Paper short abstract:

The paper will present the experience of collaborative work between an anthropologist and a pottery designer working with design students and village potters of two generations in an old pottery centre in Poland. It will discuss the methods of work and the knowledge acquired during the workshop.

Paper long abstract:

Medynia Głogowska is a village in south-east Poland, with a long pottery tradition. Before WWII the local potters worked for local markets, providing basic kitchenware for villages and towns of the region. After WWII, with the political stress on folklorized folk art and craft, and its production within the framework of centralized communist economy, the production of the centre rocketed in numbers but plunged down in quality, especially as it was not meant for use in the kitchen anymore, but mostly for decoration. After the political and economic transformation the potters ceased to produce any ware, as the state organized distribution system collapsed. In the early 2000s a cultural officer of local administration started reviving the pottery tradition in order to create a tourist attraction in the region. In early 2013 she contacted a design academia in Poznan asking for co-operation in developing a local pottery product. The paper will present the experience of collaborative work by an anthropologist (with teaching experience in design) and a pottery designer, working with design students and local potters of two generations. It will present the methods used in work, as well as will discuss the relationship between the knowledge acquired during the workshop by different parties and different interests of participants of the knowledge exchange.