Editorial board
A book by Oľga Danglová “Decor symbol, the decorative tradition in Slovakia” was published last year (some of her topics were serialised in our magazine, see RUD …). Even though some of the used motifs are indistinctive with regards to the culture they come from or are used in various different cultures, each one has the resulting decorative depiction specific for its particular culture. While working on her book, the author also studied comparative material from other cultures. In the interview she answers questions regarding the composition of the Slovak decorative tradition, the period when traditional culture in Slovakia came to its pinnacle of decorativeness, and even talks about the over-decoration of our traditional culture and whether people and creators had more aesthetics now or before. In the central European context, from a decorative point of view the Slovak specifics are carving. You cannot find a similar shape for the ear of a drinking vessel in Europe. Other specifics of Slovakia are grave crosses decorated by polychrome plastic carving, variations of folk wooden forms for blue print, wall painting similar to sgraphite, tinker’s products, and rich local forms of ceramics, textiles, embroideries, laces and brass jewel.