Name:Adam Kostrzewa Address: Jamas's Street, Dublin Dwelling:Flat Here since:1992
I got a proposal to come and work in Ireland as an antique furniture restorer in 1986. I worked in Castletown House in Celbridge, and later in Malahide Castle, and on a Jonathan Swift writing desk in St Patrick's Hospital. I didn't speak English. Most Irish people were asking me, what are you doing? They thought I was cuckoo. Most guys my age were running away from here. I remember huge queues outside the American Embassy. It was the same in Poland.
I'm an Irish citizen now. Ireland was always amazing to me. When I was a teenager in Warsaw, most of my friends were chess players, musicians . . . and they were listening to Van Morrison. Everybody knew he was from Ireland, and Clannad and Thin Lizzy, too. It was exciting for us, and Clannad was giving us something of the spiritual side, something you cannot see, but you can feel. So I was very happy to come here. I got a very good feeling, and when I went to Newgrange, I said: Ah, this is my country.
In Poland in communist times, to have two or three jobs was the only way to survive. I was studying sculpture and painting and furniture restoration. When I saw my old friends working as sculptors, they were starving. I thought it was better to do something else. I spent five years, until 1991, working as a furniture restorer.
I went home to Poland in 1991 because communism had collapsed. But I realised that nothing had changed. I got some kind of strong feeling that this was the wrong decision. I stayed for six months and then I came back here. I was staying in a small room on Duke Street and I was paining, creating in this small room.
I am superstitious, and when I came here to the flats on James's Street, I saw the green door - and I have green eyes. And the address is 1A, the first letter of my name. Those were good signs. It was like a new beginning for me. This is a very nice, cosy flat, and after two years here, I met Kasia.
These flats are all in very good shape. It's a natural theatre around the central courtyard. You could have any kind of play here, just put simple lights up. I am very surprised that nobody has thought of that kind of project. In this area, they are very honest people, and very happy. I am very secure because I feel they can help you; they know you. In our society, I think that's very important.