Bearers of the tradition of folks crafts 2008
František Pavlica (*1971) is a native of Hroznová Lhota, a village near Veselí nad Moravou. He graduated from the Vocational School of Agriculture in Strážnice and worked at the local co-operative farm for several years. When the farm broke up, he started up a business of straw wreath manufacture. In view of his experience in work with quality straw, Josef Jančár, the then Director of the Institute of Folk Culture, asked him to make thatches and cover the roofs of buildings of the Museum of Southeast Moravian Villages. Thanks to this, he has been making thatched roofs since 1993.
Work on thatch manufacture begins with the reaping of long rye straw of high quality. This must be done with a scythe and a binder. The thrasher must be specially constructed to leave the stalks intact. This material is used to make the basic types of thatches which can be used to cover both hipped and saddle roofs the Moravian way with the ears laid downward, which gives rise to a smooth surface of the roof. But he also knows the east Slovak way with the ears facing upward which is a tiered arrangement. He has also mastered the German way of thatching, which he learnt when made thatched roofs for German and Dutch clients.
Pavel Číp (*1944) is a native of the village of Zubří near Rožnov pod Radhoštěm. He graduated from the Vocational School of Engineering in Vsetín and served as a technician of the Tesla state enterprise. His interest in woodworking was due to his uncle – a carpenter. As of 1975, he supplied turned vessels and toys to a network of folk art shops. He was rewarded for their quality with the title Master of Folk Art. In the 1980s, he devoted ever more time to the construction and repairs of folk music instruments, pipes in particular. This finally became his lifelong interest.
The manufacture of traditional folk pipes is a very exacting task which requires good knowledge of harmony and technology, and skilled handiwork. Pavel Číp had the advantage of experience in many technologies of folk production such as the turning of wood, metal and horn, metal chiselling, and decoration with metal, tin and mother-of-pearl. Besides this, he had to master theory, and gained experience along this line by studies and consultations with prominent musicologists and ethnologists, including Jaroslav Markl, Ludvík Kunz and Emanuel Kuksa.
At this time, his workshop produces several types of pipes from different Bohemian and Moravian regions and the replicas of historic pipes which it also reconstructs. The range of products includes less known instruments such as bladder pipes (Platerspiel), chamois horn pipes (Gemshorn), shalms and cornamuses.
Marie Skrežinová (*1944) is a native of Zlechov, a village near Uherské Hradiště. She learned the manufacture of artificial flowers as a child from her mother, who had been trained at Jiří Klain’s workshop in Kyjov and continued to work for it. When the workshop closed down, she purchased its machines for hot and cold shaping of blossoms, and continued working on her own. Marie Skrežinová’s occasional help turned into permanent employment when she had to take care of her ailing mother. At that time, she returned to the making of flowers and wreaths which were in great demand.
The manufacture of artificial flowers is time consuming and a technically complicated process consisting of many preparatory operations which require skill and, in particular, patience. It all begins with the preparation of the fabric – brocade, which is dyed, starched, stretched and dried, and folded into eight layers. Then comes the turn of punchers to make forget-me-nots, roses, lilies of the valley, apple blossoms, bluebottles, marsh marigolds and daisies, and also green leaves of myrtle, fruit trees, grass, nettles etc., which are then cold- and hot-pressed and shaped. All components are wired and folded into the characteristic shapes.
Flower manufacture has been mastered by the daughter, Pavlína Skrežinová, who watched her mother and grandmother doing the job since her childhood. But the husband, Pavel, also knows the trade and helps with the heavier work.
Eva Minksová (*1940) was born and has been living in Velká nad Veličkou. The picturesque environment of the Horňácko region rich in folk culture traditions was at the beginning of her lifelong interest in folk costumes and especially their embroidery. He first teacher was her mother under whose guidance she embroidered her first book of samples when she was eight years old. Her later source of inspiration were old patterns and articles of costumes. Initially, she made mainly men’s shirts with embroidered stand-up collars. A new impulse to her work came when she was engaged by the Centre for Folk Art Production where she realised the designs of its prominent artists, such as Eva Vítová with whom she co-operated, for example, on the making of wall decorations and table linen for the Palace of Culture in Prague. She did not stop working when she retired and continues embroidering, especially Horňácko costumes.
