This publication serves as a photographic document and proposal to preserve Jonas Prapuolenis’ (1900–1980) hand-built Studio in which he designed and produced most of his work over a remarkable and inventive career. The Studio sits on a nearly century-old site in the Žaliakalnis neighbourhood of Kaunas alongside Prapuolenis’ home and surrounding garden, which continue to be cared for by his son, Bangutis Prapuolenis. 

Jonas Prapuolenis was a designer, artist, and educator who interpreted the textures and qualities of local timber, and its particular, unique structures and patterns shaped by the local climate and terrain and translated its geometries into artistic furniture pieces.

Photographs by Rasa Juškevičiūtė capture fragments of the studio building enveloped by a fruit tree garden, and document and reveal evidence of Jonas Prapuolenis’ practice and knowledge – design and craft processes that can be read through singular pieces of furniture stored inside the crumbling wooden structure of the workshop; his material storage and showroom filled with seasoned raw, rough timber pieces; unfinished design components; sketches on paper; bone and amber ornaments; and fine particles of dust accumulated through time. 

Alongside the photographs, an inserted notebook holds contributions written by Kotryna Lingienė and Aistė Dičkalnytė, which study the history of the Studio and offer a wider perspective of Prapuolenis’ life and intentions. Their words unravel layers of slow time and the singular way Prapuolenis worked with materials while reflecting on folkloristic themes and modernist design, the meaning of such heritage and the importance of preserving the Studio.

Jonas Prapuolenis’ homestead, his family home (built in 1925) and the Studio (built in 1936) have been included in the Immovable Property Heritage Register of the Republic of Lithuania since 2011, however, significant wear of the structural elements, roofing and cladding of the Studio require further material protection and measures of conservation to preserve this heritage as a specific inseparable whole.

This publication would not have been possible without the support and cooperation of Bangutis Prapuolenis, who believed in the concept of this book from the start and was our guide to navigating every corner of his father’s Studio. We are grateful for the profoundly attentive eye of the photographer Rasa Juškevičiūtė, who captured the substance of this book in a beautiful collection of photographs and the care and thoughtful insight her assistant Marija Olšauskaitė brought to the photoshoot. Finally, we are indebted to Goda Budvytytė, the designer of this book, for her generous process of analysing, selecting and weaving passages through the spaces and artefacts. Thank you.

Jurga Daubaraitė and Jonas Žukauskas

Photography: Rasa Juškevičiūtė
Design: Goda Budvytytė
Editors: Jurga Daubaraitė, Jonas Žukauskas
Texts: Aistė Dičkalnytė, Kotryna Lingienė, Jurga Daubaraitė and Jonas Žukauskas
Photography assistant: Marija Olšauskaitė
Colour grading: Danielius Samulevič

Lithuanian language copy-editor and English translator: Alexandra Bondarev; 
Lithuanian language copy-editor for foreword: Aira Niauronytė
English language copy-editor: Gemma Lloyd

Published by: Kirvarpa
Printed by: Kopa
Edition: 500

Financed by Lithuanian Council for Culture

ISBN 978-609-96209-9-2