He likes to talk about himself that although he works with wicker and his hands have processed dozens of tons of this material, he has never woven a single basket in his life. His wicker objects find application in gardens or on patios of family homes as well as in interiors of public buildings.
In the early 90s, he dedicated himself to the production of wooden ladders and sold them at trade fairs and various events. Over the years, he gained the experience that Slovak men, especially in the afternoon hours encouraged by alcohol, like to awaken heroes within themselves and often prove their masculinity on not exactly the safest things. To avoid problems with potential injuries after the fall of heroes from the ladder, he came up with a way to keep eager men away from temptation. He fenced the displayed ladders with small fences, which he constructed by welding a metal frame and then weaving wicker into it.
However, he was surprised when a customer from Žilina immediately showed interest in them during their first public use at Agrokomplex in Nitra. In vain he explained that he did not sell fences, but ladders. He didn’t give up, invited him to his home, and presented a plan to him, saying that he would like him to weave a fence for him. And not just any – a two hundred meters long one.
From childhood, he remembered that houses and yards were full of woven products – fences and walls of barns or sheds in southern Slovakia, where he comes from, were woven with wicker horizontally between stakes planted in the ground or in the construction or vertically between horizontally fixed logs in the columns. But to tackle a two-hundred-meter fence?
He consulted his dilemma with his father, who always advised him to do something in life that others don’t do, and so he found the necessary courage in himself and promised to weave the fence. As an autodidact, he embarked on a difficult path, but thanks to his craftsmanship skills, he quickly delved into the matter. For the first order, he used one and a half trucks of wicker. Thankfully, there was enough growing near his residence, and over time he gained contacts with growers, from whom he now has guaranteed the necessary amounts.
Customer satisfaction and good references from him, as well as the fact that in the field of ladder sales it was increasingly difficult to establish oneself due to the increasing legislative requirements year by year, finally led to the fact that wicker fences became the main livelihood for Julius Lalák. He secures all the necessary work – from material collection to terrain measurement and preparation of structures or stakes to weaving itself. And he is often also the designer of the final piece. If people who order his work do not collaborate with an architect, they do not have an idea of the final product.
When designing a solution, he takes into account several aspects and offers the customer a choice of several options. Inanimate fences prevail, either created from woven pieces in metal frames (similar to wicker forests used as a fence for wagons or traditional cultural fences), or by weaving wicker between regularly set agate stakes. If the customer wishes, he can also make a living fence, which must subsequently be regularly trimmed. In addition to fences, he creates various play elements from wicker, primarily tunnels, but also flower pots, screens, gates, gazebos, decorative objects.
Today, Július Lalák collaborates with several architects and designers, and his work is unique in Slovak conditions. In 2019, as a member of the Association of Slovak Basket Makers, he realized iron skeletons for weaving dancers and seats, which were the main attraction of the prestigious event Days of Masters organized by the ÚĽUV in Bratislava.