From baby-head candle-holders to rubber-boot vases: Qubus marks 25 years of Czech design
Porcelain mantel clocks with digital displays or vases shaped like rubber boots — these are just two of the iconic objects created by one of Czechia’s most outstanding designers, Maxim Velčovský. His work is now being showcased in a retrospective exhibition opened by the Museum of Decorative Arts in Prague.
The exhibition, titled Qubus: The Beautiful Beast – The Battle with Beauty, presents a comprehensive overview of the independent Czech design brand and the design studio of the same name, which will celebrate its twenty-fifth anniversary next year.
The studio was established in 2002 by Jakub Berdych Karpelis and Maxim Velčovský, who led it together until 2010. In the museum’s first-floor exhibition hall, visitors can see more than two hundred objects created primarily by the founding duo. Their work is complemented by pieces from other designers and artists who have since become part of the brand’s evolving portfolio.
One of the most striking exhibits is a yellow ergonomic cross that Velčovský created in 1999 while still a student at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design, known as UMPRUM, located only about one hundred metres from the museum.
“We were given an assignment to design a household interior accessory. And because I studied in the ceramics and porcelain studio under Václav Šerák, what they really had in mind was something like a tea set. But I dodged that. I slipped out of control and started making home crosses instead. For those who cannot see it — it is an ergonomic cross with supports for the head, the buttocks, and the arms,” says Velčovský.
He explains that he was inspired by the wave of end-of-the-world hysteria circulating at the time, as various alternative churches were proclaiming that a new messiah was coming and that an era was ending.
“I designed this cross — a version about five metres tall, or maybe four — simply an ergonomic cross for the new messiah. I was thinking in the context of that time, imagining a more comfortable path to suffering. So the ergonomic cross would be lighter for the new messiah to carry; he would not have to fall three times, and in the end he could fit nicely into the ergonomic parts.”
According to curator Marcela Straková, the exhibition demonstrates how designers work with everyday objects and transform them into artistic pieces.
“There is a selection from the Qubus portfolio — its products and artworks — so here you can see iconic bestsellers, some prototypes, limited editions, and a cross-section of different materials, including glass and porcelain.”
The Qubus studio has received numerous prestigious awards in the fields of culture, art, and design, and it stands behind several now-iconic installations, collections, and artworks.
Among its many projects, it contributed to the redesign of the interior of St. Bartholomew’s Church in Chodovice. The exhibition will run at the Museum of Decorative Arts until March 15, 2026.
