In Koniaków, in the Silesian Beskids, women crochet lace without a template or a drawing – everything is counted from memory, stitch by stitch. The first records of lace bonnets date back to 1883–1884, and the entire art relies on three stitches: chain, half-double crochet, and double crochet. From this came tablecloths for popes, a doily for Queen Elizabeth II in 1962, and an entry on the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2017. It also yielded the most expensive economics lesson Polish craftsmanship has received in the last quarter-century: a doily a woman spends forty hours on can cost two hundred zlotys, while a shawl made of the same lace in a designer boutique can cost nine thousand. This is a story about three stitches, about counting, and about the true cost of an hour of someone else's hands.
I. HEKLA, CORDONEt AND ARITHMETIC
The vocabulary of this craft is borderland, like all of Cieszyn Silesia. "Heklować" means to crochet – from the German häkeln. "Kordonek," meaning thread, comes from the French cordon, string. The tool is called a heknadla or hekiełka: a wooden handle and a metal part, originally made from bicycle spokes. The tip of the hook is called a hoczek – the most important element, as it determines how the thread is picked up. The tools were kept in a kiśnićka, a wooden box, which also held glasses and a rosary. The finished round lace is a "różia," a small one – a "różićka." The women who do this work call themselves "heklowaczki."
The entire piece is based on three stitches: chain, half-double crochet, and double crochet. There is no fourth. In addition, there are finishes – picots and arches – but they do not form the structure, they only close it. Each motif is made separately, and then arranged circularly and joined with a crochet hook from the smallest to the increasingly larger, until the whole is formed. There is no drawing or pattern – there is counting. The Koniaków Lace Center states it plainly: the phenomenon of this lace lies in the fact that there is no template or ready-made pattern according to which the lacemaker could make a doily.
Ethnographer Małgorzata Kiereś put it succinctly: every movement of the crochet hook, the lacemaker counts and must count; there cannot be a single stitch more or less. The instruction for a cloverleaf in dialect sounds like this: "a little chain, then pulling out, not everyone can do it, because it needs to be even, and then 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 and a little clover will come out." This is not intuition. This is a sequence of numbers remembered in the hand – and that is why omitting one stitch does not create a variant of the pattern, but an uneven pattern that cannot be aligned with the neighboring motif.
There is one rule for the raw material: the thinner the thread, the higher the grade. Cordons number 50, 70, 80, 100, and 200 are used – the higher the number, the thinner the thread. The working standard is fifty, but for a bonnet, number 100 or 200 is used. Traditionally white or cream in color, as only such threads were available for sale; black lace appeared sporadically and is much more difficult, because on a black background, one's own mistake is not visible. Threads were imported from Polish, French, Czechoslovak, and Turkish manufacturers.
- Heknadla / hekiełka – crochet hook: wooden handle, metal part originally bent from a bicycle spoke.
- Hoczek – bent tip of the crochet hook; its shape determines whether the thread can be picked up evenly.
- Kiśnićka – wooden box for tools; next to crochet hooks, it also contained glasses and a rosary.
- Kordonek – tightly twisted cotton thread; numbers 50, 70, 80, 100, 200, where a higher number means a thinner thread.
- Różia / różićka – a finished round lace and its smaller version; hence the entire work is sometimes simply called "rózie."
II. THE MARRIED WOMAN'S CAP AND THE AUSTRIAN SCHOOL
The beginning was not a doily, but a cap – a married woman's head covering, consisting of a forehead band, crown, and two cloth ear flaps. The most magnificent was the forehead band: a strip of lace 25–30 centimeters long and eight wide. It was worn on the forehead, under a scarf, and only as much as protruded from the fabric was visible – precisely the part where the most work had been invested. The first records of such laces date back to 1883–1884. This is the boundary from which this tradition is counted: over one hundred and forty years.
