The company, under the long-standing leadership of Management Board President Helena Smoleńska, is celebrating its 75th anniversary in 2025. There is a gala at the Ceramics Museum and a major exhibition of designs and works by artists from one of Bolesławiec’s largest ceramic companies.
A grand 75th-anniversary gala at the Ceramics Museum
Ceramika Artystyczna traces its roots to the “Julius Paul und Sohn” factory in Bunzlau (today Bolesławiec), which operated from 1893 to 1945. However, it has little in common with the legacy of German ceramics. In 1950, the State Commission for Economic Planning simply transferred the factory, then located on Polna Street, to the state Central Office of Folk and Artistic Industry (Cepelia) and its regional branch located in Wrocław—the organization from which Ceramika Artystyczna emerged.
For decades, Helena Smoleńska has remained President of the Management Board. In 2025, the board also includes Deputy President Małgorzata Wyspiańska-Gil and board member Grzegorz Gil.
CIA orders ceramics bearing its logo from Artystyczna
In August 2018, news spread around the world that the CIA (the United States Central Intelligence Agency) had ordered Bolesławiec ceramics bearing its logo. Global news agencies and Poland’s largest online portals and television stations reported on the unusual order.
The Mayor of Bolesławiec often boasted about this exceptional event, considering it excellent promotion for Bolesławiec ceramics. At the time, no one even suspected for a moment that it might lead to a scandal.
A submission to the istotne.pl editorial office
In 2025, a letter arrived at our editorial office. The person who submitted it wrote:
“The company that unlawfully copied the CIA logo onto its products is Ceramika Artystyczna – Spółdzielnia Rękodzieła Artystycznego from Bolesławiec. The factory that protects the copyrights to its products itself unlawfully used graphics for which it had never received permission for commercial or any other use! (…) It quickly turned out that the order was so secret that even the CIA did not know about it, although it was supposedly the agency that ordered the ceramic set! (…) Unfortunately, to this day Ceramika Artystyczna – Spółdzielnia Rękodzieła Artystycznego in Bolesławiec has never issued any statement on the matter or explained how this scandal could have happened?! How is it possible that the global leader in Bolesławiec ceramics production copied the logo of the US Central Intelligence Agency without its permission in order to profit from it?!”
Helena Smoleńska’s silence
On June 26, 2025, we emailed Ceramika Artystyczna with questions to clarify the matter. We wanted to learn the Management Board’s perspective. We asked whether it was true that the CIA logo had been used illegally. How did the CIA logo end up on the company’s products? Did anyone from the CIA contact the company about the ceramics? If so, who? And was this information properly verified? We also asked when Ceramika Artystyczna realized that the CIA had not placed the order. And, most importantly: what happened to the products bearing the CIA logo? How many were produced and how many were sold? How much did Ceramika Artystyczna – Spółdzielnia Rękodzieła Artystycznego earn from them?
To this day, neither Helena Smoleńska nor anyone else on the board has answered these questions.
You will no longer find CIA-logo tableware on Artystyczna’s official websites
Seven years have passed since the major promotional campaign. Despite such a significant marketing achievement, it is impossible to find even a brief mention of it on Ceramika Artystyczna’s official websites. Why does the company no longer boast about such a fantastic promotional success?
In 2018, our articles emphasized how exceptional the decoration was. – This is a unique order and the only styling of its kind in the world, even though the company ships its products to 25 countries – Helena Smoleńska, Helena Smoleńska, President of Ceramika Artystyczna Spółdzielnia Rękodzieła Artystycznego, said in 2018.
Articles claimed that trials and the creation of successive versions of the design continued for several months. The agents supposedly also had special requirements regarding the color scheme. There was more freedom when creating the decoration designed by Maria Starzyk, a long-standing designer at the cooperative. In a paid advertisement, Smoleńska emphasized how difficult it had been to reproduce the CIA graphic emblem, which, like the entire vessel and decoration, was made by hand.
Was this Ceramika Artystyczna’s major promotional blunder?
Because Artystyczna has provided no information, one may assume that the matter is embarrassing and difficult for the board to explain. It is possible that such a reputable company simply fears a reputational defeat, although the idea of remaining silent on the subject “for as long as possible” does not seem like the best crisis-management strategy.
The person who brought the matter to our attention summed up their letter:
“This is (…) scandalous because many people, customers and distributors still believe that they are buying from THAT factory, where even the CIA ordered tableware (…). The people at the cooperative know this well, especially those around the board and the president herself. They know perfectly well and remain silent, because nothing like this (…) has ever happened in the history of Bolesławiec ceramics! (…) The truth must come to light, simply out of basic human decency.”
Sources of information about the order for the CIA: