Hasta La Ideas

Zdrajczyni, designed by Jerzy Flisak, 1978

Eye Sea Posters is a new website that showcases and sells original vintage film posters, with a rather strong leaning towards Polish posters from the 60s and 70s. We spoke to founder James Dyer about the venture…

Dzieje Grzechu (The Story of Sin), designed by Jerzy Flisak

“I got a postcard years ago with a Polish film poster on it designed by Maciej Zbikowski for the film Seksolatki and it really caught my eye,” explains Dyer of the beginning of his fascination with vintage Polish film posters. “I used to manage a record label and the designer that created our sleeves and logo, Scot Bendall from La Boca, is also a Polish poster fan so sometimes we’d reference them for sleeve inspiration,” he continues.

Godziny Grozy, designed by Krzysztof Nasfeter. 1975

“Polish posters seam to have a style all of their own,” says Dyer. “It’s the amazing and often bizarre artwork that I love – and the posters produced in the 60’s and 70’s in particular. During the communist period in Poland the state controlled the film industry and established artists were commissioned to design film posters. Unlike most film posters, the use of photos of film stars or film stills wasn’t mandatory, and most of the time even the main actors’ names didn’t feature prominently in the designs. The artists had to convey the essence of the film in their designs and were given artistic freedom to do so which led to some truly original posters that sometimes feel completely detached from the film itself.”

Syn Part II, designer unknown

Wazzzz (SSSSnake), designed by Jakub Erol, 1975

Regarding the sourcing of Eye Sea Posters, Dyer tells us he has a friend in Poland who keeps a look out for such works. “I’ve only been collecting them for six months or so,” he adds. “I used to collect records but now I’m getting obsessed with collecting posters instead.”

Prices of the original posters range from around £30 up to about £75. Check out the current stock at eyeseaposters.com