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Etsy World Tour: Hungary, Where Traditional and Contemporary Crafts Meet


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:

(photo by drgnmastr)

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:

(photo by vadjutka)

A retro outfit with traditional influences:

(photo by vadjtka)

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"!