Historian Barbara Poloczkowa links the beginnings of the tradition to the introduction of compulsory schooling in Austria in 1869. Girls learned handicrafts, practicing chain stitch, half-double crochet, and double crochet all year, and the most talented were eventually given the finest threads and forehead bands. It is worth seeing what really happened here: imperial bureaucracy introduced compulsory schooling for reasons completely unrelated to the Beskids, and in the Beskid village, this compulsion was transformed into a production system. A year of practice, selection of the best hands, promotion to finer thread. A guild without a guild.
The ground was fertile because Trójwieś – Istebna, Jaworzynka, and Koniaków – consisted of farms on steep slopes where it was impossible to make a living from the land. A woman who could sell a piece of lace brought cash into the house, and cash was scarce in a pastoral village. Learning began around the age of six, at home, under the watchful eyes of mothers and grandmothers. Crocheting was done in the evenings, after farm work, and according to reports from Koniaków – also while grazing cows. The crochet hook was the only tool that could be taken anywhere.
III. ZUZANNA WAŁACH: FROM HEAD TO TABLE
The transition from bonnet to doily is attributed to Zuzanna Wałach, who, while serving at the Habsburg manor near Goleszów, saw doilies and the technique of their making. This is the moment when the whole story shifts: the lace descends from the married woman's head to the tabletop and ceases to be part of clothing, becoming a commodity. Upon her return, Wałach crocheted small doilies from fine thread and took them to Jan Halama's tavern in Wisła Głębcze to sell. A tavern, not a shop – because tourists with money passed through there.
In 1913, she married the mayor of Koniaków, Paweł Golik, who encouraged her to invite neighbors and teach them how to crochet. It is worth pausing here, because this is not an anecdote about a good heart. The mayor understood that one lacemaker was a curiosity, but fifty lacemakers were a branch of the rural economy. The most widespread round shape of the doily – the one that everyone today recognizes as Koniaków lace – is attributed to Maria Kulej, née Rucka. Jadwiga Wałach, Zuzanna Golik, and Maria Legierska are also mentioned in the pantheon of the first masters.
Names repeat themselves for a hundred years not by chance. These are families, not individual artists. Marta Legierska, recipient of the Oskar Kolberg Award in 2017, is the daughter of Jadwiga Legierska, also a Kolberg laureate. Helena Kamieniarz learned from Maria Gwarkowa, and her home later became a family museum. In Koniaków, the skill is inherited along with the house and the name, and the pattern passes from hand to hand without the mediation of paper.
IV. PROCEDURE: FROM THE CENTER OUTWARD
The work does not begin with the doily. It begins with a single kwiotek – that's what a single motif is called here. A kwiotek made with traditional, thin thread takes about forty-five minutes. Only when dozens or hundreds of them are on the table does what a layman considers actual crocheting begin: arranging and crocheting them together. The elements are assembled into raje, which are successive rounds, and between them runs the obróbka – a connecting mesh that keeps everything flat. Płócienka are denser, worked sections, imitating woven fabric; they give the composition weight and contrast to the openwork.
The direction is always the same: from the inside out, from the smallest round to increasingly larger ones. The lacemaker does not have a design of the whole in front of her. She has a memory of numbers and the previous round, to which she must match the next. If there is too little space in the outer rai, it cannot be "widened" – it must be recalculated from scratch. This is where the discipline that all lacemakers talk about comes from: this is not work that can be corrected at the end.
- Step 1 – kwiotki. Each motif is created separately, using three stitches. One kwiotek with thin thread takes about 45 minutes of work.
- Step 2 – arranging. Finished motifs are laid out circularly to see how many will fit into the next round.
- Step 3 – raje. Motifs are crocheted together into rounds, always from the smallest to the increasingly larger.
- Step 4 – obróbka (processing). Between the rounds, a connecting mesh is added to keep the whole flat.
- Step 5 – płócienka (fabric sections) and finishing. Denser parts and a picot edge close the composition; only now is the lace one single piece.
