Luxury of freedom

#Adopt an Intern in Domača obrt Cvitkovič

Changing lives in a single day!

Can you imagine that a thing you do in one day can affect the life of people years ahead?
That’s what we learn almost every day by being a part of BIG BERRY and living in Bela Krajina. But one day in Handicraft and linen gallery Cvitkovič really shocked us and proved that we are part of something even BIGger.

This unique experience was the next chapter of BIG BERRY’s “Adopt an intern” project. For one day, one team member is being “adopted” by one local partner and goes through company’s daily work. Aim of the project “Adopt an Intern” is to learn more about the community, get closer to the local people and help them however possible. Me and Ana, two of the first additions of BIG BERRY team, were more than happy to learn about the linen making process and to be part of creating the material that is typical for the region. Cvitkovič family was happy to welcome us during one of the most important days - processing of the flex in order to prepare it for making linen fabric. The process is executed only 1 day per year which made us really proud to be part of.

Domača obrt Cvitkovič is doing the fabrication of linen in the traditional way from centuries ago. When we arrived, we saw almost a surrealistic picture - people from all over the village were gathered together to help, laughing and drinking as one whole family. When in the big city will you see that nowadays?

The whole process includes softening the linen plant with different wooden tools. First, we started with hitting linen with “tukača”, then we used “trlica” for even more precise softening. Then we continued calming the linen thread with “greben”. Everyone was tired but we all successfully finished processing all the dried linen that was gathered from the field. Now, the linen was ready to continue through the next stages until it becomes a ready-to-use material. But the day wouldn’t be over if we didn’t have a feast afterwards.

Complemented with delicious meals, home made desserts and rakija from 1988, we were more than happy to call it a day. “Adopt an intern” once again opened our eyes for the local traditions and hard work of people from Bela Krajina.

 

Written by: Maria Stoyanova

Photos by: Matko Meštrović