National Treasure, Czech Craft is Here

October 19th - 27th, 2019
open daily: 11 am – 6 pm

Dutch Design Week, at Veem, 3rd floor, booth 33, Torenallee 80, Eindhoven, Netherlands

The UMPRUM Studio of Textile Design at this year's Dutch Design Week presents the results of a year-long cooperation with the North Bohemian manufacturer of glass beads - Preciosa Ornella. The project shows innovative technological methods and builds on traditional and often neglected craft connections such as textiles and glass beads. The presentation “The National Treasure, Czech Craft Is Here” offers new solutions and seeks out the alternative form young designers can offer to traditional cultural clichés. It is a call for anchored market interests.

The exhibited artefacts present a wealth of work with glass beads. They show courage to test unconventional solutions, experiment and connect with contemporary textile technologies. Students use beads in digital machine embroidery, combine them with knitted fabric, embroider, but reappraise them as raw materials and make them into new materials.

The interconnection of wool felt and glass beads give rise to new structural meterage, which offers a wide range of applications in furniture and interior design, such as sound barrier walls or new types of upholstery. The tubular type of bead becomes a structural element for creating a variable glass mesh suitable for interior dividers. By beading and entangling the beads, a flowing material is obtained that provides an unusual haptic experience where the glass beads maintain their cool temperature compared to the warm textile.

The result of the year's intensive work will be set in the environment of the “Glass Room”. It´s centerpiece is a large table - a place to meet, share and spend time together, in this case through workshops. The relationship to, respect for, and non-waste of objects are symbolically represented as wardrobes. The intimate picture gallery of silk scarves is also added to the installation. The atmosphere is enhanced by pedestals, which are made from glass rods blanks that are used in bead production. At the end of the walk through the room, the viewer sees himself in the reflection of a mirror. The mirror is a symbol of self-reflection that offers viewers a glimpse into the heart and the realization that we are the creators of the world in which we live.

“The great added value of the project we worked on with the leading Czech manufacturer of glass beads by Preciosa Ornela is a sustainable approach and the promotion of non-consumable values. We are trying to revitalize and modernize crafts that are slowly disappearing or limited by current trends. We want to re-engage people and traditional values. And as we become more and more aware of waste, we only work with materials of lower quality. This gave the beads a new life and application since they did not meet the high market standards. But I have to point out that the layman will hardly notice these imperfections ”, as Jitka Škopová the curator and head of the Studio of Textile Design, describes the overlap of the project National treasure, Czech craft is here.

The exhibition is not only against the effects of consumerism but also the increasing absence of traditional encounters. Therefore, during the entirety of the exhibition, there will be a pearl making workshop at the central table covered with velvet. It is not just about making new things, but especially about reviving old clothes and accessories with new pearl applications. Just as students were looking to give unusable beads a second life, they will help give a second chance to clothes that would have at best otherwise ended up in a garbage container.

Curator and architectural design of the exhibition: Jitka Škopová
Exhibiting students from the Studio of Textile Design:
Františka Benčaťová
Tereza Dvořáková
Anna Formánková
Eliška Hanušová
Thea Chatrná
Markéta Jebavá
Hanka Kocurková
Dimitrij Mandzyuk
Sára Matysová
Veronika Meixnerová
Zuzana Ševčíková
Kina Usami
Photography: Peter Fabo
Graphic design of the exhibition: Petr Hrůza
Production: Michaela Kaplánková, Anna Leschingerová, Jitka Škopová

Press kit

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1PEc7SfuQGwZhUjDeO9jxvZ2RaoEimh_C?usp=sharing

Photo: Peter Fabo