The girls from Serfenta weave the world

Get to know us better! Three women, Paulina, Krężi and Łucja – we meet every morning at the office, two steps from the border bridge and the Cieszyn Castle and we work for basketry craft. We are different, but we have a lot in common – the goal, involvement and friendship. Cieszyn, where our basketry center of the universe is located, is a small town – according to the Trend Book 2019, the provinces are a huge advantage! This is what the exhibition “Małe, ale Cieszyn!” [Small but Cieszyn] recently told about us – on the exhibition the Cieszyn Castle presented our activities in town. It was designed by Dinksy and you can see it at Łódź Design Festival 2019.

Paulina lives in Cieszyn by choice. She says about herself and Serfenta: “I think that Serfenta feels well, where it is. It would be another institution if we operated in a larger city. This place of work is very personal, behind it there are real people who have decided to live in Cieszyn, nowhere else. The three of us we are here every day, we create our own work and we have an influence on what, when and how it happens, with whom and where we will meet, where we will go. And the fact that Serfenta is a combination of interests, knowledge and skills, is for me, by far, the best professional solution.” We call her “our source” – because she is always the soul of the company and weaves basketry contacts all over the world. She was the one who weaved in Japan last year – and of course she did it with all her heart and enthusiasm! Paulina would lead professional workshops anywhere, she is a mistress in our team, she could weave everything and of everything. Recently – we will give it away – she’s made a basket for beer at home. Life by the Czech border has its needs!

Krężi is our oasis of peace and a girl who will reliably carry out any task she gets her hands on. It could be looking after a group of Japanese women in a small Polish village (what a clash of cultures!), or going to the other end of the world to teach her passion – a spiral-loop technique of straw weaving, or arranging an exhibition at design fairs in Warsaw – you can always count on her professionalism. “I just feel well where I live. I also feel well thanks to the fact that this is the area where I have roots for many generations. Besides, I love our borderland atmosphere, mixing Polish and Czech, and dialect. It is also important for me that this is a small town and despite the ubiquitous, even fashionable rush, it is quite peaceful here,” she says. And in our work this rush and haste can be felt – however, Krężi knows how to relax by weaving, or practicing yoga, or dancing tango with passion.

Łucja is from Cieszyn, but Cieszyn is a town that once repels her and once attracts. “I’m from here and I feel at home here. For me, a huge plus is greenery, the proximity of mountains and nature – this allows me to “ventilate my head” and rest. In other cities it would not be possible to go into the mountains after work, in the middle of the week, for example to the Javorovy peak.” She likes to run workshops, she has the heart to work with the basketry masters. She is the one who usually communicates with you in social media of Serfenta – on Facebook and Instagram. Recently, you could also see her in a new version – the TV star, where in the programme “Question for Breakfast TVP2” she talked about basketry! During this challenge, a breathing exercise that she knows from traditional singing came in handy. For relaxation, she recommends weaving, she spends more and more time weaving straw or working with cattail (bulrush)

You’ve missed it? Well, then you can see it here (part 1) and here (part 2). .

Of course, besides the three of us, Serfenta is created by a lot of other people – masters and mistresses, designers, volunteers, instructors – but we will tell you about them next time. We also have great friends and advisers – like Ula, Martyna, Rafał, Marzena, Karolina and Grzegorz – thank you for supporting us, dream team! Thank you that together with us you give life to basketry and Serfenta!