Project Description
Tell me, Theo, have you got any idea why we wanted to go to Lodz?
Well, because of the textile industry! In any case that’s what put the place on the map. In the mid-nineteenth century it attracted hordes of fortune seekers. Like that Poznanski. It seems the man didn’t even have 1,000 roubles to rub together when he arrived there, but in no time at all he was a textile baron, thanks to Lodz. I must say though, Vicky, when you wanted to head there with me in 1974, nobody would have thought it would turn out the way it did! Nowadays it is more the bars and clubs that attract people. Apparently there’s a greater concentration of them all around Piotrowska, the main boulevard, than anywhere else on the continent.
So has the weaving industry come to an end for good now, Theo?
Poznanski’s factory complex is still in existence, now as Poland’s largest Urban Entertainment Centre! It also houses the city’s most expensive hotel. The architect, a certain Wojciech Poplawski, had some rather clever ideas when he designed it: he simply drilled a couple of spacey light shafts into the monument!
He left the brickwork as it was. The whole building bears the wounds of bygone days, the scars adorn all of the 277 rooms and apartments. Of course there are also all sorts of old looms lying around. And there is almost more fancy embroidery there now than in the past, custom-made by the designers Jestico + Whiles from London. It’s just begging for a mega pillow fight …
Surely it’s not quite as extreme as that, Theo …
You’ll see, Vicky, next time you’re there! After all, they’ve got the biggest party venue far and wide, in the attic. To top it all, there’s the pool: a glass cube was built around the former fire extinguishing water tank and there you have it, an indoor pool. Up there the whole city is at your feet, almost like in the
past …
Alright then, Theo, we’re off to Lodz! Let’s go for it. And we’ll throw everything we can lay our hands on! Theo …?
