Karolina Merska: Keeping Beauty Alive

WILLIAM WANKER: Hello everybody, I'm Pamela Kelly and this is Dignify Audio. In part one of my conversation with artist and author Karolina Merska, we explored her discovery of Polish folk art traditions and the nearly forgotten art of making pijank, chandeliers traditionally fashioned from rye straw, paper and materials gathered close to home. We also spoke about the older practitioners who became her teachers and her friends. And that knowledge can disappear when craft is no longer passed from one generation to the next. Today in our conversation, we turn from discovery to renewal. How an artist like Carolina can honor a tradition while creating something distinctly contemporary. And how making, teaching, commerce and travel can reconnect people with culture and with one another. Carolina, welcome back. Hello, Pamela. So we're going to talk about... Thank you for a lovely introduction. You're welcome. It's meant from the heart and based on friendship. ⁓ So your work really, it does not simply reproduce historic paillanc. You have expanded their scale. and you've introduced unexpected colors and materials and really developed a visual language, recognizably your own, like a true artist. How did learning from the traditional makers give you the confidence to innovate? So I am very inspired by traditional pionki, but I don't want to only copy them. So since I started making pionki, I've been always trying to add something from myself. So I've been experimenting with size, with colors, and with different patterns, and to make different designs. And it was great to get the knowledge from the artists, because then I felt I could put my own sign. For example, the pionk, I really like the most challenging one, actually. It's the one I made from metal. So the idea was to recreate a small geometric pionk, but then I made it in a very large scale. And instead of straw pieces, I used metal pieces. So I cut metal pieces myself, I polished them, and then I thread them into a shape the same way you make traditional straw one. But because of the size, also because of new materials, I had to use wire. So for me it was challenging because it was also like engineering work, how to make it safe and how to make it also spin around, you know, being so heavy. So my idea was to still bring attention into Polish art, but also show people that folk art, it's so interesting because you can actually turn it into something more modern depending how you approach it. So this metal sculpture I made, I didn't decorate it with paper flowers. I left it very bare and minimum and it looks like very new contemporary installation. Well, I think that's something interesting and important about folk art. It is meant to be interpreted and moved forward and made personal because it's about a tradition that we intake as human beings and it's important to us and it's human nature to want to put your own touch on it. You as an artist really moved it way, way forward. But I think that's an important point to make about how folk art is meant to be loved and interpreted. respected for the basic principles of it that make it unique to a region, but then that may be one way in which you as artists and we as consumers and individuals can honor it and move it forward. And speaking of that, you you now as an artist who came to this tradition, learned it thoroughly, you have also made larger installations, including a remarkable project in India that again grew out of the Polish tradition while incorporating local flowers and materials. But what did that experience and so many of your experiments teach you about really how different cultures can speak to one another through craft? Yes, this piong you mentioned, it was really incredible. I went to Bangalore in India to join a design festival and I wanted to create something inspired by local culture. So I was amazed by their floral garlands because each day they take fresh flowers to decorate their temples. So this is also very similar to, for example, my Polish culture and to other culture, how people decorate and also how people pray and how people build very similar places. I visited myself a floral market in the middle of the night and I was amazed that actually could buy flowers per meter already thread. So my my pionk was was gigantic, was three meters by two meters by five meters, was was huge. And I used a piece because the design was inspired by Kurpie region, which is very important, important, important for its folklore. So I threaded piece and then I brought them with me. And then also, like I added fresh flowers from Bangalore. And then we hang it as a very big installation. And again, it was my own dialogue with my Polish heritage, also with Indian culture. The colors also were important. I used marigolds, very important for Indian culture. So it was very inspiring project. So where was it hung and how did you introduce the concept there and what was kind of the reaction? So people who really loved it, it's very interesting because they have similar hanging decorations, not exactly as pioche but similar. But because of the scale, they kind of draw their attention so that I could talk about the