20. April 2024
Štrigova Cultural Center
Why the Ceramics Festival in Štrigova?
Pottery – baked clay, is one of the oldest achievements of human civilization and the simplest form of ceramics, which is made on all the meridians of our planet. In the past, pottery was linked to the sites, and sometimes whole villages, all the families in them, were engaged in this handicraft. The tradition of some old pottery centers is still being continued today by certain pottery families. Compared to the period between the two wars, their number has decreased drastically, but they have preserved locally specific and significant products marked by specific ornamentation, colors or almost figural solutions. In Croatia, pottery was represented from historical days until about fifty years ago, when all pottery products were replaced by metal dishes. This destroyed a thousand-year-old craft, which today is known only to a few people who deal with this traditional design. Most of these crafts are still present in the northwestern part of Croatia, where the soil is loamy with a lot of clay. The north-western part of Croatia is rich in deposits of high-quality clay, so many families were involved in pottery, generationally – hereditary.
Today in Štrigova, ceramic crafts, pottery and ceramic design are practiced by: Keramos Valkaj in Železna gora, Osojnički studio in the “Open Gallery” in Grabrovnik and Asterart in Štrigova.
Through high school education, young people learn the skills of making items on the potter’s wheel among other things at the Ceramic Design department at the Čakovec School of Architecture.
The Štrigova ceramics festival is the result of the “ADRIONET” project, the main goal of which was to establish the ADRION Transnational Network of “authentic villages” based on social, ecological and economic sustainability, with an emphasis on raising awareness of the preservation of natural and cultural assets.
Štrigova presents itself with the Ceramics Festival, as a strong point of the new content for the development of cultural tourism, because the activity of ceramic activities has increased in its area, making Štrigova unique in Međimurje.
