NOTI CEO celebrates 40th anniversary of business activity

Celebrating 40th Anniversary

 

On 5 April 2018 in the Music Theatre in Poznań, Ryszard Balcerkiewicz – President of Noti, founder and member of the Supervisory Board of Directors of Fabryka Mebli Balma celebrated his 40th business anniversary. 

Balma and Noti for many years have been supporting various artistic forms of activities and cooperating with many cultural institutions. This is why, the Music Theatre was chosen to host this special event.

The celebration gathered the jubilee’s employees, friends, long-term business partners of Balma and Noti as well as family members. That evening started with an interview with Ryszard  Balcerkiewicz conducted by Przemysław Kieliszewski – the manager of the Theatre. While listening to this moving interview all the guests had a chance to hear many fascinating stories connected with starting Balma and Noti companies. That interview served as a wonderful opportunity to get to know all the unknown facts and anecdotes from the life of the Creator of the Balma and Noti brands. 

A real surprise to everyone in the audience was a show of films presenting the photos from the family archives and Balma and Noti brands. The statements which have never been published before as well as the touching wishes expressed by the employees and business partners were the icing on the cake of the jubilee ceremony. 

During the ceremony Mr. Balcerkiewicz as a token of his appreciation gave commemorative medals to the people who had significantly contributed to the present success of Balma and Noti. His employees, business partners, friends and family members were awarded special distinctions. In recognition of the 40 years of running business activities, the mayor of Tarnowo Podgórne, Tadeusz Czajka, presented Ryszard Balcerkiewicz with a statue of Tarnowski Lion. 

The artistic part of that evening included The Four Seasons concert by Astor Piazzolli in the performance of Łukasz Kuropaczewski, the guitarist, and Maciej Frąckiewicz, the accordionist,  accompanied by Cameral Orchestra of the Music Theatre in Poznań. 

 

Success and passion for creating business

 

The career of Ryszard Balcerkiewicz reflects his persistence and consistency in pursuing his goals. From the very beginning of his career path it was the freshness and creativity in carrying out activities that allowed him to make the right decisions when being faced with the changing times, with all those changes being truly daring and indicating a big step forward.

Today Ryszard Balcerkiewicz is known as a founder of two well-known Polish furniture brands - Balma and Noti, whose projects/designs have already become a significant part of the history of Polish design. On numerous occasions he has been awarded for his business achievements and involvement in social activities and campaigns. 

Ryszard Balcerkiewicz is not only a skilful businessman. This is a man who constantly searches for new ideas. “Działalność Usługowo-Wytwórcza Ryszard Balcerkiewicz”seems to be a remote start of this dizzying career. Back then there were no big investors, no profitable connections, or no free market. It all started with craft work, producing metal fittings for electrical installations, purchasing first simple machines, then the business was moved from the garage to a bigger workshop, where the first piece of furniture were to be created, yet new and unknown on the Polish market – i.e. a computer table. 

Continuous work and determination to improve can best define the approach of Ryszard Balcerkiewicz to the company day-to-day existence. 

Back in 1990’s Ryszard Balcerkiewicz already knew that in order to satisfy the customers/users,  the furniture would need innovative thinking and excellent design. That is why, from the very beginning, he cooperated with designers and decided to trust experts. 

Thanks to such assumptions, Balma and Noti have greatly contributed to the changing perception of Polish design. And it is not only on the business but also on the educational level. Ryszard Balcerkiewicz has been supporting young designers who start their career and look for the best examples to follow, and he has been collaborating with the University of Fine Arts in Poznań. 

The furniture created under the brands of Balma and Noti combines beauty and functionality. The designers who have cooperated with Balma and Noti for many years are: Piotr Kuchciński, Tomek Rygalik, Krystian Kowalski, Dorota Koziara, Tomasz Augustyniak, Renata Kalarus, Katarzyna Okińczyc, Mikołaj Wierszyłowski, Wiktoria Lenart, Anna Hrecka, Małgorzata Bronikowska, Jerzy Langier, Jerzy Porębski and Grzegorz Niwiński.

They all have made Balma and Noti furniture serve as icons to the Polish functional design. This is evidenced by the fact that even at present we can admire Balma and Noti furniture at the permanent exhibition in the Gallery of Industrial Design at the National Museum in Warsaw. 

Balma has always tried to offer its users something more than just furniture pieces. Each project is a complex solution with a goal to create comfortable and ergonomic workplaces in an office. Combining design and achievements of the contemporary science allows to design furniture that will serve people much better.

Noti is a brand which provides an opportunity to individually create living and public spaces. Its beautiful and functional design as well as the fact that furniture is hand-made make it unique. The design takes into consideration the needs of its future users. The simple, yet diversified and elegant forms and the precision and attentiveness in selecting the right materials and fabrics allow to create furniture that is timeless, comfortable and functional. These are unique solutions in which every single element has been thoroughly considered. 

Balma and Noti furniture is created mainly by Polish designers and it enjoys high reputation among international critics and interior designers.  

“Design involves consciousness, it is when the function, the needs of users, their lifestyles, as well as the form and the quality of materials and production meet in order to form one harmonious whole.” 

Ryszard Balcerkiewic

 

History at a glance

 

1978 

Ryszard Balcerkiewicz started  his business in the field of electro-technical services

1989 

Taking first steps in furniture industry – producing computer tables 

1990 

Registering Balma trademark and launching a production plant in a new location in Poznań

1992 

Balma furniture wins its first award – Poznań International Fair gold medal for SK-8 computer table 

1995 

Entering a new era – a factory built in Tarnowo Podgórne started its operations  

1996 

First contacts with international customers – Balma is present at Orgatec Fair in Koeln

2005 

Ryszard Balcerkiewicz undertook a new challenge – created an entirely new brand of Noti 

2012

Doubling Balma and Noti’s production areas 

2013 

Red Dot Award for Balma for H2 tables 

2014

Red Dot Award for Noti for Clapp armchair

2016 

Another success – Red Dot Award for Noti for Tulli design 

2018

40th business anniversary