Russia, with its birch bark baskets, nesting dolls, and gilded icons, could seem unique, even strange, to Westerners. Though the Iron Curtain has lengthy since fallen, many American collectors stay unfamiliar with her huge variety of crafts and treasures.
For centuries on end, wood, so ample in this land of dense forests, was commonly fashioned into utilitarian, domestic objects. Every winter, when bitter snows blanketed the fields and winds swept the woodlands, peasants traditionally exchanged their plows and cut-saws for blocks of wood and carving knives at their firesides. For lengthy months, by the dim light of their smoky cabins, they patiently turned out wooden plates, bowls, spoons, and ladles. Those with time and inclination may have painted their handicrafts.
By the mid-seventeenth century, professional craftsmen in Khokhloma (pronounce this by clearing your throat twice, then rhyming with “coma”), a trading publish in the Nizhny Novgorod region, alongside the mighty Volga River, had gained fame for creating a unique, ornamental wooden lacquer ware.
Maybe khokhlomas, as Khokhloma’s creations themselves came to be recognized, had been inspired by Russia’s traditional religious works of art.
Based on some sources, khokhloma’s traditional shade combination, red, black, and gold, once held deep non secular significance. Within the Japanese Orthodox Church, they clarify, vivid shades of red representing beauty, black representing grief that cleanses the soul, and gold representing heavenly light as soon as embellished sacred church vessels and icons. True, only clergy and wealthy the Aristocracy might afford to own such expensive artistic endeavors, which featured gold-haloed saints set towards shimmering gold leaf backgrounds.
However because of their similarity, a woodsman or laborer, eyeing his first red, black, and golden khokhloma buy, will need to have felt as if he owned a bit of heaven. Though he doubtless ate from his plainer items daily, he in all probability used his finest khokhlomas only on special occasions, like christenings, marriages, and non secular holidays—if at all.
Creating khokhloma was, and still is, an intricate, time-consuming craft passed down from generation to generation. First, artisans seasoned blocks of linden, beech, or birch, then both carved them with knives or turned them on lathes to create traditional home items. After drying them in kilns, they primed them with liquid clay to seal their pores. Then they fired their creations again. Next they hand rubbed them several times with raw linseed oil until they turned glossy. Finally, they coated this stuff with special metallic powder, and fired them up but again. When khokhlomas emerged from the kiln, they glistened with golden (or often silver) colour like high-quality metal ware. But khokhlomas don’t comprise a little bit of metal. To additional gild the lily, expert artists then adorned these shiny implements with traditional red and black geometric patterns or highly stylized flowers. Then they finished them with coats of clear lacquer.
By the twentieth century, interest in khokhloma art had waned dramatically. Russia’s 1917 October Revolution, nevertheless, heralded a nationwide revival of the country’s folk arts, together with khokhloma. By means of the 1920s and ’30s, artisans banded collectively into cooperative associations, adopting trendy tools and techniques, like replacing tin with aluminum powder and changing linseed with artificial oil. In the past, khokhlomas had simply cracked, crazed, chipped, or dulled by way of years of use. With right this moment’s innovations, nevertheless, even delicate ones, once deemed suitable only for decoration or festive occasions, are durable sufficient for use year round.
Within the 1960s, the Soviets, to encourage production, based two khokhloma factories, one near Khokhloma village and one other in nearby Semyonov. Between them, 1,000 artisans preserve this craft’s secret strategies and traditions for future generations, producing home items, furnishings, and souvenirs. Even at this time, crafting a khokhloma can take anywhere from two to four months, relying on the intricacy of its design and its size. Since each is hand painted, each is one in all a kind. Because Russians hold master artists in high esteem, the Soviet Union, in 1979, issued postage stamp honoring khokhloma craftsmen and their art.
Most modern khokhlomas, to increase customer enchantment, feature themes drawn from nature. Luscious-wanting strawberries, red and black currants, cherries, rowanberries, and raspberries, all a-swirl with grapevines are favourite choices. So are khokhlomas rich with gilded green leaves and orange berries, though they break with traditional colors. At the moment, khokhlomas come in a thousand styles and sizes, including egg cups, honey pots, trinket boxes, mugs, goblets, reducing boards, and salt boxes.
As years go by, khokhloma continues to realize in popularity. Few tourists depart Russia with out tucking a khokhloma souvenir or two in their suitcases. Khokhloma designs adorn t-shirts, decorate world class racecars, and even grace the tails of a number of British Airways Boeing 757s. Sets of standard khokhloma spoons, cheap and broadly available even in the U.S., make unusual items or hanging decorative accents for eating areas or kitchens. So do khokhloma trays, tea units, spice units, serving dishes, and candle holders. Delicate keepsake boxes or fetching brooches make high-quality, comparatively low price personal gifts. All-inclusive dining sets, which embrace serving bowls and platters in various sizes, could, however, command hundreds of dollars. Bigger, more intricate items, like khokhloma swan-bowls, chairs, beds, benches, and children’s table and stool sets, naturally are even more costly.
Russians, true romanticists at heart, embrace khokhloma’s magnificence and history as one. Nearly each household in Russian boasts glassed cabinets full of khokhloma tea cups, saucers, and serving dishes. Lots of their treasures, like brightly lacquered borsch ladles, vodka shot glasses, bread basins, diminutive bowls and spoons for enjoying jam, and caviar sets, replicate typical Russian culture. There are even khokhloma toy balalaikas, beloved folk stringed devices, available on the market.