Polish culture and also my inspirations behind. Then I also had workshops with local schools. So I learned from them as well. And also I taught them how to make them traditionally in a smaller scale and with straw and paper. You know, it was really great. And didn't you make one recently also for a festival in Poland? Yes, and also recently I made another large installation, which was also important for me because I feel like through all these years I learned new things and incorporated these meetings with artists and also my experiences into this piece. So I called it Weaves because I feel like the whole structure is woven from different stories and also different artists, know, small parts of from this work. dedicated to two different people I met and I learned thanks to them how to, for example, fold paper into this very intricate like the chain or how to make a floral pom-pom. And also, like because I live in London, so I really like ⁓ tradition of corn dollies. I also started learning how to make them. So also I added fresh straw and also like a woven piece taken from a tradition of corn dolly from England. ⁓ corn dolly. Okay, sorry. I didn't understand. So corn dolly. ⁓ Interesting. ⁓ So yeah, it's for me as also, don't want to also focus on my own heritage because I don't live in Poland at the moment. And I also would like to learn about English culture. We're going to move on a little bit to how you took on an even bigger project. Your commitment to your love of folk art extended beyond your own art craft and you opened a shop called Folk in Stoke Newington. And the point of the shop you created was really to present the work of other Polish artists and crafts people. Why did you open it and what did you hope you might accomplish? I opened Folka because I wanted to share, I think, my love for Polish folk to wider audience. And I wanted to create a place, not only a shop. So my idea was to have different objects through the whole year for people, like Easter palms, know, sculptures, wycinanki, paper cuts, also pionki, many different crafts so people could see them, buy them, and also get inspired. And always when people come, we had long conversations about the artists, about stories behind. and also about our life, you know, because it was something very unique about it, that it became kind of like interesting space, know, inspiring space, almost kind of like a museum, you know, when I was presenting this craft. And my main idea was for the craft not to be forgotten, to survive, and also a great way to support this artist I met, because very often they were forgotten. So they were very happy when I was coming and asking them. if I can make some more for me. So it was great. Well, I remember when William and I first stumbled on the store, it was so magical. You had that huge window on the street and Karolina had built this entire Polish village with a nativity and piont. and floral ⁓ staffs that are used for later in the year. It was like magic. And I remember when we came into the store that growing up in New Mexico and traveling New Mexico, I was so struck by how similar the joy and the feeling of celebration that's so embedded in all these traditions was and is shared. And then you walked into the store and it was just this unbelievable display. And again, organized by sort of tradition and artist. It was amazing and magical and I know it was a lot of very hard work, but I know there were a whole lot of us, including your entire neighborhood in Stoke Newington, a lot of London that really loved it. loved building windows, you know, I felt like being in a theater, being a child, playing with all old wooden animals I have and it was great. Well, you were good at it. Thank you. So not only did Carolina create the store, She then was approached by a publishing house and wrote a book about how to make pionk. She teaches online courses. She leads trips to Poland. All these experiences invite people to get to know and experience traditions in different ways. So what have all these different forms of sharing what your journey and what it's taught you about really how traditions survive and why that's important. For me, it's been an incredible journey. as you mentioned, since I published my book, I'm very happy because my idea was, Pionki was not too forgotten. And now I keep seeing Pionki made in Australia, you know, all around the world. And I'm very happy that people sent over their photographs to me. So it feels, it feels really amazing. Then naturally I started running workshops. in my studio, but also online. And what I like, I like to meet people, you know, when we sit around the table for a whole day in my studio, there's a lot of pionki and all my folk art around. We start making pionki together, but then also like we open up, we talk about life, about plants. We really relax. And I feel always that This is incredible because it kind of, ⁓ I think this is how ladies used to meet, you know, back in Poland in the cottage to make, ⁓ make pionki together. And this is really also important because ⁓ now we are all busy and it's difficult to find time just to sit and make things with your hands. So there's always this time when no one talks