Tak to bylo / That's how it was

Lenka Záhorková's artistic and social project cooperates with seniors, encouraging them to illustrate their life stories and memories. The illustrations are transferred to waste porcelain dishes that carry ideas about the values that age brings.

He creates porcelain tableware sets with seniors, where the seniors become their designers / illustrators and document their life moments and memories.

by Lenka Záhorková

OFFICIAL PROJECT WEBSITE

NALEJTO Design Záhorková Tak to bylo project

2019 / Photo: Michal Ureš

Stories that remain

TAK TO BYLO is an artistic project by Lenka Záhorková that uses porcelain to capture personal memories and life stories of the older generation.

The project emerged from a desire to preserve the stories of people whose experiences and memories are gradually fading. As part of the project, Lenka Záhorková invites seniors to record memories of important moments in their lives through drawing. These may be people, places, events, or seemingly ordinary situations that hold personal significance for them.

Their drawings are then transferred onto old and discarded porcelain tableware. Each resulting object thus captures a particular person and their individual story.

Porcelain here is more than just a material. Tableware is part of everyday life and is often passed down from one generation to the next. It carries memories of people, places, and shared moments. In TAK TO BYLO, it therefore becomes a vessel for personal memory and a means of intergenerational dialogue.

NALEJTO Design Záhorková TAK TO BYLO a project

2020 / Photo: Taja Spasskova

From waste to a personal story

Working with discarded porcelain is also an important part of the project. Objects that would otherwise be thrown away are given a new meaning.

Their original function gives way to a personal story. An ordinary plate becomes a unique object that can continue to carry the memory of its author.

The project thus brings together several themes – memory, ageing, intergenerational relationships, the value of objects, and their continued life. At the same time, it suggests that sustainability does not necessarily mean simply reusing a material, but also changing the way we look at it.

How the project began

TAK TO BYLO was created as Lenka Záhorková’s diploma project at the Department of Ceramics at the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art in Pilsen. What began as a university project gradually developed into a long-term artistic practice. The project was first publicly presented at Designblok in Prague in 2019 and subsequently featured in exhibitions and design showcases in the Czech Republic and abroad.

A significant milestone came with the Empathy Award, jointly presented by Komerční banka and the National Gallery Prague in 2021. TAK TO BYLO was recognised for its social dimension and its ability to address intergenerational dialogue through design. The winning projects were subsequently presented at the National Gallery Prague in the Trade Fair Palace.

Since its inception, TAK TO BYLO has been presented at a range of exhibitions and showcases of contemporary design in the Czech Republic and abroad. The project has appeared in various exhibition contexts – from presentations of Czech design and exhibitions of contemporary ceramics to showcases focusing on the social impact of design.

Although the contexts in which the project has been presented have changed over the years, its fundamental principle remains the same: to capture a personal story through porcelain and give it the possibility to endure.

A project that continues

For us, TAK TO BYLO is not a finished project. Its principle can continue whenever someone chooses to share their story and give it a form – an object that can be passed on to others. Because some things are worth preserving.