The Artistic Handicrafts Cooperative “Ceramika Artystyczna” from Bolesławiec entered this year facing legal problems. Settlement proceedings with HMIP, Piotr Brzeski’s company, ended in failure. The company is seeking multimillion-zloty damages from the Cooperative. The claims include the following amounts:

  • PLN 10,000,000
  • PLN 4,000,000
  • PLN 597,572

In total, this amounts to more than PLN 14.5 million, a sum many times higher than the Cooperative’s annual profit.

These are not the only proceedings—the case involving Ceramika Artystyczna also concerns copyright protection and damages on a smaller scale; however, the court rejected the claimant’s application to secure the claims.

The legal problems coincide with a difficult financial year. In 2024, the Cooperative recorded a 9.3% decline in revenue—from PLN 56.8 million to PLN 51.6 million. Exports fell by 11.9%, while domestic sales fell by 7.8%. Net profit decreased from nearly PLN 4 million in 2023 to PLN 670,000 in 2024. Net sales profitability fell to 1.29%.

The weaker results were influenced, among other factors, by rising energy and gas prices (+239% and +300%, respectively), as well as unfavorable exchange rates, which reduced the profitability of exports.

People and wages

At the end of 2024, the cooperative employed 372 people, including designers, decorators and production specialists.

In 2024, the cooperative’s authorities received:

  • Management Board—PLN 889,200 gross,
  • Supervisory Board—PLN 159,800 gross,
  • Total—more than PLN 1.04 million gross

Despite the difficulties, the cooperative maintained a positive financial result and emphasizes that it remains the largest producer of hand-decorated ceramics in Poland.

All data in the article is current as of March 29, 2025