New generation of Czech designers meets masters of traditional craft. Product design students of four art colleges from the Czech Republic have teamed up with skilled artisans to create a blend of a sensitive upgrade of traditional shapes and decorations and precise craftsmanship.
Special Workshop this Friday!
Learning the Traditional Embroidery
Come to experience and learn the unique craft of embroidery from Moravia focusing on traditional Horňácko and fish scale embroidery. The workshop is prepared by the students from the UMPRUM in Prague.
Free registration here.
Works by students of product design studios of the Academy of Arts, Architecture, and Design in Prague (UMPRUM), Faculty of Art and Design at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, Faculty of Fine Arts of Brno University of Technology and Faculty of Multimedia Communications of Tomas Bata University in Zlín. Curated by Klára Hegerová.
Sixty product design students from four major art universities in the Czech Republic have teamed up with traditional crafts specialists to create a unique set of utility objects. The resulting fusion combines the young designers' sensitive adaptation of traditional shapes and decorations with the precise craftsmanship of experienced masters.
Opening Reception: Thursday, October 12th, 2023, 6 PM – 8 PM. Free registration here.
The exhibition opening will be topped with the performance of Moravian cimbalom player Matěj Číp.
The exhibition introduces old techniques which go far back into history and which are now practiced by only a handful of remaining masters. They include cattail weaving, fish scale embroidery, smoked fired pottery and pleating of traditional leather shoes. "In this project, it was essential for the students to encounter the reality of disappearing crafts and to try and find ways of ensuring their sustainability in the future. They managed to transform the techniques to suit the needs of the 21st century. This could never have been achieved without the opportunity to learn about the technologies and crafts while working alongside experienced masters. This has given the students a new perspective and respect for traditional crafts", says Michal Froněk, Head of the Product Design Studio at the Academy of Arts, Architecture and Design in Prague (UMPRUM).
This project places Czech craftsmanship and folk art in a new context. Having found a specific perspective on original folk art, it provides an alternative to contemporary interior design concepts and responds to the current demand for authentic and sustainable clothing. Works of Czech, Moravian and Silesian folk art are shown as valuable artefacts or functional and highly aesthetic products of home and clothing culture, and they are presented in the context of contemporary design, architecture and fashion. The project encourages collaboration between masters of traditional handicrafts and young designers with the aim of developing new designs. It also aims to popularize traditional handicrafts among potential successors. Tradition is seen as a multiplication of all past and present creative forces, and forgotten old techniques are brought back to life with a deep respect for the present.
Crafts will disappear if old masters are not able to pass on their skills. That is why the project seeks to attract young people and to convince them that contemporary craftsmanship can offer a new lifestyle model which comes back to nature and reflects the need for self-anchoring and a sense of pride in one's traditions.
So, the principal theme of the Beautiful Work exhibition is the desire to pass old craft knowledge on to young people.
Over forty objects on display include a modern urban handbag created by Adam Kvaček from UMPRUM whose main focus was cattail processing. An object with an almost sculptural concept - a mirror woven from reed - was designed by Anastazia Mazur from the Faculty of Art and Design of Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. Her fantasy piece has the potential of becoming a dominating feature of a modern interior. Sofia Artemeva from UMPRUM designed a collection of accessories; while respecting the original purpose of the materials she chose to work with, her experimental use turned them into jewelry. Ondřej Čižmář, a student of the Faculty of Fine Arts of Brno University of Technology, created a series of attractive vases using the Hutterite faience technique. Ceramic objects made by Ivo Jedlička from UMPRUM respond to the growing popularity of home bread-making; his collection facilitates the preparation of the baking process.
The objects on display can be seen through the lens of newly established relationships. Each exhibit is the reflection of a bond between two people – a young designer and a master of a traditional craft.
Beautiful Work is a long-term project of Družstevní práce Foundation. It draws on the traditions of Czech institutions which laid the ground for new forms of preservation of traditional folk-art production. An unexpected benefit was that most of the objects on display were made by the students themselves under the guidance of experienced craftsmen. That gives the project a whole new dimension and brings hope for Czech craftsmanship.
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