Categories: Local Craftsmanship

Brezovica

Folk craft is an integral part of the culture and life of the traditional Kosovan society.
On one hand, folk crafts are associated with the economy and development of natural resources, and on the other – it is a part of the spiritual culture of people, because they reflect the creativity and knowledge of people.
Craft, that is, small-scale production by hand, served to meet personal household needs, at order or for selling.
The geographical location of Brezovica, its natural resources contributed to the development of a large number of crafts.

Weaving was an important craft of every family in Brezovica– people produced  linen, towels, shawls, covers for benches, paths and carpets. The main materials for weaving included flax, hemp and wool. Kosovan weavers worked on machines of two types: vertical and horizontal. Products were decorated with geometrized ornaments: transverse bands, diamonds, stars, rosettes, stylized images of flowers and birds.

Embroidery has always been the most common form of women's manual craft.
Women embroidered in each village, in monasteries, nobility and merchant communities.
Embroidery as an amulet decorated primarily women's and men's shirts, as well as covers for beds, abrasions, pillow cases and towels.
In Kosovo*, there were about 100 types and techniques of embroidery: smooth surface, cross, nyz, drawn-thread work, traveler and weaving. The most common are geometric and floral ornaments with local differences.

Kosovan were famous for art wood carving since the XVIII century. 
The art wood carving gained the highest level in Kosovo* in the XIX-XX centuries. It was used for the decoration of the parts of buildings: doorways, beams, architraves and shutters. Special attention was paid to the carving of a ceiling beam. They also decorated items and household goods: chests, tables, beds, shelves, places for bowls; roadside crosses and sledges.

Blacksmith craft has always been a prestigious occupation, and blacksmiths were always treated as valuable masters, which is confirmed by folk proverbs and sayings.
Blacksmith is a metal processing by means of hot forging.
On the territory of Kosovo* in the XIX-XX century on the outskirts of almost every village smitheries were located.
Blacksmiths have long made weapons and various household items (axes, knives, hammers, shovels, choppers, ploughshares, nails, locks, latches, iron gates and fences, stirrups, etc.), as well as they shod horses and fettered carts.

After the Kosovo* War it was common to produce jewelry and other small household items from non-ferrous metals. In cities there were craftsmen making needles, watches and jewelers (goldsmiths).