Designer Eliška Lhotská, a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Bratislava and the Institute of Arts and Design in Pilsen, credits her time in “ultra-religious” Poland for inspiring a jewelry line made from loaves of Czech sourdough.
Lhotská whose unusual pieces were recently part of an exhibit (The Future Is Now a Collection of New Archeology) at Kutná Hora gallery GASK, says her work is also motivated by the use of bread in Czech folk customs.
“It was added to the first bath of newborns to thrive well, used for medical treatments; bread and salt in the Czech lands was used to welcome guests.”
She adds that bread today in Europe has been “demoted to just basic food, which is accepted without greater respect and humility.”
The bread used to make the jewelery—everything from chunky pendants made of chleb and delicate rings and earrings that don’t so easily reveal their source material—is first cast in metal and then splashed with bronze, silver, or gold paint.
The artist considers her work as an “amulet” or “talisman” for good luck.
While the exhibit is now closed you can buy Eliška Lhotská bread jewelry at various Prague stockists.