LET'S GO TO: Gdańsk, Poland

Gdańsk by YannPendaries

I'd like to take you to Gdańsk, the city on the Baltic Sea, northern Poland. It's close to the former late medieval and modern bundary between West Slavic and Germanic lands.

Gdańsk by GregsFineArt

The history of Gdańsk is very interesting and full of unexpected twists. It was ruled by Poland, Germany, at a period of time it was a free city, which belonged to no country. Now, Gdańsk is a part of 3 cities metropoly: Gdańsk, Gdynia, Sopot.

The Tall Ships' Races Market in port (photo by me)

Old City of Gdańsk (photo by me)

Gdańsk was established in IX century, so at the moment it has more than 1000 years! Even the smallest street in the old city can tell us incredibly interesting facts from that millenium. Did you know, that many XX century polish political leaders come from Gdańsk? For egzample, Lech Wałęsa - the Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1983.

Autumn in Gdańsk (photo by me)

If you have plans to visit Gdańsk - let us now :) we'll be glad to give you some tips about best sightseeing, food and other intertainment. But if you stay at home, make sure to visit Etsy shops based in Gdańsk!

DreamsFactory

molMolly

Clayo

TheOnly

tregvart

kapelusznik

See you next time!
Ana - Rosemary

Visiting the Winter Queen

It happened few weeks ago. Everyone went crazy! Children were happy to see it, adults not so happy to struggle with a big amount of it.

IT WAS SNOWING

Do you know, how winter looks like in Poland? Poletsy members shares their photos and impresions about it!

 It's not a snowman, it's Dagmara from DagnyKnit.etsy.com!

Beata's dogs Cosmo and Diana are having fun! 

Beata, what do you like about winter? I love going outside making snowballs and shooting at my friends! I'm sill a kid... well, at least I still think like kids! I love watching putside from the window when the snow is falling, having a reason to light the fireplace and at the same time have some hot chocolate :) I like making snowman! Shhh!... Don't tell anybody I told you that! 

Not everybody here in Poland likes winter. Anna-Koroneczka likes it only when her feets are warm :)

Agnieszka-magnesina: Poland is covered with snow, but I don't mind! 

This photo is available in magnesina's Etsy shop.

Oh, and this funny photo was made by Kinga - dodoo. Did the Winter Queen forget her bra?

Ewa-Wizuarion: I love winter. Everything is so white and clear and magic.

Magic indeed! I hope this snow will last till the end of December. Because we're all dreaming of a white Christmas! 

I browsed POLetsy new items and here what I found - it's snowing here on Etsy too :) 

TheOnly *** JoannasPhotography *** FeltedStories

Have a wonderful winter time!

Rosemary

ifONA's travels

November in Poland is a time, when Autumn ends and Winter comes. Let us take you to a sunny places today - Iwona is a winner of our Summer Postacard contest.

Summer is just a pleasant memories now. Where have you been? Where the winner-photo was taken?

I spent my summer holidays with my family on Kreta (Greece). It is a wonderful island. This photo was taken during our trip around the Island. We lent a car and my husband drove on hairpin bends and we screamed! Sometimes we stopped to make photos. Greece is the best place to make beautiful photos :)

What you like the most about your summer travel? And is there anything you didn't like? 
Hmmm... I think the best thing was that we had a lot of time, we ere together and we could do everything we want :) And I didn't like bad weather!

What was the first thing you did after comming back home?
First thing was: to water my plants and to talk to our cat.

Were you trying to bring home new contacts, bussiness ideas etc.?
No. It was time for resting, relaxing and thinking about... nothing :)

Were anything inspiring in your journey?
I loved bright colours of plants, water, sky, fruits and I'm trying to remember, how they mix and I can ise these color-mix in my colourful scarfs now :)

Any travel plans for this winter?
My dream is spending few days in Paris only with my husband :) It's only a dream... But who knows? 

Follow Iwona's blog for more info about her work and life: ifona.blogspot.com and visit her shop, where you will find funny and colorful bags and scarfs - this Fall's best seller!

'Summer Postcard' contest!

Welcome, POLetsy!

