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.

It was around the 7th century, that the town of Boleslawiec, Poland began making the high quality pottery that has come to define it. In the 17th century, a large deposit of vitrified clay was discovered in the basins of the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers. This caused a build up in production that brought the manufacturers in Boleslawiec to rival some of the biggest pottery producers in Europe. Many of the techniques used to make this beautiful pottery, have been passed down through generations to the Artisans of today.

One of the things that makes Boleslawiec stoneware stand out is the special clay from which it is made. Kaolin is a fine-grain white clay that is almost exclusively found in the Boleslawiec region. In a long, and painstaking process, the clay is collected, air dried, and then thoroughly checked for flaws. It is then pre-burned in an oven to create the clean white bisque on which the intricate patterns will be applied by hand. The bisque often acts as a background color and is used creatively as both negative and positive space in many different patterns.

Hand cut sponge stamps in various shapes and sizes, and paint brushes, are used to decorate the pottery. Artists layer thousands of stamps and paint marks by hand on any given piece. The patience, and consistency involved in the application of these intricate patterns is awe inspiring. Individual painters often sign the bottoms of pieces in the more artistic patterns. Polish Pottery is generally known, and instantly recognizable, for the use of traditional dark blue patterns on the white bisque, but today a wide variety of vibrantly colored patterns are available.

After the paint has dried, a special glaze is applied, and large pallets full of pottery are placed into giant ovens, and baked at 1,230 degrees Celsius (2,246 degrees Fahrenheit). When the product has cooled, it is ready for use.