- Step 6 – washing and shaping. The finished lace is washed, then stretched and dried flat so that the rounds lie evenly and the pattern comes to the fore.
Times are unforgiving, and therefore it is worth stating them directly. A small doily takes a few days. A large runner – several tens of hours. A large tablecloth – from several weeks to several months. A doily with sixty-centimeter sides, working four or five hours a day, takes approximately a week and a half, which amounts to about forty hours of work. We will return to this number, because it is the flashpoint in this story.
V. GLOSSARY OF MOTIFS: WHY EVERYTHING GROWS
The names of the patterns in Koniaków are almost entirely floral and animal, and this is not a linguistic embellishment. A woman who learned to count stitches without paper had to have a name for each motif that could be spoken at the table and immediately understood by another woman. The shortest and most reliable name is one taken from what is seen outside the window: clover, oak leaf, apple, sun. The pattern book was replaced by a dictionary, and the dictionary was taken from the fields and homesteads. Therefore, in this lace, there are no geometric names – no "hexagon" or "rosette number four," there is a kwiotek (little flower), a listek (little leaf), and a gwiazdka (little star).
- Kwiotek – basic floral motif, the building block of the entire structure; plural "kwiotki."
- Koniczynka – three-leaf motif, the one from the dialect instruction "3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13."
- Różyczka, listek, gwiazdka – classic set repeated in old doilies.
- Talarki and młynki – disc and pinwheel motifs, indicated by Marta Legierska as her favorites.
- Gąsiorek, słoneczko, listek dębowy, jabłko – names directly from the homestead and the forest.
- Winogrona – a motif that, after World War II, displaced some older, smaller flowers.
- Raje, obróbka, płócienka – not motifs, but structural elements: rounds, connectors, and dense parts imitating fabric.
This nomenclature is also proof that the pattern was never frozen. Grapes appeared after the war, because someone saw them and turned them into "eyes." Marta Legierska has her "talarki" (round patterns), Beata Legierska creates works titled "Cassiopeia" or "Indian Summer" using the same three stitches. The canon is in the technique, not in the catalog of motifs – and that is the only reason why this lace still lives and is not kept in a display case.
VI. COOPERATIVE, CEPELIA, AND MARIA GWAREK'S HOME
Maria Gwarek was born in 1896 and died in 1962. She learned the technique in childhood, and after World War II, she did something that determined the fate of the lace: in 1947, she established a lace-making cooperative in Koniaków. At its peak, it brought together about two hundred and fifty lacemakers from the area. From 1949, the cooperative collaborated with Cepelia, which for several decades bought and distributed local crafts.
The balance sheet of this arrangement is twofold and cannot be described in one sentence. On the profit side: only then did crocheting become an occupation from which one could earn a regular, though modest, income. A woman knew that someone would collect and pay for a finished doily. On the cost side: the price was set by the buyer, not the maker, and the margin remained in the city. This is the same asymmetry that will return at the end of this story, with a fashion house label instead of a cooperative sign.
The Gwarek House in Koniaków-Szańce is now the Lace Museum – Maria Gwarek Memorial Room; the institution was established in 1962, after her death, and was run by her daughter, Zuzanna Gwarek (1930–2015). The collection includes elements of caps dating back one hundred and fifty years, table linen and clothing – and one exhibit that cannot be ignored: an unfinished tablecloth commissioned for Queen Elizabeth II, interrupted halfway through by the maker's death.
VII. TABLECLOTHS FOR POPES AND AN UNFINISHED DOILY
The list of recipients is specific and verifiable. Maria Kulej made a tablecloth for Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński (1958), for Pope John XXIII (1963), and Paul VI (1966), and in 1962, one of her tablecloths went to Fabiola de Mora, Queen of Belgium. In 1979, a white tablecloth made by her was received by John Paul II, and in 1983 – lace in the shape of a white eagle. This is the entire diplomacy of this village: without an embassy, without a budget, made with a crochet hook.