I'm sure all of us had a fantastic Summer! Now, when it's cold and rainy, it's time to show all sunny and cheerful photos :)

Take part in our Summer Postcard contest - winner(s) and their Etsy shops will be featured on POLetsy blog!

JoannasPhotography

Rules are simple:

1. Be a member of POLetsy Team

2. Send via e-mail rosemary[at]rosemary-manufacture.com up to 3 photos made during the summer (May-September).

3. Follow POLetsy blog and vote for your favorite one!

We are waiting for your photos till September 30th. Please contact Rosemary with any questions.

Behind the Scenes with Hypericumfragile

My adventure with the Popular Theatre began in December 2008. I was working as a graphic designer and art teacher before that. Theater was a big challenge for me, but I can see now I learned how to fit in these new responsibilities and now I can't even imagine another place of employment.

There are several laboratories in The Popular Theatre in Warsaw: sewing, joinery, locksmith, hairdresser and artistic. Each of them have their own assignments before new theatrical performance is launched. I work in a artistic studio, it's the most interesting place, I think. We make props, parts of scenography, visual elements (such as so called. horizons - that is a huge background, which hangs on the back of scene or pictures, which actors see through the windows on the scene).

Artistic studio is a place of greatest chaos and disorder. But this chaos is very creative. My studio is divided into two smaller studios: painting and modeling. I work as a modeler, it's a person who designs props, even those most strange, sometimes funny and sometimes just unimaginable. In my short career I did an enormous amount of counterfeit U.S. dollars, the knife, which should drip three drops of blood (the audience couldn't see these drops, but it helped the actor in his role), I made huge sculptures of Indian gods (polystyrene), a shelf of fake books, and much more...

“Loretta” - I produced thousands of dollars

Sometimes my studio works on very mundane tasks. Please guess who painted all the white walls. Me, by my own hands!

Actually, every day I do something different and it's difficult to remember all my designs. Of course, I don't work alone. My master is Mr. Poldek. Mr. Poldek is retired, but he taught me this extraordinary profession. I would like to give a tribute to this great artist and thank him sincerely for everything.

“One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest” – I painted walls in white and produced labels for bottles with medicines for roles of mentally ill people.

"The Sunshine Boys” - Mr. Poldek and me designed this dummy old TV (bottom right)

“Kieszonkowy atlas kobiet” – I painted this dirty wall in the back of scene

My favorite places in the Theatre are costume and prop storage. Imagine, what kind of treasuries are there! I could set up a few vintage shops on Etsy. Unfortunately, I have no photos of my "messy" studio, but I will try to catch up as soon as the renovation of the theater will be over.

Monika

Monika runs two shops on Etsy: hypericumfragile and hypericumhidcote

let's go to Portugal

First it was fado - melancholic city music - and famous fadistas (fado singers) like Amalia Rodrigues. Then came Wim Wenders' Lisbon Story. I just had to go. It was hot, sunny august in Lisbon, Porto, Braga, Guimaresh and many little towns in between. Blue tiles, red soil, white buildings and pink hydrangea. Come with me:)

You can find photos from Portugal here. There are many portugese sellers on Etsy, I want to introduse just few, who make me think about those hot days in Portugal: azulado, riskodesign, saraaires.

Agnieszka

Let's go to Vilnius!

When I was a little girl, I used to travel around the world. My dad was taking me to every place on the Globe I just wanted to. We traveled through Amazon Rainforests with Arkady Fiedler's books, we visited crowded streets of Asian cities with our favorite travel magazine, we dropped by to every European capital on our big wall map. These are the most colorful memories from my childhood.

But he used to say - before setting out everyone needs to see his homeland first. To see this place like a traveler from the faraway country.

Seven years ago, as a young student, I came to Poland. But every Christmas I'm comming back to my hometown, city I was born in and spent **teen years of my (not so) long life. Now I'm just a guest there, I see things I haven't noticed until now.

I would like to invite you to Vilnius, Lithuania.

