Traditional handicrafts

According to the acknowledgement of art historians and ethnographers Nizhny Novgorod region is one of the richest regions in Russia for its variety of folk handicrafts. It is not difficult to name reasons for it. Nature of the region is not especially generous for a peasant: damp, marshy Zavolzhye has poor soil and it is difficult to call local climate as favorable for agriculture. However Melnikov-Pechersky pointed out: "forests feed a Zavolzhye man". The forest supplied Nizhegordsky people not only with fuel and building materials but also it produced raw material for them to develop applied arts which filled their homes with useful and beautiful items. Soon crafts schools emerged in some settlements which were the basis for industrial enterprises.

Khokhlomaskaya Painting

The most famous handicraft of the region is khokhlomskaya painting. It has worldwide reputation for a long time; in 1920 one of the first artels of folk craftsmen of this painting was called "Export". Khokhlomskaya painting was born in the villages of the current Koveninsky district - district where in the 17th century Old Believers against the church Nikon's reform escaped to from Moscow regions. Later the art of khokhloma painting is distributed across the whole Zavolzhye. And Khokhloma settlement itself in Koveninsky district has become a place for bazaars where there is wholesale of painted items and where craftsmen obtain raw material. At the beginning of the 20th century craftsmen of Semenov united into artels, under the leadership of the painter G.Matveyev art school of painting and turnery was open. Thus, Semenov transformed into the capital of golden khokhloma. Plant ornament painted in rich colors of an autumn Russian forest becomes the main theme of the painters' creative works of khokhloma despite the fact that during the first decades of the Soviet power there were tense searches, attempts to combine traditional design with a portrait, plot drawing or even with geometrical ornament. New technologies emerged as well as new color compositions which allowed maintaining gloss of the items for a long time as well allows the items to be used in every day life. Khokhloma is called golden, but its characteristic color and gloss is achieved by using aluminum color and linseed-oil which are alloyed together by glazing process in the oven at 300oC temperature

There are different styles of painting: “Kudrina” by using "curly" ornament of golden and black colors; grass where there is green color of leaves, image of berries; as a background - plant ornament on a black background; also rare - pole and cake. Today traditions of khokhloma painting are followed by Factory of Medal "Sign of Honour" ZAO "Khokhlomskaya Painting" in Semenov, OAO "Khokhlomsky’s painter" and OOO "Promysel" in the village of Semino of Koveninsky district.

Gorodetskaya painting

Gorodetskaya painting is developing in Gorodets and its suburbs. Favorite motifs of painters are images of “ladies” and “gentlemen” having a date, tea, dinner, walking in the garden or along a street, horse riding, Gorodetsky horse, birds, and stylized floral ornaments with roses and lilies. Every day life is depicted in bright colors, with love and at the same time with fun with surroundings like horses with rich hair and tails, pleased cats, laid tables, house flowers, clocks with weights. This type of painting has its origin from wood carving and incrustation: it was used to decorate bottoms of Gorodetsky spinning-wheels made from moraine oak with different nuances of timber. However, stock of this raw material came to an end and at the end of the 19th century they started to paint bottoms. Today in Gorodets they paint furniture and kitchen utensils and use bright colors with the abundance of red, yellow, green and black colors. There is a special factory in Gorodets - ZAO "Gordetskaya Painting".

Polkhovo-Maidanskaya painting

The third center of painting is situated in the south of the region in a large settlement Polkhovsky Maidan of Voznesensky district. Polkhovo-Maidanskaya painting emerged recently in the 19-20th century. It is executed using aniline colors with abundance of bright pink, yellow, green, violet colors and is used to paint items of kitchen crockery, toys-“tararushki”, small souvenirs, matreshkas. Favorite themes are floral ornaments, deliberately roughly drawn draft village landscapes. In the 1920-1930s production of painted toys of turnery (“tararushki”) emerged such as whistles, matreshkas, eggs, balalaikas, mushrooms, samovars. Settlement Polkhovsky Maidan being the centre of new craft since 1950s became very famous. Beautiful toys from this settlement glistening with the rainbow of aniline colors and lacquer were sent to many cities of Russia. Children loved them at once due to their brightness, naive simplicity and fresh perception of the world, where pink and blue clouds are flying in the skies, pretty mills are turning, happy birds are singing. Traditions of Polkhovo-Maidansky painting are now followed by Private Entrepreneur V.V. Yurtov.

Semenovskaya Painting

Semenovskaya painting is widely famous. It is used to decorate traditional local matreshkas (according to the image of a Russian person - natural, classical matreshkas) with bright shawls with flowers. They are turned and painted by the painters of Semenov at the factory "Semenovskaya Painting".

Wood carving

Craftsmen of Semenov and Gorodets are involved in expressive relief wood carving and produce boxes, vases, panel, trunks and carved boards with animal figures as well as with stylized faces of the people; traditional cake boards (with their help design is stamped on cakes before baking); they follow examples left by the old craftsmen. The wood carving traditions are followed by the factory of Gorodetskay Painting and Semenovskkaya Painting.

In Semenov you can meet craftsmen involved in wood incrustation, they make furniture and utensils decorating them by design made from pasted and lacquered straw of different nuances. But it is impossible to believe that this is indeed straw when holding such a box or a candlestick.

The most colorful examples of a Russian “izba” (hut) are houses decorated with indistinct carving and there are lots of them nowadays in Nizhny Novgorod region. This type of decorative art got the name of "ship carving" (because originally carving was used to decorate front parts of ships and boats) and later it was called "house" or "indistinct" carving. Although traditions of images and technologies of wood carving are carefully observed, types of carving on peasants’ izbas (huts) of Nizhny Novgorod region are different depending on the time and place of its production. Especially it is rich in colors in Gorodetsky, Chkalovsky and Balakhninsky districts.

