Beautiful work presented at Dutch Design Week

The Krásná Práce project is dedicated to folk crafts, their revival, and involvement in people's contemporary lives. It builds on the tradition of the Družstevní práce Foundation and the Krásná Jizba organisation. Among other things, they cooperate with art schools. They have found an active partner for their activities, the Studio of Product Design of UMPRUM led by Jan Němeček and Michal Froňek. Together with their students, they have created an extensive collection of products that commemorate, revive, and push forward traditional techniques.

During the semester-long assignment, they had to study various craft processes and techniques, prepare and process the necessary raw materials, and often learn from and consult renowned masters in their field. As a result of their studies, the works are adapted and designed to meet all the requirements and demands of the contemporary user. Their innovations show that traditional crafts are still relevant today and carry great, often untapped potential linked not only to sustainability.

Nine designers were selected for the Dutch Design Week exhibition in Eindhoven, which could be imaginatively divided into the categories of food, fashion, and structure. We can mention Jan Lechner's chandelier made of wrought brass, which uses the technique of hammered brass. Sára Kučerová focused on carving and wooden statues of saints. She minimized their message to the basic idea and materialized it in individual attributes. Miloslav Chytil focused on the craft of bag-making and created a leather harness with precisely crafted compartments for various tools. Finally, we can mention Mikuláš Procházka, who searched for the ideal shape and manufacturing process for the ideal kitchen knife. In other works on display, students worked with embroidery, jewellery making from fish scales, ceramics, cattails and even brush-making. The exhibition does not only focus on the works themselves but also gives space for introducing individual crafts and the production process, familiarizing viewers with tools and different technologies.

The aspect of sustainability is also reflected in the installation of the exhibition. "Because we thought a lot about being environmentally and material friendly when we were working, we wanted to maintain this idea in the installation. We found straw to be the ideal material. For the Belgian exhibition, we managed to get bales, which turned out to be ideal pedestals. We have now transported them a few dozen kilometres away to Eindhoven in the Netherlands and are now making arrangements with a local farm that will make further use of the straw after the event", describe curators Adam Kvaček and Ivo Jedlička about the waste-free installation.

The exhibition is not the only thing the designers have prepared. Their presentation will also include three workshops open to visitors of the event. Together, they will create works from selected materials, where they will be able to try their hand at a chosen craft technique - embroidery, woodcarving, or felting. They will thus be able to enjoy the process of collective creation and at the same time learn more about the technology. The collective work will result in large-scale works that will become part of the exhibition.

The Studio of Product Design's international exhibition does not end with the Eindhoven exhibition. In parallel, works created under the Krásná Práce project will be presented at the exhibition of the same name in New York. In addition to these works, three other design universities - the Faculty of Art and Design at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, the Faculty of Fine Arts of Brno University of Technology, and the Faculty of Multimedia Communications of Tomas Bata University in Zlín - will also present their work.

"We are happy that we can return things covered in dust to their former shine," says Michal Froněk, head of the product design studio, about the idea and mission of the Beautiful Work project.

Exhibitors: Sofia Artemeva, Tereza Bláhová, Miloslav Chytil, Ivo Jedlička, Sára Kučerová, Adam Kvaček, Jan Lechner, Mikuláš Procházka, and Karolína Vintrová.
Exhibition curation, production, and architectural design: Adam Kvaček, Ivo Jedlička, and Jan Lechner.
Educational leadership: Michal Froněk and Jan Němeček (heads of the studio), Michal Malášek (assistant professor).
Photography: Samuel Alexander Petráš, Adéla Zlámalová, Dominik Bek, Petr Jelen, Karolína Kadlčáková, Petr Žemla, Barbora Hostašová, Lenka Glisníková, Karolína Matušková, and Silvie Leitmenová.
Video: Tereza Havlínková, Mai Tranová, and Patrik Trska.

The exhibited works were created in cooperation with the Družstevní Práce Foundation and the Krásná Práce (Beautiful Work) projects. (www.krasnaprace.org, IG: krasnaprace)

The exhibition was supported by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic and the Czech Centre in Rotterdam.