(source)

Legend says that the Grand Duke of Lithuania, Gediminas, after the succesful hunting in deep Lithuanian forests, settled in near the Valley of Sventaragis for the night. After he fell asleep, he saw a huge iron Wolf standing on the top of the hill and howled like hundreds of wolfs. Next day, Gediminas asked the pagan priest Lizdeika to interpret the meaning of his dream. The priest told him: "The iron Wolf represents a castle and a city you will establish here. This city is going to be the capital of the Lithuanian lands and the glory of Lithuanian deeds shall echo throughout the world".

And that what happened. Centuries were passing by, but city preserved its fantastic atmosphere. This is a place, where you can meet different languages and religions, feel the echo of pagan past and see remains of 5 decades of compulsory communism.

(source)

Last year Vilnius was the European Captital of Culture. Lithuanian art, haute couture fashion and traditional crafts are rated highly around the world.

It's really difficult to tell in few words how amazing the place you love is. So next time, if you let me, I will tell more about my beloved Vilnius :)

If you are interested in original items made by crafters from Vilnius, you MUST see my favorite Etsy shops based in this city! Also, you can use "shop local" Etsy tool to find more sellers, just post "Vilnius".

adatine

onstail

Elze

Rosemary

photos: from my flickr photostream, unless noted otherwise.

Journey to Poznań

In dreams always my family home appears – in the town where I was born and grew up.

Perhaps it shows that I don’t see Poznań as completely “my” place yet. My kids were born here, here I graduated and worked and just here I’m taking my first steps in crafting.

Larger cities have their own energy, frequently stimulate big human [rat] races, but also induce to be creative in your own way. They favor as well as encourage brave people.

I enjoy being a tourist in my city: finding new nooks, looking above the sight line of a typical passer-by, taming favorite places, creating the history. I like flash mobs – anonymity in a seemingly organized mob. I see my membership in the local community as a privilege, but also as an occasion to express myself. Poznań makes it possible. In a shopping center I’m more often an observer than a customer; in zoo I’m strolling instead of rushing the kids through the zoo in an obligatory annual visit for peace’ sake; in cafes I sit down with a book or a piece of paper; even children’s playground is a space full of inspiration – to draw a pig on the sand is enough to engage all little hands in the same.

My places?

Politechnika Poznańska – most of all fondness and memories

SPOT – a mosaic-place – creative, inspiring point

ZOO – kind of wild, disordered, easy to hide in; firmly focuses your thoughts around “what should be changed here”, but charms as it is

Stary Rynek – a pavement to break your heels, by-streets, craning to see the goats, chasing pigeons, occasional craft stalls

Śródka and OstrówTumski – a bit like a forgotten world

Stary Browar – not boutiques, but architectural details – new ones discovered constantly with delight and surprise, an impressive incubator of creative ideas

Polanka – our first months together [it’s already been 9 years], with a barking dog awakening us from a near-by garden on lazy Sunday morning; we managed to come back here after 6 years.

It is and it will be my city. I'm taking it in here and now. Will you?

Karolina

let's go to Łowicz - land of cut-outs

traditional cutting tool, picture by akubica

I want to invite you to visit a very special place. It's here, where polish cut-outs were born and refined to an art. Łowickie wycinanki, as we call it, are very colorful and detailed, they are made of multiple layers of color paper. The most popular patterns are flowers and birds, especially roosters. But you can as well find cut-out scenes of everyday life. There is also a tradition in Łowicz of decorating building's walls with colorful floral paintings.

There are still a lot of people (mainly wemen), who make cut-outs. You can meet them at the local handmade shows, watch them work, buy some cut-outs. You can also check their works in the web. And there are many young artists, who are inspired by cut-outs, some of them are active on Etsy too.

So, come with me to Łowicz:)

house painted with flowers, picture by akubica

colorful house, picture by akubica

windows with flowers, picture by akubica

Wanda Brzozowska making cot-outs, picture by akubica

Maria Brzozowska-Kosińska making cot-outs, picture by akubica

gallery of polish cot-outs, picture by www.polishfolkart.com

Polish folk art - easter - decoupage lanyard, picture by joannajewellery

Polish wycinanki bird cards, picture by Pressbound

Polish rooster felt brooch, picture by bialakura

Want more? Polish pavillon on expo 2010 is a big cut-out. You can try to make a copy of it yourself: just print pdf take scissors and try!

Agnieszka