Carving is a painstaking process and requires considerable physical ability, skill and fantasy. At first the frameworks of future designs were marked on the boards, then with the help of chisels and axe a craftsman carved out "the earth" or a background. The process of slating the details was the last stage of the work. Front boards, pediments, casing, jambs and lintel of a door or a window were distinct for their especially rich decoration where various images merged into complex compositions. Such type of carving derived its theme from folklore pagan motifs. Rich plant ornament was carved in an accurate sequence and symmetry - wavy branches with flowers and exotic fruit, vases with magnificent bouquets, grape vines, saline symbols as well as birds, lions and mythological images like mermaids and shore girls, sirins and alkonosts. Indistinct carving existed till the beginning of the 20th century because at the end of the 19th century a much easier "saw through" technique emerged. But still it is possible to see old houses with indistinct carving in Nizhny Novgorod region, and some of its examples were collected and now are kept in museums.

Stone and bone carving

In the valley of the river Piana in a settlement of Bornukovo of Buturlinsky district there is a factory "Bornukovskaya cave" which produces traditional figures of animals carved from decorative stone - anhydrite stone which is white with pink, yellow or greenish shades. Favorite images of the craftsmen are a bear enjoying honey, eagle taking off, a lion and others.

There is a bone carving factory - OOO "Varko" in Varnavino. It produces chess, sculpture compositions and single figures, combs, hair pins, brooches, necklaces with carving and painting of the images of the nature of Nizhny Novgorod region.

Vine plaiting

Citizens of Pavlovo, Arzamas, Lyskovo and Gorodets posses gift of the art of vine plaiting. Here they produce not only gracious and light baskets but also furniture. There is a school of vine plaiting in the settlement Varezh which 16km from Pavlovo where even English and Chinese students are educated.

Jewellery handicrafts. Kazakovskaya Filigree

There is only one jewellery factory which emerged on the basis of local handicrafts. It is located in a settlement of Kazakovo of the Vatchsky district. Kazakovo inhabitants mastered "grain" technique, i.e. surface decoration with melted metal or filigree rounds by soldering designs from thin short wires, sometimes in combination with enamels where relief metallic ornaments are brightened up by being sprinkled with bright colors. Gracious vases, glass holders, panel, table sets, goblets, brooches, decorations, church's items all of these are works by Kazakovo craftsmen of ZAO "Kazakovsky’s Enterprise of art items" and are very popular.

Pottery craft

In some district of the region, i.e. Bogorodsky, Gorodetsky, Bolshe-Boldinsky and some others traditions of pottery craftsmen are still preserved. In Bogorodotsk on debases of the House of Crafts there is a unique museum of modern ceramics where master-classes on a potter's wheel are held, master-classes on baking and scalding of ceramic items and entertaining excursions also take place here. Settlement Smirkino in Gorodetsky district is famous for its pottery craft; here kitchen crockery is produced using ancient traditional method. In settlement Zhbannikovo for a long time there has been production of toys-whistlers. Typical color symbolizing blood, soul and life spirit as well as the process of playing this primitive musical instrument itself are closely connected with ancient magical rituals.

Textile crafts, Lace plaiting, embroidery

Gorodets golden needlework has been famous for centuries across the whole Russia.

Craftswomen from Gorodets used various technique, their works were distinct for rich ornament and flawless quality. Embroidery was used to decorate clothes, especially shawls and sleeveless jackets. Traditions of golden embroidery are now followed by OOO "Gorodetskaya golden embroidery" (branch of the factory "Tatyana").

Also embroidery using "Chkalovskaya" technique (Gorkovsky or Nizhegorodsky guipure) is very famous. Traditions of this unique technique of embroidery ("pulling out") are followed by the factory OAO "Guipure". Factories ZAO "Unona", ZAO "Borskaya stitch-embroidery factory", ZAO "Lyskovsky designs", OAO "Weaving designs" develop traditions of many stitch-embroidery crafts of the region.

Famous art of lace plaiting is reborn in Balakhna. Best items of Balakhninsky craftswomen are shown in exposition of the museum of local history; here also master-classes on plaiting using bobbins take place.

Women of Nizhegorodsky settlements also are involved in craft weaving. Weaving items of Shakhunskaya weaving factory are very famous.

Metal processing

Beautiful metal art items are produced by OOO Plant of pocket knives "Saro" in Vorsma. In Pavlovo and its suburbs varied table sets were produced and were famous in the whole Russia. Today these traditions are successfully followed by OAO "Pavlovsky Honour medal plant of art metal items after the name of Kirov". The city of Pavlovo is also famous for the fact that here students of Pavlovsky college produced a tsar-castle weighing almost 400kg which was included in Guinness record book. You can see a unique microscopic mechanical golden flea in the museum, and the central square of the city is decorated by the monument to smith's art in the form of a shoed lemon tree.

Traditions of metal processing emerged on the basis of handicrafts which have a long history. In Settlement Chulkovo of the Vachsky district trunks trimmed with iron were produced for the sale at Nizhegorodskaya trade fair. In Purekh of Chkalovsky district and in Lyskovo copper bells were made.

Nizhegordsky’s people have always been skilful, painstaking and an item produced by them was transferred across various Russian regions and abroad and served people for a long time and their real beauty made them very happy.