Joanna Janusz and her daughter, Aleksandra, know that a little imagination, a can-do spirit and a bag or two of concrete can take you far—from the banks of Poland’s Vistula River to the Gulf Coast. In 2017, the women started pouring concrete candles to sell in the wedding salon they owned in Tczew, a mid-size Polish city near Gdansk. While brainstorming gift ideas, the pair thought to diversify with candles encased in concrete instead of standard glass. “We liked the idea of something a little unconventional with a Scandinavian vibe,” Aleksandra says. Their stone-cold chic candles took off, and when the Januszes moved to Naples in 2023, they brought their thriving ZOA Concept business with them.
Working out of a 500-square-foot home studio, mother and daughter continue to pour ZOA-branded and private-label candles, and Joanna has recently expanded into other handcrafted home goods with a similar organic, minimalist aesthetic. The creative started by dabbling in a variety of clean-lined concrete trays in natural gray, dusty rose finish and a multicolored terrazzo finish. Then came whimsical ceramic pieces, like flower-shaped salt-and-pepper shakers and funny-footed, coiled candle holders. The experimentation gave her confidence, and soon, Joanna saw an opportunity to go bigger into full-scale furnishings. She made a few pillowy, Michelin Man-inspired ceramic side tables and curvilinear lamps, but her ambitions were limited by the size of her kiln. “First, I had to find the right material,” she says.
Concrete was a no-go. The substance can’t be traditionally hand-sculpted, and large finished pieces would be massively heavy. While researching sustainable, eco-friendly alternatives with a similar look, she discovered hempcrete, a biocomposite material made from hemp hurd (the plant’s woody inner fibers), lime binder and water. Less brittle than concrete, the mixture is mainly used as insulation, but innovative creatives like Pennsylvania furniture makers LIRIO Design House, British parametric architect Antony Gibbon and Southern France-based sculptor Yasmin Bawa utilize hempcrete for everything from one-of-a-kind tables to cliff houses.

Photography by Christina Bankson
zoa concept ceramic art
Launched in 2017 with concrete candles, ZOA Concept recently expanded into furnishings and decor made from hempcrete, an organic composite.
Drawn to the feel and texture of the medium, Joanna dove in, crafting a simple bench that can also function as a television stand. “The clay-like consistency allows me to shape freely with my hands,” she says. “It’s significantly lighter than concrete, but the downside is it takes much longer to dry.”
To create custom furnishings, like floating organic shelves, abstract coffee tables and a mirror set in a three-dimensional box, Joanna shapes the hempcrete like she would ceramic, then lets the piece dry for up to six weeks. She lovingly sands her hardened creation, smoothing the surface before applying a layer of protective natural lime plaster in a smooth or concrete-like textured finish, both of which can be tinted with organic mineral pigments. “Each finish possesses a unique visual texture and tactile sensory feel,” she says.
Southwest Florida’s coastal landscapes inspire many of Joanna’s furnishings. Her floating shelves are meant to evoke the undulating sands of Fort Myers’ beaches, while a recent coffee table resembles a boulder she spied along the Naples waterfront. She also draws from her affinity for Scandi minimalism and soft brutalism, which combines the industrial materials used in the all-business brutalist architecture of the 1950s with more whimsical, otherworldly shapes and textures. Biomorphism giants Isamu Noguchi, Barbara Hepworth, Hans Arp and Pierre Szekely are also key references within her panoply of modernist influences.
Joanna’s approach remains experimental, adaptable and evolutionary. “Sometimes, I simply start creating, and my hands guide me,” she says. “Other times, I plan how a particular piece should look, and occasionally, I adjust the concept during the process.” That sense of artistic freedom results in singular, functional works of art that seem at once sci-fi and prehistoric. Within her repertoire, a circular mirror sits snugly inside an oblong, crescent-shaped mount with a speckled finish akin to rose-tinted marble. A towering, rectangular floor lamp with an elliptical void and base-anchored bulb diffuses warm light upward, creating an otherworldly, sculptural ambience. Each inimitable piece carries the mark of its maker, with curvatures and indentations traceable to the sculptor’s hand.
When a request for commissioned furnishings or decor hits ZOA’s email, Joanna is eager to collaborate with clients, whether they come with specific size, style and color requirements or offer up a blank canvas to play. While most pieces are done by commission—a four- to eight-week process, depending on the size and complexity of the design—ZOA offers a selection of smaller items, like biomorphic hempcrete wall art and unglazed ceramic biped lamps with curiously curved necks, through Etsy. The maker platform allows her to test the waters for her anticipated collection in the future. Coming up with the terrestrial—and extraterrestrial—concepts for a more robust array of furnishings doesn’t seem to be an issue. “My mother always has 1,000 ideas,” Aleksandra says with a laugh.