beauty through harmony with nature.
“Nowadays, everything is dehumanized and technology-themed. My vision is the complete opposite,” he told The Epoch Times. “I see a future where the world is in harmony, and a person lives in an area filled with nature in a beautiful cottage surrounded by trees while also having his loved ones around him, like kids and their grandparents.”
Mr. Pitoń dreams of building a world he believes “God envisioned,” with humanity at the center, and that means upholding the traditions of his people. A world that isn’t anything like “the futuristic tech world where humans and their humanity are not important.”
Being of highland lineage himself, the architect and activist lives in the idyllic mountain village of Kościelisko, in the Podhale region, with his wife, Monika, whom he describes as “a great painter.” The couple have three grown-up sons. The street they live on, “Pitoniówka,” is named after his family.
The style of design he works in is referred to as “Zakopianski” and hails from the 19th century. It is unique to this region of the Polish highlands. Rich in music, art, and literature, Podhale has a colorful culture full of folklore, preserved in vibrant costume, dance, music, and customs.
“Our Podhale culture had its first growth period before World War I,” Mr. Pitoń said. “They were masters of woodworking, famous for their architecture. I want to evolve that art even further.”
Mr. Pitoń feels strongly that during the last century and into the new one, things went badly awry in the design world.
“After World War I, we were witnesses of the first art revolution, and its goal was destroying ‘attaining beauty’ as the goal. I personally believe that the last 100 years was a state of sickness for art and architecture. A black hole, an unpleasant and damaging period that should be forgotten.”
Imagine, he urges, a world built without the architectural revolutions and how beautiful it would be:
“If, for the last hundred years, we’d made structures with roots in European tradition ... it would be a captivating fairy-tale world full of wonders and amazing forms. And we’d be proud to be human.”
Besides his fairy-tale cottages, Mr. Pitoń designs other classical-historical buildings with roots in the same era.
Referencing the Baroque movement, which used organic forms, his designs are often curved and flowing, as opposed to hard and angular. It’s a far more difficult way of building, he says, but the result is greater harmony with the natural surroundings.
It’s hard to imagine widespread criticism of the charming cottages brought to life by Mr. Pitoń, whose grandfather and uncle were both talented carpenters, but it took many years, Mr. Pitoń says, before he started to gain acceptance within the wider world.
He said: “At some point, I was architectural enemy number one. What I make is like swimming upstream. The media, for example, which supports modern trends—that I believe to be an illness—are of course hostile and hateful, and reacted very aggressively towards my work. It is not easy to go against the current.”
Perhaps annoyingly for his critics, Mr. Pitoń’s captivating cottages, nestled into Podhale’s picturesque valleys, are a magnet for tourists. Those who witness the homes in person are especially inspired, and in the future, the architect says he’d love to open a school instructing people in his methods and principles.
“Seeking beauty in architecture through organic shapes and symmetry yields great results; in the long run, I am sure that what I am doing will be considered good,” he said.
“Polish restaurants, pubs, small hotels, inns, ski slopes and other businesses all over Poland are reopening, regardless of COVID restrictions imposed by the Polish Government. They were supposed to stay closed until at least 31 January 2021. But people have enough,” wrote journalist Senta Depuydt, citing the public’s use of a centuries-old Polish tradition called “liberum veto” whereby “a single deputy could veto a law which he felt was bad for his people.”
After the beginning of the war in Ukraine, Mr. Pitoń began speaking out about the need to seek peace between nations. Some might dismiss or ridicule his work and activism, but Mr. Pitoń is unafraid.
“I understand my work isn’t accepted by some, and I sometimes feel suffocated by trends of post-modernism and people that attempt to disgrace me and my buildings,” he said. “But I ignore those obstacles and barriers because nothing will extinguish my passion for my work. I want to advance architecture and create beauty while making art that is timeless.”
