For almost 70 years, Szpitalna Street was the site of a one-man Specialist Fountain Pen Repair Shop. Unfortunately, the business closed over a year ago, and only a handful of similarly niche workshops remain in Kraków.
For almost 70 years, Szpitalna Street was the site of a one-man Specialist Fountain Pen Repair Shop. Unfortunately, the business closed over a year ago, and only a handful of similarly niche workshops remain in Kraków.
The Umbrella Workshop is located at 4 Smolki Street, and has been run by Krystyna Wójcik for the last 27 years. Once upon a time, there were 12 such shops in Kraków: business was plentiful, since umbrellas were expected to last many years. Occasionally, the workshops received models with decades under their canopies! It was said that the best umbrellas were made in Germany, closely followed by those purchased in hard-currency shops. Today, in an era of cheap imports from China, the demand for such services is disappearing.
For the last 38 years, Mr and Mrs Figa have been running a furriers’ business Bafi at 18 Kazimierza Wielkiego Street. They sell new furs, alter those found at the back of customers’ wardrobes, and make leather bags. According to the owners, the market for furs and leather goods has changed dramatically, fuelled by increasing use of artificial materials, rightly or wrongly perceived as being more environmentally-friendly.
Maria Sell’s Artistic Millinery Workshop was founded soon after the end of the First World War. It’s been located at 21 Św. Marka Street for many years. Some of the shop’s clients have included poet Wisława Szymborska and actress Anna Polony. Today, most of us can’t imagine putting on a hat for a quick trip to the local shops, even though this used to be the norm. Hats also used to mark their wearers’ social status. But the times have changed, and today, aside from a shrinking group of regular clients, it’s rare that a someone turns up in search for a stylish accessory for a wedding or another special event. Very occasionally, a customer arrives in search of a universal hat to match both her smart coat and a puffer jacket.
Mr and Mrs Szewczyk have been running a mangle at 3 Michałowskiego Street since the 1980s. Today, most young people think of mangles as places where people once gathered to gossip, even though they’ve been in wide use until very recently: hotels, restaurants and ordinary people brought in freshly washed bedding, table cloths and curtains to be pressed. The high temperature and pressure gave fabric a smoothness that couldn’t be achieved at home. Although mangles aren’t all that rare, they are becoming increasingly less popular – hotels tend to have their own laundries, restaurants frequently use disposable tablecloths and napkins, and modern fabrics can be easily tackled with an ordinary iron.
Many of these small workshops cannot survive, either because of low demand for their services or because people aren’t interested in learning the trade. And yet we love hearing of these unusual, fascinating places – they seem to exude a magical aura. So perhaps it’s worth popping in from time to time – while we still can – to buy a hat, or mend and old umbrella? Or maybe pull out those linen table cloths from the bottom drawer to give them a new lease of life?
Gosha Kusper – one of Poland’s first personal shoppers, image coach, stylist. Working in style and image allows her to get close to human nature.
Wyspiański’s Wawel
A large, anniversary and multidimensional temporary exhibition at the Wawel Royal CAstle is dedicated to the Wawel motif in the work of Stanisław Wyspiański. A hundred and twenty years...