ONLY AT POLONEA WEBSITE - MANUFAKTURA OWNERS ANSWER OUR QUESTIONS

A mini-interview with Mr Pawel Zwierz and Mrs Malgorzata Smolenska-Szewczyk who are responsible for sales at Manufaktura factory. Manufaktura is a family owned company, that was established by Mr Smolenski and Mr Zwierz - fathers of Pawel and Malgosia.

Polonea: What does it mean "Unikat" ? At least in your factory ? P&M: We call Unikat a pattern that requires very high artistic skills from the painter to make it . It also requires the highest precision of work because the Unikat pattern has much (and many) more difficult details. The patterns classification is based on the difficulty (and therefore less people are able to make it). Polonea: Many of our customers ask for explanation of Gat2 (second quality) - how does it affect functionality of pieces. It is common assumption that "seconds" are much worse - is it true? P&M: The second quality refers to the pieces that have minor flaws not affecting functionality of the piece. It is like a paint drop or smear - the Gat2 pieces (at leas from Manufaktura) should resist all usage requirements, as the first quality ones. Polonea: Where does the clay and paints that are used for making pottery come from ? P&M: We use several kinds of clay (as you can see visiting our factory) - they all come from the regional sources around Boleslawiec. Our paints are ecological - natural. Polonea: What is the background, I mean education, of the ladies that paint the pottery ? P&M: Our company provide a special training of the pottery painters, but we also employ artists after Fine Art Academy. Polonea: How long it takes for a pottery piece to be made ? Of couirse it depends on the size and other factors, but let's say - a simple mug ? P&M: To paint a mug with classic pattern takes 5 minutes but to make a mug from scratch - molding, cleaning, drying and finally firing may last up to two weeks (!). Polonea: Who creates forms and patterns and who owns the rights? P&M:All rights of all forms and patterns belong to our company (Manufaktura S.C.) Polonea: How many forms and patterns are currently available at your factory ? P&M:We have approximately 100 patterns and 200 forms available for our customers. Polonea: How long has your factory is operating? P&M:We started more than 10 years ago. Polonea: The most common customer question - how durable is your pottery ? P&M: Our pottery is fired at 1280 C (2300 F) so it can reallly be used in microwave ovens, regular kitchen ovens powerd by gas or electricity and even in some professinal kilns. Polonea: We had lately a lot of confusion regarding the VAT changes after Poland joined EU. So could you tell us what VAT rate is applied in your shop ? P&M: Most of our pottery items (99%) have 7% VAT rate.We'd like also point our that in our factory shop you can pay with major credit cards but also in USD or Euro. And our staff speaks English, German and French. Of course we take also Polish currency and speak Polish :))