From deep mining to high technology - mosaic of Trbovlje city and Zasavje region
Authors: Jana Petkovšek Štakul and Carsten Federiksen
Nothing can stop development and change, and the former mining region in Slovenia, Zasavje, is undergoing a transformation again. Until the early 1990s, it provided bread for thousands of miners, and most of the industry in the capital Trbovlje was tied to mines.
At the turn of the millennium, when brown coal began to run out, only about 300 people worked for the mines, but since then, new municipal and government initiatives have been taken and technology companies such as Dewesoft are emerging - and reshaping the region.
Designer - gives new life to coal
Young designer Marjeta Hribar from Zasavje region makes sure that the mining tradition and the value of coal do not disappear. When making handmade jewelry from coal, she shares an environmentally friendly message: "Wear it, don't burn it!" Under the brand Kuolmi, coal is now even built into bottles, wall clocks, book indexes, tie pins and is decorating footwear.
Oblečena za delo - Marjeta Hribar oblikuje nakit in dodatke s premogom.
The little smiling young mother and coal jewelry maker from Izlak is the granddaughter of a miner. It now breathes new life into the more than 10 million-year-old material that has shaped the region’s development for more than two centuries. He feels best in his workshop, where he invites only a few visitors.
Many people ask me, how is it that coal shines so brightly? Basically, it’s her natural glow, like glowing stones when we wet them. So, I'll bring it back. The first attempts to design coal were unsuccessful, says the designer. She immediately realized that simple varnishing would not work. “The material is alive, still breathable and has the properties of wood and stone.”
Finding the right way to prepare to be able to shine in the sun took almost two years. She tried freezing and heating - all she could to make friends with coal. “Even today, it may surprise me, as each piece was created under slightly different conditions,” he says. "Now I treat coal with natural resins, which gives him the opportunity to one day return to where he came from - to Mother Nature. This ecological way of designing is an important guide for the vision of the future that I adhere to. "
Made by Kuolmi - a bookmark with a heart made of shiny coal (Photo: Marjeta Hribar).
Marjeta Hribar is also an advocate of cooperation and co-creates new projects with other like-minded entrepreneurs and companies that support the local and sustainable economy. In 2017, in cooperation with "https://morethanbeautyworld.com/" More Than Beauty in the organization of the national competition "http://www.missslovenije.si/" Miss Slovenia created a new crown that gives a special dark glow, which will worn by the winning beauty queen, in collaboration with a Slovenian footwear manufacturer, "https://www.alpinasports.com Alpina has created coal-based jewelry to adorn a selection of new boots." My emotional attachment to coal is focused on coal as a material , which we love and which in the past represented bread and heart, "says Marjeta. "For me, coal is something that is easy here, but I point out new qualities, look at it from different angles and draw the best from them to connect the past and the future." When she was little, she liked to hold warm coal - coal it means home to her: “Everything about it was my home and my grandparents taught me that. was worthy of respect. "
We must not deny our past, but we can change it. Instead of discovering new things, we can find additional value in what we already have, says Marjeta Hribar
Miner hero - we honor heritage https: // www .visittrbovlje.si / en / attractions / miner-prometheus / ", an eight meter high monument in memory of more than 200 years of mining is now erected in Trbovlje. officially unveiled this year Monument to the generations of Zasavje people who worked for the survival of families and the development of the region.
The sculpture of the mining Prometheus, designed by the sculptor Zoran Poznič, is placed in Trbovlje and looks towards the mine.
This is the largest memorial statue in Slovenia made by the sculptor Zoran Poznič and his assistants. The initiative was introduced years ago by Ivan Berger, a longtime director of the mine. As the Trbovlje-Hrastnik mine will finally dry up, it seems the right time to erect a monument. Icon of Fire and Knowledge In Greek mythology, Prometheus Zeus was punished for stealing fire and giving it to people to help them in their life struggle. Zeus tortured Prometheus - he tied him with chains and sent an eagle to eat Prometheus' immortal liver every day, which then grew back every night. Years later, with the permission of Zeus, the Greek hero Heracles killed an eagle and freed Prometheus from this torment.
Prometheus became the god of fire and represents human endeavor, the skills of civilization such as writing, mathematics, agriculture, medicine and science. It is seen as a representation of knowledge-seeking and revolutionary defiance - but also the risk of exaggeration or unintended consequences. In Trbovlje, the impressive mining sculpture of Prometheus will shine with self-sufficient solar cells - illuminated from within. His headlight will shine through the valley to the entrance to the mine shaft, where he will illuminate the mining coat of arms on the tower.
Marjeta Hribar made the heart of this Prometheus - of course from coal. It is a personal pleasure for me to be a part of this project. The more I thought about him, the more I wanted to embody the duality of this life in our ends. There has always been talk of only male heroes suffering underground. However, these heroes were able to survive only thanks to their wives. That's why this heart has two halves - which are connected and beat with the same rhythm,
explains Marjeta.
Marjeta Hribar pri izdelavi srca iz premoga za Prometeja.
New identity for Trbovlje
"With blisters and sweat, our ancestors laid the foundations for three cities that are changing from former mining towns to high-tech and advanced cities," says Karel Vukovič, head of the Trbovlje New Media monument erection team. Association for installation (Trbovlje Novomedijsko Mesto Association, TNM). TNM was established in 2009 as a comprehensive and comprehensive program for the establishment of a new media and art-sensitive culture in the former industrial town of Trbovlje and the wider Zasavje region. Its aim is to create a network that includes a variety of central people in artistic and cultural venues and with those working in science, technology and tourism. "We didn't ask anyone for money, the people of Zasavje financed and erected the monument themselves," says Karel. TNM draws on a strong tradition of technical intelligence on the one hand and a cultural and artistic avant-garde on the other. The goal is to achieve a breakthrough in all these areas by synthesizing technology, science, art and economic initiative and in the long run to offer Trbovlje a new identity - the first association called Trbovlje will no longer have a mining past and failed industry, but high technology, robots, new media art.
Marjeta thinks that the younger generation will also like the statue: Prometheus will not need an explanation, as he skips time frames. Given that the basis of work is from the past, it is driven by the present, and connects all time frames with all virtual technology. Everyone will look for the part of the story that is closest or most related to them.
https://dewesoft.com/company-news/from-deep-mining-to-high-tech Author: Jana Petkovšek Štakul
"https://dewesoft.com/author/carsten-frederiksen" Carsten Frederiksen Dewesoft