The master craftswomen of the weaving workshop “Indra“ have preserved an old tradition of weaving blankets that is characteristic of the Latgale region – laseitos koldrys. In the workshop you can see a textile collection, learn about the weaving process and try your hand at weaving a floor runner. The workshop organises exhibitions and master classes, carries out projects. The craftswomen participate in the event “Meet your master craftsperson”.
Types of crafts
Weaving, knitting and other handicrafts, with plans for soap-making and wax candle making in the future.
The distinctive in their field of activity
The weavers have inherited and preserved the skill of weaving laseitos koldrys.
When to book a tour in advance;
3 days
When to book a master class in advance
1 week
Krāslava Crafts Centre is located in one of the buildings of the 18th century palace complex built by the Counts Plater. Four thematic workshops are permanently active here: pottery, woodworking, weaving (handicrafts) and the culinary heritage workshop. The crafts centre offers master classes, seminars and training in traditional crafts.
The talented ceramicists Olga and Valdis Pauliņi give an introduction to traditional Latgalian ceramics.
When to book a tour in advance;
3 days
When to book a master class in advance
1 week
More than six years after the recipes created by Jānis Kurpnieks and his company – SIA “Tervete bread” offers at least 12 types of bread – mainly real, natural wholemeal bread with split rye grains and sourdough rye bread. However, keeping up with today’s popular trends in the food market, the bread is also supplemented with garlic, seeds, candied cranberries, dried fruits, etc. On the other hand, the special offer of “Tervete bread” – flourless bread that is so in demand nowadays – rather a healthy snack, has received special recognition from vegans and vegetarians.
Excursions are organized in the bakery with the opportunity to taste the bread, learn everything about bread baking and the traditions related to it. Each guest can create their own shortbread bun and have it baked in a wood-fired oven.
Edite Bevalde offers various creative workshops, adapting to the age, wishes and possibilities of the audience. It can be a master class lasting a couple of hours on the use of natural resources in beauty care, felting a sauna hat, as well as mastering the spirit of the house. It is also possible to organize a small creative workshop during an event, giving the opportunity to create something special in a short time. When contacting in advance, you must agree with the artisan on the time and place of the workshops.
Linda Meiere creates soy wax candles that are decorated with dried flowers and fruits. Each candle is infused with essential and fragrance oils so that when you burn it, the aroma complements the mood. October candles also offers outing master classes at parish holidays, weddings, corporate events, where each participant can make their own unique candle in a jar. For smaller groups, candle making master classes and lectures of approximately 1.5 hours are also available.
I indulge in a kind of Leonardo da Vinci syndrome – I like all the roles and areas that enter a person’s life, I like to understand that and just create. Doing things with your own hands adds color to everyday life and is like an essential spice over things that make you less happy. It is both creativity and meditation, personal discovery and the joy of the end result. It is important for me to feel the nature of different natural materials and let them form in my thoughts and hands, be it wax, clay, paper, wood, cement or a plant fiber.
Only sceduled workshops are organised.
In Jura Kambar’s creative workshop “Kambars Varkalis”, sounding bowls, jewelry and various interior items are forged, which will bring joy to everyone.
Juris Kambars says: “I really started my activity when Latvia had its 100th anniversary. It all started with book covers that where made out of copper. After that, an ordinary braided copper bracelet and then “the hook was in the mouth” and it went form a little hobby to a business! I work only with good thoughts – that is my belief. It is important to me that absolutely every item I create is made in a positive mood and that all my work contains a piece of my soul. My ancestors were metal caster for three generations. Great-grandfather owned a metal foundry in Riga. Grandfather and father were also involved in metal casting in a shipyard. Now they are gone and the universe gave me, on the threshold of 50 years, to be a master of subtle things in all my being. Here I am – the master of copper!
My works have also traveled to Spain, Italy, Norway.”
Ieva Jurka is a ceramist who has been fascinated by ceramics since childhood and after graduating from the Riga Design and Art High School, she obtained a bachelor’s degree at the Latvian Academy of Arts, continuing her studies in the master’s program in the ceramics sub-field.
Currently, Ieva has started her creative activity in the village of Bērze, where, by the help of funding from European funds, a full-fledged ceramics workshop has been set up. The workshop works with high-quality materials such as porcelain and stoneware, which turn into elegant ornaments, jewlery and high-quality ceramic vessels, cups and plates which are mainly made using the wheel turning technique.
In parallel with the production of various ceramic products, master classes are also offered, which gather both local residents and other interested parties from further Latvian cities and even other countries.
Ieva’s creative activity includes not only the creation of porcelain ornaments and dishes, but also regular participation in exhibitions, contemporary ceramic art symposia and other projects related to ceramics and craftsmen.
A small and creative workshop of soaps and various other body care products from Biksti.
“We love what we do and create. We give special names to each final work, which intertwine memories, feelings, similarities, present and past. All this together forms the soul and body of the final work.
But when it comes to creation of our products, we try to be nature-friendly, so most of our final works are without packaging. We incorporate medicinal plants grown by ourselves and collected from the farm meadow into soaps and scrubs, we make extracts from them into plant oils, which we include in lip balms and creams. We are especially proud of our soap, because we cook it ourselves, as it was done in the past, from alkali and fatty substances.
We are always happy for guests who want to look into the small workshop of “Ezervanna”, listen to a story about soap making, try their hand and creativity in making scrubs, or “play around” with the mass of soap and make their own piece of soap.”
We are “Wrap it” – cloths for food storage, made of beeswax and cotton. The warmth of hands makes the cloth easy to shape and hugs your chosen product, preserving its excellent properties. Wrap cheese, bread, vegetables and fruit or take snacks and sandwiches with you. “Wrap It” can be used for up to a year and can then be composted or restored with beeswax. Each cloth is handmade by us, loved and cherished in our workshop! The cloths are made of cotton fabric coated with beeswax. And in fact, it is an extremely ancient method of food storage. In addition, we also make waxed bags for food storing and beeswax mixtures for making cloths at home.