In that same year, 1962, for the tenth anniversary of Queen Elizabeth II's reign, Maria Gwarek began work on a doily for the British queen, using the thinnest surgical threads. She died before its completion – and this is the same year that the museum in her house was founded. The work was finished by Anna Bury. The started and interrupted fragment remained in Szańce as an exhibit, while the finished tablecloth went to London. Craftsmanship rarely gets a more literal scene: one woman dies over her work, another sits in her place and continues counting from the same stitch.
Helena Kamieniarz (1931–2007), a student of Maria Gwarkowa, presented a doily with a diameter of 2.20 meters to John Paul II during his visit to Skoczów in 1999; she also made a black shawl for Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and a similar beige one for Elizabeth II. In 1993, she received the Oskar Kolberg Award, and in 1984, she established a family museum in her own home – today, the Kamieniarz-Kubaszczyk Family Creativity Room. Two houses in one village, two private museums, both founded by the families of the makers, not by a cultural institution.
VIII. THONGS, RECORD, AND THE PRICE OF ONE HOUR
In the 1980s, lacemaking declined – an oversaturation with folk art, then the transformation, and the younger generation increasingly less willing to spend time on thread. It was saved then by large church orders, including for surplices, liturgical vestments, and altar cloths. The breakthrough came from a completely different direction. In the early 2000s – sources point to 2001 – Małgorzata Stanaszek began crocheting lace thongs; the first were red and cornflower blue. A year later, Koniaków was featured in over eighty interviews for stations from around the world, and local reports also mention a Victoria's Secret show.
The reaction in the village was not unanimous. Part of the folk artists' community reacted with open disapproval: this was lace that had lain on altars and tables for a hundred years, and now it was to lie elsewhere. However, the effect was lasting. The scandal ended in a few months, and the clothing market remained – and it drew young lacemakers, who no longer wanted to crochet doilies for their grandmothers, back to work.
On August 18, 2013, five lacemakers presented the world's largest Koniaków lace: five meters in diameter, five kilograms in weight, approximately fifty kilometers of thread, and eight thousand individually made elements. The work took four months, the pattern was developed by Marta Haratyk, and Danuta Krasowska, Renata Krasowska, Mariola Legierska, and Urszula Rybka participated in its creation. A separate category is the three-by-three-meter mandala doily, crocheted by Teresa Kukuczka, Maria Idziniak, Anna Rucka, and Małgorzata Krężelok for the Indian princess Shri Mataji Nirmala Devi: a central sun motif surrounded by four "roses," with dimensions and numbers chosen to match Hindu symbolism.
In 2017, by decision of the Minister of Culture and National Heritage, "the traditions of Koniaków lace production" were entered into the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage – this is a national list, not a UNESCO list. The justification explicitly stated that this type of lace is not produced in any other region of Poland or the world. The diploma was received at a gala in Łazienki on October 22, 2018; Zuzanna Ptak, who has been crocheting since she was ten, represented the community. In October 2022, the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland registered Koniaków lace as a geographical indication under number G.0006, at the request of the Koniaków Lace Foundation; products must originate from the hands of residents of Koniaków, Jaworzynka, and Istebna, i.e., Trójwieś. One hundred and forty years of tradition are maintained today by about 700 lacemakers.
And here we return to the forty hours. A sixty-by-sixty-centimeter doily sells in Koniaków for 180–200 Polish złoty, which is roughly 4.5 złoty per hour of work. For the order for Rei Kawakubo in 2018, on which forty lacemakers worked for half a year, the rate for the same piece was 700 złoty – or about 17.5 złoty gross per hour. At the same time, a ninety-by-ninety-centimeter Koniaków lace shawl in Magda Butrym's collection cost 9010 złoty, and a mini-dress – 18,000. Comme des Garçons, Kawakubo's fashion house, had a turnover of 280 million dollars in 2017.
