I am Rozália Detrik, a horsehair jewellery maker.
I first came across horsehair jewellery in 2012. This is surprising, because I have been riding since I was 6 years old, I graduated from the College of Physical Education as an instructor of equestrian culture and I have been moving around a lot in equestrian societies, but I had never come across this traditional craft.
Horsehair jewellery making is a traditional folk craft. It is well known that our nation has had a close relationship with our four-legged companion, the horse from the very beginning. In the old days, we did not have the technology, materials and machines that are now part of our everyday lives. So they used natural materials that were readily available to them to produce utensils.
This was the case with horsehair. They had plenty of horses. They used them for carrying and transporting goods and as companions in battle. Their flesh provided food, their skins were used to make clothes and blankets, and their hair was also used, especially the tail hair which is long and strong enough. The tail hair was used to make ropes, for example. Later it was also used for violin strings and as a raw material for jewellery.
An essential tool for making horsehair jewellery is the so-called “kaptafa” (a wooden shape). Hoops, rings and three-dimensional shapes are all made on different shapes and sizes of wooden formats. The horsehair is laid on these and looped according to the technique used in a similar way to macramé.