Eva Minksová uses many embroidery techniques the oldest being counted embroidery – instead of sketching out the pattern, she has it in her mind, divides it into the different numbers of threads, and works with a threaded needle to stitch a design over the threads. Every design has its name derived from its shape or character – rose, half-rose, lizard, poppy top ... The order of the designs in a chain composition form an unmistakable ornament, which is often the signature of the needlewoman.
Ludmila Dominová (*1948) is a native of the village of Zliv near Hluboká nad Vltavou. She was fond of handiwork since her youth and gradually mastered most of the “pre-weaving” techniques of textile fibre working, such as netting, frame knitting, crocheting, knitting, needle lace, bobbin lace, and embroidery. She acquainted herself with fish-scale embroidery in the 1970s when she came across a costume apron decorated with this none-too-typical application. As time went on, she became acquainted with many other costume articles from the second half of the 19th century when this embroidery was very popular. Due to intensive searching in literature and questioning of old-timers she could document the whole technique, including the original shapes into which the scales were cut.
Carp scales are mainly used for this type of embroidery, and sometimes also perch and pikeperch scales. The scales are washed in water, then with soap, brushed clean, stiffened with potato starch, dried and ironed. Then they are cut into various shapes, mostly hearts, petals and round pieces, which are pierced in the middle and sewn to the fabric with a little bead. Fish-scale embroidery can be used to create flower compositions, emphasize seams or edge bodices.
Due to Mrs Dominová’s years-long interest in fish-scale embroidery, the technique has been thoroughly documented and popularised among the public and manufacturers. She has several successors who are using this type of embroidery on folk costumes and small decorative pieces.
Bearers of the Tradition of Folk Crafts in 2007
- Rozálie Blažková (*1941) Nesvady, weaving from maize husks
- Hana Buchtelová (*1961) Malá Vrbka, Linen weaving
- Iveta Dandová (*1963) Mnichovo Hradiště, processing of reed mace
- Blanka Mikolajková (*1960), Rožnov pod Radhoštěm, framework knitting
- František Tureček (*1928), Tvrdonice, The shoemaking
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Bearers of the Tradition of Folk Crafts in 2006
- Josef Hruška ( *1941), Valašské Meziříčí - blacksmith technologies
- Jaroslav Sucháček st. (*1936), Lhota u Vsetína, manufacture of sharpening stones
- Ludmila Kočišová (*1931), Vnorovy - processing of maize husks
- Dana Ptáčková (*1950), Morkovice - basket makers
- Miloslava Zatloukalová (*1959), Brodek u Konice - straw plaiting
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Bearers of the Tradition of Folk Crafts in 2005
- Josef Janulík, Josefov, for the manufacture of folk footwear
- Drahomír Smejkal, Jihlava, for manual manufacture of files and rasps
- Jiří Ondřej, Zubří, for the manufacture of birch brooms.
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Bearers of the Tradition of Folk Crafts in 2004
- František Joch from Strážnice - blue print on fabrics
- Štefan Kanaloš from Ostrava – wood chiselling
- Jiří Myška from Hlinsko – hatchet work
- Jarmila Oharková from Tišnov – hand weaving
Bearers of the Tradition of Folk Crafts in 2003
- Josef Kopčan from Valašská Bystřice - woodworkin by adze and axe
- Zdeněk Kubák - traditional weaving of fabrics
- Oldřich Kvapil from Hořice - carver of gingerbread cutters
- Milan Macho from Suchdol nad Lužnicí - basket-splint weaving
- Petr Stoklasa from Velké Karlovice - wooden doves manufacture
Bearers of the Tradition of Folk Crafts in 2002
- Zdeněk Bukáček, Krouna - wood-turned toys
- Jiří Danzinger, Olešnice na Moravě - traditional blue and white printing
- Jana Juřicová, Vigantice - white embroidery
- Ivo Nimrichter, Kyjov - black pottery
- Miloslav Trefanec, Klatovy - Čínov - traditional blacksmith´s craft
Bearers of the Tradition of Folk Crafts in 2001
- Antonín Moštěk, Vlčnov - the ceramic workshop, the historical Faience
- Stanislav Štěpánek, Morkovice - basket making
- Ladislav Rejent, Proseč u Skutče - wood carving and turning
- Rudolf Volf, Koloveč - the pottery manufacture
- Jiří Drhovský, Zvěřkovice - wood-carved toys