and you can only hear the paper, you know. It's really therapeutic as well. And I met very amazing people. I'm still in touch with some of them. So it's really important and it's true. And another thing I did is also I actually took people to Poland to show this folk art in a real village. Again, it's... It's incredible how this path, like, it's growing for me because we meet in Poland, we get into the car together, it's only like seven of us, and then we have this amazing folk adventure, we become like a family. And what is important for me is to take people to the artists I met, because through years I became friends with them, so we sit around the table. They show, they craft, we make crafts with them. And it's very emotional sometimes, you know, because there's many people who, for example, have a Polish heritage, but have never been in Poland. So they come to my trip to discover Polish craft. So even if I don't understand the artists, I think the language, you know, the happiness in their eyes, it really speaks to them. And for me, to see them like being ⁓ inspired ⁓ and also coming back to my trip. would like to mention Helen. You have one woman, excuse me, one woman who's come three times or four? Yes, no, I Helen. Helen. Yes, Helen. I'm very bad, but I lost count. It was more than three times. She came to so many of my trips. She's originally from New Zealand, but I met her here in the UK. She feels like this Polish craft resonates, you know? She feels so inspired. And actually, it's amazing because we chatted. We're still in touch. She's now in New Zealand and she made this incredible goat-like figure which is used for caroling in Poland. She made it because she's a talented artist as well. So she made it in New Zealand, you know, and she's been practicing in her garden. So seeing this, you know, I would never dream about something like this. You know, it's, really incredible and I'm very happy. Well, you succeeded before we move on. Do you have a copy or your book there that you can hold up and show people? So yeah, this is, this is here, my book. So it's called making mobiles. Yes. And then create. beautiful Polish by Yogi from natural materials. people can buy it from you at folka.com buy, they can buy it from me from my website. It's a signed one by me, but also from from different online bookstores as well. And what's what's important, I want to mention that like writing this book, it only was possible because of the artists I met because they taught me they shared their secrets. So I also wrote three stories, you know, about Helena, about Youssef and about Zofia. And because without them, this book has never happened. And how many of them are still alive? They're all alive. ⁓ great. Well, they must be so thrilled. Yeah. ⁓ Okay, so let's move on a little bit. you know, you have observed, as you said, a lot of them come to your workshops. These are young people who have left rural communities and so many of us live in cities. Life is very modern. Everybody exists. Their experiences happen through their phones. So do you think that the revival of craft can help restore something that we as humans are losing? attention to detail, conversation, connection, a sense of belonging. You've kind of touched on that, but I have to believe that you probably have some more things to say about that. Yes, definitely. think that people now are more interested in craft. I could observe it here in England. And like, for example, like local customs processions, you know, and also like, like I mentioned before, corn dollies, they really kind of now becoming more and it's interesting because young people also start learning them because it's, it's interesting. Like for example, Pionki before they, used to be maybe a little bit tacky or cheesy for, for younger generations, you know? And I think maybe now. I think we all need this connection with nature. This kind of place will belong. And I think going back to your roots, I think it's important to find your community because also folk art and forgotten customs, it's all about community and about conversations. So I could see it's happening in Poland as well, that people are fed up. So very often also they They move out to the countryside. And I think they are after the slower pace of life and discovering crafts and also supporting artists, which is great, I think. Well, sometimes we don't know what our roots are, but we're attracted to making and we find our identity by making. Yes, yes. So as a follow up on that. Do you think that traditions survive because people remember them or because someone loves them enough to keep making them? And is preservation by itself enough or must these living traditions be allowed to change to really remain meaningful and relevant? It's a very, it's a very interesting question because of course, yes, memory is very important because tradition, it's something you pass. through generations, so you remember it, but you need to practice it, you know, so it's still alive and it's still growing. So I actually like when things are not only preserved, but also like when you add, because we all change with times, you know, and I think it's good to have something new, know, something