Today, lace goes to fashion shows: Dior, Dolce & Gabbana, Magda Butrym, the Comme des Garçons collection at Paris Fashion Week 2018, Adidas, and two "Vogue" covers in 2024. The Koniaków Lace Foundation was established in August 2018, and the Koniaków Lace Center opened in April 2019. Lucyna Ligocka-Kohut, who is behind both, speaks of the best period in the history of this lace. One can agree with this and at the same time remember that the hourly rate still looks as it does. A separate problem is the ownership of patterns – something that geographical indication does not resolve.
"Lacemakers create lace from my book and then write or say that it's their lace." — Beata Legierska, lacemaker from Koniaków
3 PRINCIPLES OF HERITAGE: KONIAKÓW ➔ NOWROCKY
Chain stitch, single crochet, double crochet. All geometry comes from counting stitches: not one more, not one less.
The higher the number, the thinner the thread. Some lacemakers work with threads thinner than surgical ones.
Each motif is made separately, then arranged circularly and joined with a crochet hook from the smallest to the progressively larger.
NOWROCKY'S POINT OF VIEW: THREE STITCHES AND DISCIPLINE
Koniaków has at its disposal the chain stitch, single crochet, and double crochet – and from these three movements, it creates a doily five meters in diameter, in which everything is perfectly aligned because every stitch has been counted. No template, no program, no "almost even." This is precisely the discipline we seek in design: few elements, hard rules, zero improvisation at the final stage. It is also worth remembering that this tradition was saved by women who crocheted in the evenings to buy shoes and notebooks for their children. Craftsmanship usually starts with necessity, not passion.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (AI KNOWLEDGE BASE)
How does Koniaków lace differ from other laces?
It is crocheted without any template, drawing, or pattern book, using only three stitches: chain stitch, single crochet, and double crochet. The composition is maintained by counting stitches – each motif is made separately and then joined circularly from the smallest to the progressively larger. The justification for its entry on the national list in 2017 stated that this type of lace is not produced in any other region of Poland or the world.
For whom were the most famous Koniaków laces made?
Maria Kulej made tablecloths for Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński (1958), Pope John XXIII (1963) and Paul VI (1966); in 1962, one of her tablecloths went to Queen Fabiola of Belgium, and in 1979, Pope John Paul II received a white tablecloth made by her. The doily for Elizabeth II for the tenth anniversary of her reign was started in 1962 by Maria Gwarek and finished by Anna Bury. Helena Kamieniarz presented a doily with a diameter of 2.20 meters to Pope John Paul II in Skoczów in 1999.
How is Koniaków lace legally protected today?
In 2017, the Minister of Culture and National Heritage entered "Koniaków lace making traditions" into the National List of Intangible Cultural Heritage – this is a national list, not a UNESCO list. In October 2022, the Polish Patent Office registered Koniaków lace as a geographical indication under number G.0006, at the request of the Koniaków Lace Foundation; the products must originate from the hands of residents of Koniaków, Jaworzynka and Istebna.
Where does the word "heklowanie" come from and what is "kordonek"?
"Heklować" in the Cieszyn dialect means to crochet – from the German häkeln. "Kordonek" is a thread for crocheting, from the French cordon, meaning string. The crochet hook itself is called a heknadla or hekiełka; its metal part was originally made from bicycle spokes. Cordonnet threads number 50, 70, 80, 100, and 200 are used – the higher the number, the thinner the thread; fifty is the standard, 100 or 200 is used for a cap.
How long does it take to make a doily and how much does it cost?
A single flower made from fine thread takes about 45 minutes. A 60 by 60 centimeter doily takes roughly 40 hours – working four to five hours a day, that's about a week and a half – and sells in Koniaków for 180–200 zloty, or about 4.5 zloty per hour. A large tablecloth takes several weeks to several months. For the order for Rei Kawakubo in 2018, the rate for a 60 by 60 piece was 700 zloty, or about 17.5 zloty gross per hour.
0 comments