Horezu ceramics are unique traditional handmade pottery.
A typical type of Romanian pottery, Horezu ceramics are made by hand around the town of Horezu in northern Oltenia (Vâlcea County), close to the famous Horezu Monastery, reflecting the derivation of knowledge and skills over many generations.
This town is famous for the creativity of its people and the craftsmanship that goes into its pottery. They are known for creating and presenting many beautiful pieces at annual fairs. A small town in Romania, Horezu carries the legacy of its ancestors into the present day.
Horezu Ceramic refers to a type of art that produces hand-made and hand-painted traditional Romanian pottery, which is one of the most representative arts associated with Romanian folklore.
Crafted in Vâlcea County, Romania, they are the products of generations of knowledge and craftsmanship. Male and female artisans usually divide the fabrication processes. Men are responsible for selecting and extracting the earth, which is then washed, cut, watered, kneaded, trampled, and mixed. From this earth body, the potters of Horezu produce red pottery.
Each object is then shaped using a specialized finger technique that requires concentration, strength, and agility. Using specific techniques and tools, these women decorate the ceramics using traditional motifs.
The women are the only ones in each village that follow this pattern. Their skill in combining decoration and color is what makes these ceramics unique. The colors are vivid shades of dark brown, red, green, blue, and the ‘Horezu ivory’.
The ceramics are decorated in a unique style that features many different elements, such as stars, snakes, trees, the double helix, the undulating line, circular strings of folk themes, the tree leaf, the sun, and trees.
Among the traditional tools used by the Horezu potters are a mixer for cleaning the earth, a pottery wheel, a comb, hollowed-out bull's horns, and fine wire-tipped sticks for decoration. A wood-burning stove is used for firing.
The craft is taught in workshops from master to apprentice, and at fairs and exhibitions. The element gives the community a sense of identity, while also serving a social function every day.
Ancient crafts are preserved in the ancestral hearth of Horezu, now called Olari Street, where artisans shape clay into ceramics using the same painstaking process as their ancestors. Currently, this tradition of craftsmanship is still passed on from generation to generation through events such as workshops, exhibitions, and festivals of arts and crafts.
References
(https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/craftsmanship-of-horezu-ceramics-00610) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horezu_ceramics) (https://www.romania-insider.com/unesco-places-romanias-horezu-ceramics-on-the-list-of-intangible-cultural-heritage) (https://www.imperialtransilvania.com/2021/11/18/read-more/argomenti/places-of-interest-1/articolo/horezu-ceramics-the-art-most-representative-of-romanian-tradition.html)