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Story by
vadjutka
Published on May 8, 2008 in This Handmade Life |
Photo by vadjutka, Wrist cuffs with Matyo embroidery |
In this edition of Etsy World Tour, vadjutka highlights a few of Hungary's diverse crafting traditions, both traditional and contemporary. Enjoy!
Gömör Pottery
Once upon a time, a few hundred years ago, peasants of a county called Gömör (which is now part of Slovakia) started to make a special kind of ceramic that could be used for cooking. Soon this area became the center for supplying households with nicely painted bowls and pans. Meanwhile, potters of Gömör county lived in small villages and did their everyday work: ploughing, feeding animals, etc. Making beautiful pottery was only a small slice of rural life. By the beginning of the 20th century, potters of Gömör found themselves competing with porcelain and saucepans made of iron. Unfortunately, mass production eventually won out over handmade ceramics and Gömör Pottery is now part of folk art history.
Zsolnay Porcelain
The world famous Zsolnay Porcelain was founded in 1853 to make both stoneware and porcelain. After a few years of difficulties, Zsolnay became world-known and reached its peak in the 1910s. Its signature look is called eosin: a unique greenish, iridescent metallic luster glaze that reminds me of the color of some flies. Jardinieres, wall plates, lamps, and jewelry were made using this glaze, all reflecting the spirit of Art Nouveau. After WWII, Zsolnay started to mass-produce some designs, but they did not stop making exclusive models with eosin technology adapted to porcelain. Currently, Zsolnay Porcelain is not just following trends, but leading them: they teamed up with the famous Hungarian fashion designer, Katti Zoob, who designs haute couture as well as pret-a-porter clothes. Here is a nice example:
Matyo Embroidery
I think every Hungarian woman (including me) has tried doing embroidery at least once in her life: embroidered clothes, tablecloths, etc. are quite common in Hungary. Many patterns are available, but the most famous is the colorful Matyo embroidery. Though it is very well-known — most Hungarians can only recall Matyo if asked about embroidery — it is made only in three small villages. Mezökövesd is the center of Matyo embroidery, where the ethnic group called Matyo lived. Although most of the embroiderers were originally peasants, the industrialization process at the turn of the 19th century resulted in a flourishing folk art scene, especially with embroidery. Below is a picture of the most famous pattern of Matyo Embroidery: a rose with red, green, blue and yellow.
(photo by hattyu)
Painted Eggs
Painting eggs for Easter is common throughout Eastern Europe: almost every nation and ethnic group has its own tradition of egg painting. Though most of Europe uses mostly one color for egg painting, Hungarians use the batik technique to paint the eggs multiple colors. Nowadays, men visit women on Easter Monday, and spray them with perfume: this represents attraction. In return for their efforts, men get a nicely painted egg. The original tradition was to spray the egg with clean water as a symbol of rebirth. A beautiful example:
(photo by hattyu)
Crafting Today
Almost twenty years after the political upheaval in Central-Eastern Europe, craft society (as well as civil society) has started to re-blossom in Hungary. Since the summer of 2006, Hungary has instituted an ongoing craft fair called WAMP (short for Sunday Art Market). It takes place every month, on a sunny (or rainy) Sunday in the heart of Budapest, Hungary's capital. Originating as a small market with around thirty artists, WAMP now has more than 300 registered artists and crafters. Lots of them are professional artists with university degrees, but there are plenty of crafters like me, coming from outside: geography teachers, sociologists or engineers.
Products are as varied as crafters themselves: from bags made of LPs, to earring made of LEGO toys, one can find everything. Since retro became very fashionable - once again - in these years, Matyo patterns have found their ways into mainstream fashion: one can find blouses, bags and wristlets decorated with specially designed Matyo patterns.
A cool wristlet:
A retro outfit with traditional influences:
A huge thanks to vadjutka for sharing her thoughts on both the traditions of crafting in Hungary, as well as her insight into today's crafting scene. We'd love to hear more about crafting traditions around the world; send your thoughts to the Storque's pitch box and make sure to include the words "Etsy World Tour"!
| Tags | ceramics, cultures, embroidery, Etsy World Tour, Hungary, matyo, porcelain, pottery, traditions, vadjutka |
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28 comments Login to add your own!
livefunky
My Hungarian grandmother was a painter and I was deeply inspired at an early age by the bold colors and designs in Hungarian folk art - it's remained a major influence in my work.
