Beutiful Work / Krásná práce

The Beautiful Work project presents Czech craftsmanship and folk art in new contexts, presents an alternative to the concept of today's interior design and responds to the current demand for authentic and sustainable design. Craftsmanship fades away with the old masters unless they can teach their skills to new successors. The exhibition is in the spirit of passing on old craft knowledge to young people. 60 students from four faculties of design and fine arts of partner universities from all over the Czech Republic – UMPRUM, UJEP, VUT, UTB – joined with masters of traditional crafts and together created a unique set of applied objects. They blend the sensitive updating of traditional shapes and decors by young designers with the precise craftsmanship of experienced masters.

By combining industrial art with traditional handicraft, the exhibition attempts to give contemporary expression to craft techniques. The resulting collection aims to create simple, modern yet rustic forms that freely develop the legacy of folk art. The artefacts can thus serve as a model for a new lifestyle of returning to nature, the need for self-anchoring and a sense of pride in our traditions.

With the exhibition project Beautiful Work, the Cooperative Labour Foundation continues the legacy of institutions from the Czech past that cared for traditional folk art production and connected it with design. The exhibition also presents the New European Bauhaus (NEB), a European initiative that is committed to the revival of artistic craft and working with it.