Craftsmanship in our region

Glassblowing Bobbin laces in Bobowa Smithing Basketry

Glassblowing Glassblowing is a glassforming technique that involves inflating molten glass into a bubble. It is a proces of making various objects out of hot liquid glass. The glass bubble can be shaped and sculptured with a variety of hand tools into different forms. The KROSNO S.A. glassworks joint stock company was established in 1923 in Krosno, in the southeast of Poland. This company is focused on taking up a production of soda domestic glass since many years. Krosno joint stock comapny is famous for hand-made glass. The company prides itself on traditional manual glass forming, offering a wide range of products from fine glasses to large bowls in different colours. The mechanically formed table glassware is also an important part of the company's product range. The glassware manufactured by the KROSNO glassworks joint stock company combines unique patterns, excellent workmanship, and state-of-the-art technologies. The high quality of the products and the impeccable molten glass are achieved thanks to manufacturing methods developed over many years and the specification of the ingredients that are used. Krosno glass often is called “unleaded glass” which exactly describes perfect transparency of company’s products. The company has its own Design Center which is responsible for creating new patterns of glass collections and making these collections unique. This company has a big influence on domestic and artistic glass trendies not only in Poland, but also in many countries all over the world.

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Bobbin laces in Bobowa Bobbin lace is a lace textile made by braiding and twisting lengths of thread, which are wound on bobbins to manage them. As the work progresses, the weaving is held in place with pins set in a lace pillow, the placement of the pins usually determined by a pattern or pricking pinned on the pillow. Bobbin lace is also known as pillow lace and bone lace, because early bobbins were made of bone or ivory. In the past Bobowa’s laces were considered as an important item of wedding clothes of local girls. This kind of activity was very popular so in 1899, in Bobowa, National Female School of Lace-making was established. In this school lacemaking, embroidery and so-called “women’s work” were taught to local girls. The principles of lace-making arrived here from Genua, Milan and Brugge and the history of bobbin laces in Bobowa takes back to the beginning of the 16th century. Due to this rich tradition the town founded a National School of Lace-making in 1899 and students from the school won a bronze medal at an exhibition in Saint Louise in 1902 and a gold medal in San Francisco in 1905. The intrest of lacemaking decreased because of the economic and social changes and as a result of it Bobowa’s tradition of laces’s production started to disappear. Local people didn’t want to forget about this beautiful tradition so they decided to establish Local Handicraft Society in Bobowa in 1994. This organisation still provides training schemes for lace makers and embroiderers and also provides a support network and contacts with professional lace makers within Bobowa and elsewhere. They also organise exhibitions, competitions and subsidize lace-making workshops for local children and teenagers in the Bobowa area, many of which are run by the Local Culture Centre. Bobowa’s lace makers show their works at international exibitions in Spain, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Czech republic and Slovakia. Bobowa is the only area in Poland where you can find so large group of active artists.

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Smithing The smithing is a very popular craft. Blacksmiths dealt with making some usable objects from metal, like kettles, horseshoes, nails, tools, and also some kinds of weapon. They also dealt with shoeing and the nurturing of horses' hooves. In the past this occupation was very widespread and there was a smithy in every village. It became less popular because of the process of progressive industrialization and with the passing of time it has almost disappeared. Nowadays we can notice a so-called rebirth of this occupation. It is due to the fashion of hand forged decorative elements applied in the modern building. Thanks to this hand method, the blacksmith’s work is becoming more and more popular. A lot of people is interested in this production and order individualized forms of metal objects which will be original and unique. The most popular smiths products are: fences property balcony balustrades window bars gates and entrance gates garden furniture and house furniture different decorations

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Basketry Basket weaving (also basketry, basket making, or basketmaking) is the process of weaving unspun vegetable fibres into a basket or other similar forms. People and artists who weave baskets are called basketmakers and basket weavers. Basketry is made from a variety of fibrous or pliable/flexible materials, it means, anything that will bend and form a shape, for example, pine straw, stems, animal hair, hide, grasses, thread, and wood. Basketry is an activity of making decorative and functional objects from different materials, like baskets, dishes, furniture, especially garden and beach, even fences and walls Wickerwork is very old activity , one of the first forms of handicrafts. Nowadays, wickerwork usually occurs in rural farms, but objects braided with wicker are very popular in the whole Poland. Wicker is a grassy flexible plant branch used in weaving baskets or furniture. It grows in wet or riverside areas. Nowadays this kind of handicraft is popular so more and more people have their own wicker plantations. Wickerwork originated weaving. In the present times, despite the fact that plastic is widely used, wickerwork is still very valued artistic handicraft. There are also family companies, where the tradition of weaving beautiful objects is passed from generation to generation.Wickerwork is an important industry in Poland, employing hundreds of skilled workers to create good for export to western Europe.

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