TRADITIONAL CRAFT IN CLUJ-NAPOCA: BETWEEN ART,TRADITION, AND SALE

Abstract

Knowledge of a traditional craft means living an experience and enriching the cultural activity, with a personal and community meaning, while purchasing the final products means a simple trade exchange. But currently, it is valued more the final product and not the craft itself. Being a craftsman, through knowledge and specific techniques, it is actually living the feeling, the mystery and the spirit of the craft, learned during centuries, through a long qualification as a craftsman. Traditional crafts represent a gateway to memories and to reviving the tradition, the authentic or the human skills to create unique and original products. Traditional crafts perpetuate traditions, but today we are witnessing the disappearance of true craftsmen and a focus on the commercial aspect of crafts. The paper analyses the activities of artisans’ and craftsmen’s continuity over centuries in Cluj-Napoca, reaching the present situation, when the focus is not on the producing act itself, but on the final product, representing an adaptation to modernity and demand, including on tourism. Our analysis explores the art as experience, aiming to differentiate its results in terms of authenticity and assessing its evolution as a result of current representations.

Keywords

• tradition
• creativity
• uniqueness
• continuity