Katarína Hubová
There are currently many interesting female personalities in art, craft and design for who metal as a material is equal to other materials previously considered typically female. In the modern implementation of the craft, shifting the borders of tradition to design, two authors have contributed most significantly to the development of contemporary metal objects – Júlia Kunovská and Dana Mušecová.
The sense for complexity led Júlia Kunovská (1949) to create multipurpose, varied interior objects with a unified philosophy. She takes her inspiration from traditional techniques. Bowls made from stainless steel or brass hold a specific position in the whole creation, while she shapes them in a way that they can be meshed together. A specific area of her creation is jewellery from wire or metal, where the visible handcraft forms their specific character. The Slovak perception of a table under the name Honour to the Tinker’s Trade was created for the international exhibition of Europe Behind the Table in the French town of Macone; the author was awarded the annual prize of the WCC Europe Award 1996. She also received an award for her Torso metal bowl in the international competition Art and Craft Kanazawa ’99 in Japan. It was shaped using her favourite technique – the tinsmith’s trade.
Dana Mušecová (1957) started her career in the mid 80’s when furniture solitaires started to appear more frequently. Her vast collection of metal furniture with specific handwriting started from the 90’s. Her furniture objects lie somewhere between craft and design. Metal has become characteristic for Dana Mušecová. Her unique talent was fully expressed in her little tables, tabourets, wall lamp covers made from metal, and other furniture (sofa with upholstered seat). From 1999, her work also started to appear in Bratislava’s public buildings and cafés. Many of these were designed in cooperation with M. Zikmund.