We (Karolina and Krzysztof- co-owners of Polidomes Int.) met in 2000 while attending Szczecin University. We were both majoring in economics and specializing in finance and banking. After graduating, we returned to our family homes to begin our careers. Soon we decided to try out our strengths by doing a joint venture together. After a few failed first attempts, we began to import inflatable walk-on-water balls from China, which turned out to be an absolute hit for several seasons. This inspired us and gave us faith in our own abilities as a team. In 2009 we bought our first large tarpaulin welding machine from Pflaummer. We had no idea of how to do this type of work and were not aware of how difficult this skill is.
At that time, our company was only the two of us and our spouses. The welding turned out to be a challenge and above all a lot of hard physical work. After a few weeks of working in a cold borrowed hall, we decided that Krzysztof would continue learning how to operate the machine and he brought the machine with him on a 300 km trip. Those were the first steps. We were figuring everything out on our own – the designing, the cutting, the welding, and even the laws of physics in practice…
We had some small successes along the way and we continued to search for new challenges and opportunities all the time. At the beginning of our journey we dealt with the water balls, water pools, floating water banners, inflatable boats for children and many other items. The most important thing for us was discovering new challenges and having faith in the fact that we would succeed.
The things that excite you are not random. They are connected to your purpose. Follow them.
Terrie Davoll HudsonI
At the beginning of our career together, the biggest problem was the seasonal basis of sales. We mainly produced summer entertainment attractions which made it difficult not only to maintain halls all year round, but also to support our personnel as well as ourselves (we both had children by that time). A Snowglobe that we designed was supposed to be our solution for winters. Its debut took place in Częstochowa in December 2009. After that we began producing inflatable aquaparks, inflatable planetariums, inflatable tents and many other items.
2012 was a landmark year for us as the Euro 2012 football tournament took place in Poland and many event companies had great plans for this occasion. In 2011, we came across spherical tents, which were already being produced at that time in the USA and Germany. The Polish market also had a few such companies. We decided to give it a try ourselves. We created our first website which was entirely dedicated to geodesic tents. We signed our first contract with Sharp with no idea how we would manage the steel part of the structure as we had no idea of how to make it… The solution came from life itself and the internet. Our first project’s covers were taken from real-life measurements of the actual steel constructions. Our structures then went to Ukraine and Warsaw. That was how it all got started…
Having experience in what turned out to be the artistic welding of tarpaulins gave us an incredible advantage over other companies producing spherical tents and thanks to this, our know how is reflected in the quality of the tents we make as we use the most advanced techniques whether it involves designing, printing or attaching the pieces.
It is worth noting that our Pflaummer machine is still with us, in addition to High Frequency welding machines which all play a significant role in the production process of our covers.
We have met many inspiring people along our path – not only those who worked for us, but also our customers – thanks to them we have managed to implement ambitious projects such as:
- an aquapark in Wladyslawowo – where we managed to do the impossible – make airtight water slides with a length of more than 75 m.
- Volvo Ocean Race – this was our first big project for which we want to express our special thanks to Querine Van Osch for the trust she showed in us. This was a highly significant turning point in our career.
- Roadshow for Hyatt international – an unusual and unique two-in-one Bubble Meditation Station.
- Bubble Tent XXL for McDonald’s – the largest installation of its kind in the world.
we didn’t know how difficult it is so we just did it 😁
and all this was just the beginning…
Our entire company, all of the ideas and all the solutions have been our own. We made many mistakes, but there was no other way, it was our mistakes and failures that taught us and we accepted the lessons with humility and the challenges that we have faced.