also maybe refreshing added to this tradition. to make it more special, but it's important to continue this. Definitely, you know, I am very happy seeing that so many forgotten traditions are now back to life. Well, and it's sort of the artist's soul to want to move something forward or change it or put your own personal touch on it. And I think that in and of itself may be really what keeps something alive. The seed of the joy is embedded in the actual tradition and the challenge and the way it remains is you as an individual, whether you're artist or not, add your spin on it because that's about human dignity and personal expression. know, and also, No, ahead. I feel like folk, especially like a folk art or folk customs where they were depend, like they were kind of made by by local communities. So I think I like to sit like alive and also influenced by new times and the new, you know, like changes. Well, I can think of a million things, but we'll stay on topic here. You know, we've known each other for quite a long time. We've profiled you in the magazine and I think you understand what William and I are trying to do, you know, at Human Dignity Projects. We're exploring now, as we grow this venture that we created, the idea of a new Renaissance. And not one built on technology alone, but on culture, on craftsmanship, on beauty and respectful change and human dignity. So I'm curious, when you hear that phrase, a new Renaissance, what does it really mean to you and what role do you think artists play? and makers can play in bringing this about? ⁓ So Renaissance definitely, it's like rebirth. ⁓ Rebirth? Rebirth. rebirth, like a renewal, know, a renewal of something. And I could definitely see this happening in many, many countries. And it's really incredible because many artists now are inspired by ⁓ traditional like straw craft, you know, for example, basketry here in England as well is becoming more popular and people learn how to make baskets and also like paper cuts, you know, I could see so many new modern versions of different crafts. And I think it's really incredible because I think we are all fed up with digital life. And I think going back to our roots and to working with hands, with real materials, because it's kind of like going back to, you know, to this old cottages where people only used materials, like we mentioned before, they could spot around the house. No, they didn't need anything else. They used only like willow, they use pine, they lose the eggs, you know, eggshells, beans, peas. And they make amazing art. So now I think it's incredible that we're going back to the beginning of it. Well, it's interesting. I think a lot of people now want to become makers, but they're shy. Like I'm shy about it because you think everything has to be perfect the minute you try it, which is stupid. I mean, look at how hard it work to learn how to make a paillanc. But the role that folk art plays is I think it's a way in for somebody to begin making something because there it's rooted in a tradition, it's something you can see. And so it's, it's not intimidating. It's an invitation to step into a world to learn how to make. And in the process you learn about a culture and you make friends and there's the community that you create in your, in your workshops. I think it very much is about a new Renaissance and a way for people to step into a deeper exploration about themselves, their creativity, and really how valuable these folk art traditions are and why they have, they really have remained for so long. And why we really need to focus on on bringing attention to them and moving them forward as you have. And that's part of why we have these conversations, why we love talking to you. mean, the whole idea is, you know, keeping traditions alive doesn't mean freezing it in the past. It can mean learning about history and honoring its makers and understanding its deeper purpose. And as we've said, then in one's hands, no matter how skilled they are, really making it their own and bringing it forward. You know, I have so enjoyed our friendship and the journey that we've been on together. And I really would love our visitors to find your work, tell our audience where they find your work, how they find your trips, how they learn about pionk. So if you go to my website, my shop is called Folka. So www.folka.co, only co. You will find my ⁓ folk excursions, which is how I called my trips. You will find also unique pieces I bring from Poland and I also ship them. And also on my personal website Karolina Merska, you also see some other projects I made in the past and also Instagram, you know, as Folka. It's all connected. So if you have any questions after listening to this meeting, you can all message me and... I'm very happy to listen to your comments and reply. Great. Well, thank you, Carolina, for joining us. Everybody here, thank you for listening. Now you know where to find Carolina's work. F-O-L-K-A dot C-O. ⁓ I'm Pamela Kelly. This is Dignify Audio. Conversations about the way culture, creativity, and design can contribute to a more dignified human future. Thank you, Carolina. Come back for more conversations. Bye. Thank you so much, Pamela.