Klára Kubičková: Never ending discoveries. The life and work of Elena Taby
Elena Taby (1907 – 1974, Levice) studied at the School of Art Crafts in Bratislava from 1931 to 1935. The task of this school was to educate designers and craftsmen in a variety of professions to implement their new skills and knowledge in all areas of visual culture. She chose ceramics with professor Júlia Horová as a subject. Her most significant creations were in the 1940s. Travertine was mined in Levice in a number of mines from the first third of the 20th century; it was then further processed to make floor and wall tiles. In one of the mines, however, a unique and original stone was found, so-called onyx marble, which was created by a secondary change in the travertine under the influence of hot water, vapour and gases. It is marked by alternating colours, spots and a colour scale ranging from golden yellow, white, green up to brown yellow and dark brown as well as translucent and transparent. After polishing it takes a high shine and exquisite colourfulness. Elena Taby designed all the products for the Onyx-Aragonite workshop from 1943. For a further twenty-five years she created prototypes for a variety of large scale products: smoker’s sets, ashtrays, writing sets, weights, pen holders, paper holders, clocks, lamps, vases, crosses and holy water vessels, photographic frames, objects for the boudoir, bowls, holders for sport trophies and chess sets.
Further articles in the magazine Craft, Art, Design 01/2003:
- Katarína Hubová: Hats and caps to wear?
- Ivana Habartová: Napapiiri, -30°C on the polar circle
- Textile journey throughout Europe
- Mária Čelková: Ceramic statue by Vladimír Oravec
- Miluška Trachtová: Space for a tapestry
- Klára Kubičková: Never ending discoveries. The life and work of Elena Taby
- Tibor Uhrín: The playful face of Colombia
- Anna Chlupová: A perfect textile miniature
- Martin Mešša: Master of detail
- Izabela Danterová: The charm of straw
- Juraj Zajonc: Metamorphosis of a fibre
- Eva Švajdová: Woollen bags