Pechern is a dying craft.The pecher sticks black pine, wins its resin and produces a natural painting from it.
"Pecher are still two or three across Europe," says Philipp Kuntze.The managing director of the Ballenberg center in the Ballenberg open -air museum must know: he represents the craft and offers various workshops.
Handworks disappear
Pechern is by no means the only craft that is hardly practiced anymore.A UNESCO study from 2008 proves: Over half of the 307 crafts made in Switzerland before 1950 have disappeared.
"There are no more handicrafts on the construction," says Kuntze.For example the limestone burner: he gained a natural and sustainable building material from lime.Today, such old craft could be used again for the renovation of historical buildings.
Intangible cultural heritage
Manual expert Philipp Kuntze has set itself the goal of opening forgotten craft, documenting and finding opportunities to keep it alive.
He is not only concerned with preserving these techniques: «Since craft is intangible cultural heritage, this would not be possible.Otherwise I would have to capture the craftsmen worldwide, block in my basement, take the cell phone away and prevent all contacts to the outside world.»
In immaterial, says Kuntze, too, “that we live and everything about us.»The goal is to make craft known, to show what advantages it has and what is possible with it.
International craft network
Communication is crucial here.This is where Philipp Kuntze comes in: with his organization World Crafts, with which he wants to network international craft.
In the best case, different craft can be combined: For example, wood can be made waterproof and durable by combining local crafts with an Asian: «Exercise wooden vessels that are covered with Japanese Urushi varnish can even be washed in the washing machine», says Philipp Kuntze
Threads from the banana pasture mark
Another option is to connect old handicraft techniques with new material.For example for the textile industry: "Above all, we wear cotton and synthetic products, maybe a little more wanted, silk and flax," says Kuntze.But there are over 250 different fibers that you could spin.
«From the mark of a banana tree, for example, a thread can be spiders that can be processed into a high -tech tissue.»Only a few craftsmen know how to process such special threads.That is why it is important to save old handicraft techniques today.
The combination does it
Philipp Kuntze is distant to play hand -made against industrial -enforced things: «Rather, a combination is very exciting.Only the handicrafts in return for industrial or machine work is too romantic.But that we learn certain techniques and implement them with aids is the exciting one that also generates innovations.»
A craft truffle pig
Sometimes Philipp Kuntze also becomes a kind of truffle pig and browsing old craftsmanship.So he saw an old cloth and couldn't imagine how it was made.
So he started researching: «After all, I found that it came from Uganda and was a royal cloth.»
He also found out the manufacturing technology: The bark of a rubber tree was beaten on a certain craftsmanship until a thin cloth was created.Used this precious fabric the kings.Finding old craft again is actually: royal.
