Heritage
Double-warp Weave Bag from Podlasie
Introducing our latest product in the Chylak Heritage line – a double-warp weave bag crafted by Lucyna Kędzierska, using a distinctive local technique passed down in Poland’s Podlasie region for generations. Lucyna learned her craft from her mother and grandmother. Today only a handful of weavers in Janów remain, cultivating the ancient tradition. The handweaved fabrics usually feature geometric patterns, plant motifs, human and animal figures, and themes related to major events and symbols of communal life, such as weddings, villages, and the tree of life.
Our story features people holding hands, one of my beloved motifs, in itself a celebration of community.The figures are portrayed in front of their little houses. Across from them are folk musicians playing the violin, the basolia, and the accordion, alongside a mother and daughter dancing together to the tune. Designing this illustration, I kept thinking about my daughter. It’s my own private little story captured in this Podlasie-style image. - Zofia Chylak
Amber Collection
Stanisława Konopka
Making of Amber Jewelry
Stanisława and Tadeusz Konopka
Collection
Shawl with Wilanów-style Embroidery
In collaboration with embroiderer Marianna Król we created a shawl that reinterprets traditional scarves worn locally. It is adorned with Wilanów-style embroidery, which only uses black or brown thread. The embroidery is always based on floral motifs, which often join to form a tree of life, a symbol of the cyclical rebirth in nature. In 2020 Wilanów-style embroidery was included in Poland’s national list of intangible cultural heritage.
Bobowa Lace Collection
I’ve always been enamored with bobbin lace as a form, but I’m just as awed by the beautiful and incredibly time-consuming process of making it.
Łemko Collection
Today, what interests me most in my work is combining the old and the new. I try to translate these often forgotten customs into contemporary language.
Żywiec Collection
To mark the 10th anniversary of the brand we’re excited to present our new project: Chylak Heritage, a line of unique, handmade, and traditionally-inspired accessories.
By working with artisans and museums, our hope is to showcase historical customs and local culture. We launched the project with a mini collection of accessories inspired by the traditional outfits of the city of Żywiec in Southern Poland, which enchanted us with their exquisite tulle embroidery, and which also served as the setting for our spring campaign. As part of our work in Żywiec, local artisan Małgorzata Ostrowska created for us hand-sewn and embroidered ruffs and collars. Work on one collar takes as long as two weeks, making them one-of-a-kind and their run limited.
The second line of accessories in our Heritage collection were inspired by elements of the traditional outfit of the Lemko people, an ethnic minority in southeastern Poland: embroidered scarves, necklaces, decorative shoe clips, and scrunchies. I’m particularly enamored by the way Lemko women arranged multiple layers of cascading strands on their necks and décolletage. Thus the motif for this collection became natural pearls, which we decided to use to adorn our accessories - Zofia Chylak
The third line of accessories was inspired by the rich tradition of bobbin-lacemaking from Bobowa, a small town in southern Poland.
I am very sentimental. I was raised on beautiful family stories, rooting my own identity in my grandmothers’ memories. I am endlessly curious about fashion and its symbolism in times past. Thus the idea for Chylak Heritage was born.