Thank you for a wonderful article that took me back to my youth, looking through my grandmother's books and admiring her folk paintings on platters and pitchers, and her colorful embroidered pillows. Your shop is gorgeous vadjutka!
eclipse
This is a fascinating article, I love those embroidered leather things in the banner photo. Are those from an Etsy shop? Are they wrist cuffs or hair barrettes?
ebinard
I second that question, what exactly are those items in the main photo for this article? and how about putting basic information like that in the captions for photos from now on, so people don't have to ask!
brianslittlegirl
I won't attempt any comments in my horrible american-english phonetic version of Hungarian, but I just love this article!! I visited Hungary a couple of times when I was in high school and still treasure the time spent walking through streets of handmade treasures (and junky tourist trap items...) I most enjoyed an outdoor street fair we went to, I can't remember the name of the city... but it was lovely. I found so many lovely pottery pieces and embroidery. I still have an embroidered blouse that I bought during my first visit that I am unfortunately almost afraid to wear because I'm worried I'll ruin it. ;)
I think that at the very least 2/3 of my heart lives in Hungary, and I dream of moving there someday. :) Thanks for writing this article!
Vanessa
I convoed her about the cuffs in the header image. But I bet she's in bed by now over there in Hungary!
ravenshold
Great article, it really brought back memories I spent a semester studying in Pécs when I was at university and saw alot of Zsolnay pottery. Unfortunately I wasn't smart enough to get any to bring home with me. :-)
bayousalvage
vadjutka
Hi,
Vanessa was right: I was in bed..and I guess now it is your turn, since it is 4 am EST now :-)
Thanks a lot for your warm comments, and stories about staying in Hungary; means a lot to me.
YES, on the header image you can see wrist cuffs, an unfortunately they are not on Etsy.
Have a great day, when you get up. My day is just perfect from now on :-)
ZsBcreations
Kreativlink
I enjoyed reading that articel and seeing the great pics! Congrats! :)
lunaticart
staroftheeast
What a great article, I always love to see the traditional handmade items of other countries!
iragrant
PetronellaFashion
great article jutka ! I have always been in love with the Hungarian traditional costumes because of the colours and the embroidery !
KrillaGlass
Wonderful article Jutka! And thx for including my items. :)
Traditional crafting is so widespread in our country that it could fill three articles!
Besides Zsolnay there is the Herendi porcelain manufacture and there is the famous Halas Lace manufacture. A huge part of the traditional crafting happens in "crafting families". They live for/from their job and sell most of their product in craft fairs on weekends. Probably the largest traditional craft fair is the "Festival of Folk Arts" in Budapest in August.
Certain traditional areas are becaming popular again like beadwork. And folk arts are accessible for "city people" as well, for example my daughter learns lace crafting in school as a faculty.
glasfaden
vadjutka
Krilla, yes, there are a lot to write about :-) While writing this article I read thru half of the Folk Art Lexikon :-)
I have to tell, thet credits for the "related items" part are not mine. I tried to chose items "typical" Hungarian with embroidery, hemp bracelet etc...But these are much-much better :-)
XbyLeinaNeima
nanouke
I never knew that Hungary was so rich in traditional crafts!
This is a really good article, thank you!
babastudioPrague
Lovely article - thanks.
I enjoyed it and learnt that the embroidery I've seen often here in antique/vintage shops, is actually Hungarian Matyo! I really want a piece of it sometime, but it can be a little pricey for one of the lovely examples.
I LOVE the embroidery traditions in this whole region - a constant source of amazement and delight.
panyizsuzsi
Thanks Jutka for the nice article!
This is so great to live in such an inspiring country!
eclipse
Oh I am sad those wrist cuffs are not on Etsy. That black & silver one is calling my name!
InfiniteCosmosHemp
what a great article! i want to go to Hungary so bad.....my parents went there last year and brought me back some wonderful trinkets from a craft market in Budapest. I really REALLY want to go there someday!
ArtMind
Congrats on this inspiring article, Vadjutka! It's great to read about hungarian tradition.
monsterbugblankets
What a wonderful article! My husband and I got to spend three wonderful days in Budapest several years ago, and it was sooooo gorgeous. I bought a suitcase full of pottery! :) And I bought a gorgeous embroidered tablecloth, and two B&W photographs that hold a prominant place in my living room! :) We have such lovely memories of our brief time in your beautiful country! Thanks for sharing your culture with us!
Fabletoo
I love traditional crafts. Hungary has some gorgeous things - there's some great stuff on Etsy from Hungary too. Nice article.
santosleather
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Nagyszeru!!!!