Czapek. We collect rare people

An English-language publication on Franciszek Czapek – a Polish émigré and nineteenth-century entrepreneur – and on the Czapek Genève brand. The founder’s portrait belongs to the wider history of Polish enterprise and economic life in exile, from Geneva to Paris.

The book also addresses readers outside Poland: it presents Czapek as a figure in the history of economy and society in the 19th century, not merely as a luxury brand name. It shows how a Polish émigré built a firm, relationships and prestige in Europe’s craft capitals.

In the background stand ties with Antoni Patek, market realities and the question of identity – how entrepreneurship met the memory of Poland. It is another part of Beniamin Czapla’s research on biographies of Polish entrepreneurs and on the economic history of the age.