Bloggery Street

In the olden days in Poland a tradition was established in Boleslawiec in making pottery.  At first they made practical items.  Eventually these artisans started to paint and decorate them.  Today we not only have a few hundered pottery designers in Boleslawiec Poland, but we also have different styles of designs. 

You may have heard of the UNIKAT style.  What does this mean?  Is it made by someone by the last name Unikat?  Does UNIKAT mean something?  And in fact it does.  The translation from Polish to English for the word UNIKAT is UNIQUE.  So you may come to the conclusion that since it’s a unique pattern, you’re the only one who has one.  Think again.

UNIKAT started because there were a few designers in Poland who made very unique pieces.  They needed a lot of work, a lot of hours, a lot of imagination and skill.  The factories saw a demand for these unique designs.  So the most skilled artists in the factories would work only on UNIKAT designs.  What sets them apart a little further is that the artists started to feel like artists, not just employees.  They began signing their name on the bottom of the pottery pieces to show the end user they are holding a piece of art, not just a piece of pottery. 

The factories had a lot of success offering UNIKAT items.  They selected their best UNIKAT designs and made them permanent designs offered to customers.  Now the UNIKAT name is synonymous with a Polish Pottery Art Piece.  The amount of work that is put into those designs is far more than traditional designs.  And on top of the extra labor needed, the factories realized that an artist’s pay should be more than a standard painter.  So that might explain why the UNIKAT pieces are priced so differently than the normal patterns.  Work, labor, and skilled artists all add to production costs.

Zaklady Ceramiczne, Boleslawiec’s largest pottery producer, has made many UNIKAT designs over the years.  On the bottom of each piece is the company stamp.  These art pieces have the word “UNIKAT” on the bottom as well.  This helps users identify the pattern.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 29th, 2009 at 4:03 pm and is filed under Patterns and Decorations. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.