Introducing the Krakow Collection

October 20, 2014

To walk the streets of Krakow is to understand the meaning of revival.

Once a thriving medieval market town, Krakow was razed to the ground by invading Tatars before it was quickly rebuilt to its cultural heyday, becoming a cradle for Renaissance art and literature.

Today, antique merchants and highland farmers make their way to the Old Jewish Quarter of Kazimeriez to sell their wares at the bustling markets that fill the once empty squares. On the other side of the Vistula, the city’s artists gather in coffee shops on streets that were once places of such dark brutality. Once a Nazi-created Jewish ghetto, the neighborhood of Podgorze has become a mecca for artists keen to live their history while they reach out eagerly for the future. Painting over the drab greyness that signifies the city’s recent Communist past, their color-filled street murals depict everything from calls for social justice to celebrations of pop culture.

Launching today, Project Bly’s Krakow Collection features some of the country’s finest crafts and uncovered treasures: from the Boleslawiec hand-painted ceramics to a rare Polish kilim rug, the surreal design of the Polish film posters and a contemporary art scarf, the collection takes us on a tour of the city’s history.

Krakow-native, Jakub Silwa, photographed the city’s streets and people for Project Bly and the Krakow Collection was styled and photographed by Rod Hipskind and Kelly Ishikawa.