Craft experience is everything what you can get from the crafts beyond the product itself. Serfenta is Polish organization, working internationality, which has been gathering knowledge about heritage and basketry for years. During our deep research within traditional craftsmen we wondered: what weaving, a part of European heritage, can give to a modern man. It led us to propose a Model for the crafts nowadays.

We found there is a huge amount of intangible reasons why we need the crafts in our lifes. There are memories which bring us to the childhood with the scents of straw of fresh willow rods. The participants of the craft experience in Serfenta find joy in touching, smelling, putting their hands into the boundles of natural materials. We let them have fun, as well as we let children to use tools.

In the XXI century, we’re very often hidden behind our mobiles or computers. But we need to use hands, experience the nature. Basketmaking is a powerful tool to fulfill those needs. It takes us to the forests, to the meadows where the plants grow. You will get a knife and a chance for taking away the bark from the branches and digging in the moist, fragrant soil for the roots of trees.

Nature teachs us that nothing is perfect. Each root, branch is different. It is not made by the machine, has its own curves, colours, flexibility. And our woven work can be different as well. In our studio in Cieszyn, we teach that you don’t have to be perfect in craft.

We see how this approach is liberating for people. They see they are able to create, to finish their work within a few houres. It gives them a feeling of success and a sense of accomplishment.

Model for the crafts

In Serfenta Association we’ve been working with the basketry craft from 15 years. We know it so well thanks to the ethnographic research with traditional basketmakers. Each of these craftsmen has its own story described in the book „Baskets. Stories about basketry trail of Vistula river.” Today, within European Heritage Days, we want to tell our story – story of people, who lead the organization, which knows everything about the basketry.

Over the years of our work, we have been reaching the sources of craftsmanship. At the begining, products, mainly baskets, were the most important. However, the situation of the basketry in Poland is difficult, that’s why we’ve started to look for new ways, for its and our future.

During our research, which has started in 2008, we discovered that most of the basketmakers are elders, in their 60-ties and 70-ties. It was changing through the years. More and more of our friends, craftspeople were passing away.

We asked ourselves, why do people want to weave? What the crafts can give to a modern man? If we don’t have the products anymore, what else we can take from this heritage to our lifes?

In Serfenta, we carefully observe what is the most interesting for people (mostly younger generations) who come to us for experience.

What we see is the more turbulence in the world, the greater uncertainty, more people reach for the intangible values hidden in the cultural heritage. However, not for the products, but for the process of making, which can give relief and peace.

We have conducted hundreds of workshops over the years. For example, during the first period of pandemic, we wondered what kinds of changes this situation will bring to the world and how it influence our work. We considered if people would get out from homes and if they would like to meet in groups again? There was a lot of pressure to move all activities to an online reality. We tried as well, but it didn't make sense in our situation.

We found that people are looking for the contact with nature, the possibility to share and talk, and completely disconnection from the online mode, even for a while. The more the world goes online, the more people come for a completely offline experience. They are coming for the possibility to touch, smell, twist natural materials, the source which lays in our craft. We call it craft experience. When the hands are working and weaving, the head is resting. We often hear that people during our workshops are resting. Also because while working with us, you can’t look at the screen or answer the phone at the same time. It turned out that people need crafts to take a break from the pace of everyday life, at least for one day or even a few hours.

Making an object can fulfill a need of experiencing something real in the present moment. It also gives an opportunity to instantly see the effect of our work. This offers a huge satisfaction and a sense of accomplishment.

The experience of craftsmanship is not only the process of making a product itself, but also everything, what comes before. That is why we take our guests not only to our studio, but also to
local forests. All basketry materials come from nature. Before they are ready to weave, it is necessary to find the right tree, cut it and prepare. This meeting with nature is an extremely important element of the process, but also an important need of modern man. People 40-50 years old often say: oh, I remember this smell from my childhood, it is like holidays at my grandparents house in the countryside. And these smells, the possibility to touch and experience, all have a soothing effect on our psyche, calms us down.

Craft experience in a basketry means also repetition, calmness, rhythm, a kind of meditation. It is mindfulness and SPA for the brain. Spending the time concentrating on the motions of the hands without the hype that surrounds us every day, this is what we need in these times. For many people it is surprising how efficient and capable they are, how their hands quickly catch the rhythm. Very often they visit us again. We have fewer and fewer large groups, more and more families or friends who want to visit us and spend this time together.

The pleasure of making

In Serfenta, we have to act like psychologists and lead kind of Craft Therapy! We often hear such beliefs from people who attend our workshops: „I have two left hands”, „I don’t have at all any artistic talent”, „I will definitely fail”. We are not serious teachers. Our aim is not to check the perfection or the right sizes. It is about the pleasure of weaving and power of making! We see that it is a big thing – to teach people how it is to have the satisfaction from their own creativity.

It’s ok to make mistakes, ask questions. Be creative or follow the given ideas. The baskets we usually see are made by masters - people who weave all their lifes, while the participants of our workshops very often have the willow rod or cattail blade for the first time in their hands!

Nobody expects amazing results the first time. We encourage to have fun, to feel good! It is great to see how people notice their ability to create. – If you had told me three days ago that I would make such a basket, I would not have believed it! We hear it from time to time.

After the years of work in Serfenta we see how important is crafts in life of the modern man. We still need to be connected with nature, to create, to have the conncection with our roots. We have the solution and we created in Serfenta our own Model of work with crafts to share our ideas as wide as we can.

The traditional basketmaking craft is one of the domains in the UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. It is European heritage and not only – weaving is recognized in every part of the world. The Serfenta Association is based in Cieszyn, south of Poland ngo with the strong international focus. Our town is located exactly on the border with the Czech Republic, that’s why Serfenta’s work is oriented on the cross frontier cooperation.

We have many Partners as we used to share with our knowledge and experience: local and public institutions from the town, region and the whole country and abroad. We’ve already cooperated with the Czech Republic, Germany, Norway, Iceland, Finnland and many more. Actions planned in Serfenta during European Heritage Days will have strong international impact. They will include exchange of ideas, information, goods, services and sharing the resources between involved Partners. Our craft experience is based on the idea of active participation and engagement rather than a place or object oriented activities. We are inviting all groups of people in all ages.

The planned action within EHD will strive to present our view on craftsmanship in a modern way. As young people who run the organization, we know what interest modern people. We are in touch with their needs. We will prepare a proposal based on cooperation through the use of technology to allow access for all – also people with disabilities, seniors, youngsters. We’re planning a set of international interviews with invited guests from different European countries about the crafts and its role in a modern society. They will be prepared in English, publish and spread in the internet, so the impact of the activity will be huge.