Štěpán Jílek

Štěpán Jílek is a Czech designer whose work extends into free art, as well as a sculptor and photographer. He was born in Polička and grew up at the remote settlement of Babka in Vysočina; he now lives and works alternately in Polička and in Prague. He studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts of Brno University of Technology in the Product Design studio and spent one semester at Winchester School of Art in England, in the sculpture studio. (Some sources also mention studies at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Brno.)

Through his work for the company Story Design he came to projects for major brands such as O2 and Škoda Design, and worked briefly in Federico Díaz’s studio. Among his most visible design works are benches for the Moravian Gallery in Brno and, above all, the design of the new stone altar for the provost and chapter Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross in Litomyšl. The design was chosen by an expert jury from ten entries; the altar is based on the triangle as a symbol of the Holy Trinity and is made of Vyhnánov sandstone and alabaster reliquary stone. He worked on it with the restorer and sculptor Pavel Mrovec. The new liturgical furnishings (altar, ambo, celebrant’s seat, benches for altar servers, paschal candle stand, processional cross and candlesticks) were consecrated by Bishop Jan Vokál.

In his free work, in spatial objects, he deliberately moves away from the economy of form of his design work and plays with childlikeness, humour and lightness; among other things he makes sculptures from dead trees. Alongside this he has long devoted himself to photography — pictures from travels and pilgrimages and from places deeply bound up with his native Vysočina (the cycle “Out of Season”, 2013, on deserted holiday resorts).

He is also the organiser of the art symposium “Art on the Shelf” in Polička, whose first edition produced four large-format sculptures permanently placed in the town. He has taken part in artist residencies in the Azores and in India, hitchhiked to Jerusalem and worked as a volunteer in Congo (helping orphans, with People in Need).

Awards and competitions: Good Design in the Outstanding Product of the Year competition (2004); together with Josefína Jonášová, 2nd place in the open competition for a sculpture of Jan Masaryk in Turnov.

Selected exhibitions: “Out of Season” (2021), “I Have Returned to My Roots”, MOON Gallery, Liberec (25 January – 22 February 2024); also exhibitions in Humpolec, at Trafo Gallery and at the Vitríny Frýdlantská gallery. Art in the City 2022, Lipno nad Vltavou — “Octopus on Reconnaissance”.