Heritage, market, joy!
Heritage, market, joy – these were our guiding words in 2025! What a year it was! Very intense, but also things happened and we’re not complaining — we are doing as much as we can with all the energy in our team. Thank you for being with us and for all the collaborations and relationships that took place!
Take a look at our summary… umm, we really tried to make it short and believe us, this is just the summary of news for the New Year!
49 Days – A Year of Workshops for Groups and Individuals
This was definitely a year full of craft workshops – when we counted the workshop days, it turned out to be 49 days of workshops! That’s more than 4 days of workshops every month! A fantastic number, and… oh, we even forgot 2 more days… so it was actually 51!
Of course, the workshop days were different — sometimes a full day here with us in Cieszyn, and sometimes 3-hour sessions for kids — in Hażlach, Dębowiec, the Nędza Commune, in Strumień… or summer day camps for the Historic Ignacy Mine!
And of course — in the New Year you can still order such workshops! Willow, straw, cattail… it’s going to be great! Write to us at biuro@serfenta.pl
We led simple and short workshops as well as advanced training — like 3 days with Polish materials and techniques in Drei Eichen (Buckow, Germany) or workshops with master Carlos Fontales from Spain, in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts. There were also special cattail trainings for designers and individual multi-day sessions.
Business Model and Inspirational Session, heritage, market
This year we prepared a special module: an inspirational session — a collaboration between Paulina Adamska and Łucja Cieślar with Urszula Szwed. Heritage – craft – market sessions were presented in Gdańsk, Kraków, and Poznań. We also talked about our work at a conference for UrbanLABs in Kraków.
You can order this module for your institution! Let us know if you need results that broaden horizons!
We taught in Poznań how to prepare good craft activities accessible to everyone (this training can also still be ordered).
We conducted mentoring for individuals as part of the European Craft Alliance programme and appeared in the report “Mapping of the Central and Eastern European Non-Governmental Heritage Sector.” We were ambassadors for the JIAPICH award!
We collaborated with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the National Heritage Institute.
We Represent Polish Cultural Heritage in the World
We had the great honour of representing Polish cultural heritage and craft in Japan at an economic conference in Osaka, accompanying EXPO 2025. Thanks to the Marshal’s Office of the Silesian Voivodeship for choosing us for this opportunity!
Paulina’s voice reached as far as the US West Coast — we were invited by Sylwia Bakery to the podcast “Zig-Zag, a basketry culture podcast!”
International Collaborations
This year we were visited by guests from Iceland, Spain, Hawaii and Guam <3 as well as partners from the GPS project — Germany, Poland, Slovakia.
We always strive to present Polish cultural heritage in forms that combine fun, joy, learning skills, and sharing knowledge. But we believe that where there is joy, there is heart — and that’s how we promote and share with others!
Heritage, market, joy — these were our guiding words in 2025!
Polish Basketry Has Been Inscribed on UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List ❤
Ale jedną z głównych wiadomości – MOŻNA SIĘ CIESZYĆ – była ta:
One of the main bits of news — we can celebrate! It means that many people worked on this for years — some their whole lives, others in recent years — to keep this craft alive and also to work on the nomination for UNESCO listing.
The work on the application was led by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage, in which we also had the pleasure of participating.
We congratulate everyone who cares for basketry in various ways, who passes it on or makes this knowledge and skill live! Because that’s what this UNESCO list is about — it’s not a list of dying professions.
Thank you for being with us these 17+ years and together bringing this craft to life — revitalisation exactly as in our Business Model ❤
Keep calm and balance in a Small Team
In a small team, running a niche organisation is not easy. This year surprised us many times. But we tried to sell our services and products, fulfil our mission and — in all that — not lose our minds, to enjoy coffee with friends from around the world, care for our health and rest. All of that matters!
Paulina Adamska, Łucja Cieślar —and the whole Serfenta team ❤
Also Urszula Szwed, metioned in these wrap 🙂
hasztag#serfentahasztag#heritagehasztag#polishbasketryhasztag#intangibleculturalheritage
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