The opening and blessing of the premises by Prelate Edward Bober.
The Dana Fine Ceramics Workshop founded by Janusz Jakubowski has more than 20 years of tradition. Its history is closely linked to Bolesławiec—the capital of Polish stoneware.
Bolesławiec stoneware owes its existence, fame and success to clay deposits located in the northern regions of Lower Silesia on both sides of the Bóbr and Kwisa rivers.
The city’s location on an ancient transit route leading from the Black Sea through Lviv, Kraków, Wrocław, Saxony and the Netherlands contributed to the sale of pottery and ceramic products.
Today, Bolesławiec’s 15th-century pottery traditions have experienced an almost incredible renaissance. Not only have new ceramic workshops emerged, but new and diverse product designs are also being created in parallel. Products are made not only for household use, but also items that are distinctly decorative. Local craftspeople are increasingly searching for new forms and colour ranges, drawing on scientific achievements and artists’ inspiration.
The Dana Artistic Ceramics Workshop was established in March 1975 in Bożejowice, Bolesławiec commune, on the initiative of its owner, Janusz Jakubowski. Initially, it employed six people, and its main production consisted of products with red drip glaze. These were typically decorative items: vases, napkin holders and various figurines.
High demand for this type of product contributed to the workshop’s rapid development, and in 1976 the company moved to Rakowice, where, after expansion, it employed 12 people. The range of products grew to 60 designs, which, thanks to their originality, won considerable customer approval.
The late 1980s were a time of crisis for Bolesławiec ceramicists, but not for Janusz Jakubowski, who during this period took over failing ceramic companies in Parowa, Ocice and Kraszowice. After their merger, one dynamically operating workshop was created under the charming name Dana, employing 30 highly qualified workers. New products from this period included a whole range of black-and-white glazed items.
Two years later, in 1990, the stamp-decoration method was used for the first time. It involved decorating surfaces by hand with a stamp soaked in paint. The characteristic colours of this method are blue and brown, while the most frequently used patterns are fish scales, peacock eyes and clover. The Dana ceramic workshop still uses this decoration method today.
The following years brought continuous development and expansion. A beautiful Bolesławiec property on Lubańska Street was added to the list of workshops. With 1,000 square metres of usable space, it became the leading facility among Janusz Jakubowski’s workshops.
Production at the new workshop began as early as March 1995. To ensure sales of the products made by a staff of nearly 50, a company store was opened beside the busy international route to Czerna.
Products from the “Dana” workshop enjoy great recognition, and demand for them continues to grow. This is demonstrated by the opening in Berlin of the “Atelier-Manufaktur Jakubowski”, where Janusz Jakubowski’s products are displayed. Their beauty, emanating from every carefully perfected detail, delights and captivates. Vases, dinnerware, bottles, bowls and decorative trinkets—all enchant with their form and colour, functionality and beauty.
For the finished product to have high value, a laboratory is essential in a ceramic workshop. This is where glaze compositions are developed, paint colours are determined, and the density and properties of the casting slip are established. The laboratory determines the firing temperature in the kilns and the sintering interval, without which the entire firing process would be invalid.
It can be said that the laboratory at Dana’s production facilities guarantees the high quality of the products. It is an indispensable part of production. Without it and its work, Dana would be forced to purchase other companies’ production recipes.
Environmentally clean raw material, free of lead and cadmium, begins its journey in the mill room. In ball mills, the ingredients of the clay body are ground together with conditioning additives.
To create finished products, plaster models based on an earlier design are necessary. These are used to make master moulds for reproducing working moulds, which are then sent to production. The moulds made here will give shape to future products.
The homogenised casting slip is poured into these moulds. After a specified time, the excess is poured out, and the actual product adhering to the mould’s surface remains there until it sets.
The mould is then opened and the semi-finished product or detail is removed. Ceramic semi-finished products undergo finishing: rounding sharp edges with a scraper, removing seams and smoothing the products by washing them while wet.
The prepared products are set aside to dry on specially prepared racks.
The cast, finished and cleaned products are checked carefully for quality, all so that they can enter the fire for the first time.
In the biscuit kiln, they undergo their first thermal process. At a high temperature of up to 800°C, they are fired into so-called biscuit ware to improve their structure, evaporate water and increase their strength.
Biscuit ware—as we call it from this point onward—is decorated and glazed.
Designers decide this as well, just as they decide on the shapes.
At the Dana Fine Ceramics Workshop, the painting department is Janusz Jakubowski’s pride and joy. True rarities are created here. Old forms, patterns and decoration techniques are revived. Each product is covered with underglaze paints using stamps, brushes and sometimes spraying with stencils. One method involves decorating products with stamps made of sponge or rubber, creating unique patterns. It is laborious work, but it brings tremendous satisfaction. Today, around 70 types of decoration are made at Dana.
The painted product is glazed—that is, given a decorative layer that provides colour and strength—while the right glaze produces a smooth, shiny and durable product.
In the workshop’s warmest rooms—the kiln room—the products undergo thermal treatment at 1,230°C to achieve their colours and vitrification. This is where fire gives the ceramics their final beauty and durability.
Products from the Dana Fine Ceramics Workshops surprise with their texture and colour, and with subtle yet decisive decoration. They dazzle with the beauty of stamp decoration, traditional for Bolesławiec products several decades ago. But these are not copies of historical patterns; they are a new quality, an authentic contemporary artistic discovery. Utility and aesthetic qualities exist in harmony here: high product quality, functionality, eye-catching beauty of form, decoration and a distinctive style that sets this type of fine ceramics apart from the rich range of other manufacturers and the avant-garde offerings of contemporary factories. It is true art for connoisseurs—people who understand the subject, know good taste and style, and enjoy creating an oasis of beauty in their surroundings, because every small ceramic item bears the mark of a miniature, unique work of art.
Janusz Jakubowski is not only a ceramic artist but also a modern manager. He gained his marketing experience during numerous trips abroad. He therefore does not miss any opportunity to promote his achievements, because he knows how the best do it. His presence can be seen at all major exhibitions, exchanges and ceramic fairs.
In March 1994, during the Artistic Crafts and Contemporary Applied Art Fair in Wrocław, the products of the Dana Fine Ceramics Workshop received high praise, reflected in the admission of their creator to the Brotherhood of Artistic Crafts.
Janusz Jakubowski’s local patriotism certainly deserves emphasis. But is this surprising? Bolesławiec is, after all, his hometown. It was here that he gained his first professional experience and learned the demanding craft.
At the annual ceramics and glass fair in Bolesławiec, organised since 1994, his displays stood out among the other exhibitors.
There were no limits to his ingenuity. Before the eyes of passers-by, unique works of art emerged from the brush of an artist inspired by the historic buildings surrounding the town square.
More than 20 years of involvement with ceramics and art strengthened his sense of beauty and taste. He expresses his almost pedantic aestheticism not only in creating ceramic art, but also in his surroundings.
His workshops are true oases of beauty. Everything here has a European dimension and bears the stamp of our times. The striking surroundings of the buildings, silver spruces, hedges, ponds with fountains and decorative flower beds are all pleasing to the eye and set a standard beyond the region.
One cannot rest on one’s laurels. Life presents new challenges. As a consequence of its hard work, great enthusiasm and the artistic level represented by the products made by “Dana”, the workshop eventually gained its own gallery, which opened on 2 April 1996.