The shop sign reading "Shoe Repair" looms from afar in ul Łokietka. However, instead of shoes, the window display features wooden figures representing King Boleslaus I the Brave, Saint Hedvig and the coat of arms of Wrocław in the company of clay Wrocłąw dwarves holding the banners of the city. This is how the local shoemaker Zygmunt Trąbczyński celebrates Wrocław as the European Capital of Culture 2016. This unique exhibition in ul Łokietka has come to life without special grants, funding or the crowd of organisers.
"Whenever I have time on my hands I grab a chisel and carve. The passers-by stop and look,. People sometimes pop in and we start to talk," says Zygmunt Trąbczyński, a 79-year-old shoemaker and amateur sculptor who has been running his shop in Nadodrze for 37 years now.
Zygmunt Trąbczyński likes to watch passers-by who stop to look at his window display. He can often see an expression of surprise. Some people take pictures or make videos.
"These are often tourists because my neighbours know about my passion. I like to make displays to celebrate public and religious holidays. I've been living and working here for a long time, so I don't need publicity. The only shoes I display are the ones I carve," says Zygmunt Trąbczyński.
He likes to work in lime wood. The material must be from the mountains. Lime trees grow more slowly in the highlands and have a beautiful honey colour. Zygmunt Trąbczyński never counts working hours. One figure takes him several months to complete. He is really attached to his carvings and reluctant to sell them.
If he was born again and could choose whether to be a shoemaker or a sculptor, he would definitely choose the latter. The only condition is that he has a large table to screw a block of wood to. His current shop is too cramped for it.
Family of shoemakers
Zygmunt Trąbczyński was born and raised in Częstochowa. He has six brothers and sisters. His father, grandfather and paternal uncle were all shoemakers, and his elder brother also dabbled in shoemaking and shoe repair. He says his family have a knack for visual arts: they paint, carve in wood or weave. Zygmunt Trąbczyński arrived in Wrocław in 1960. He obtained his qualifications at Michał Ślipko's workshop in ul Poniatowskiego in Wrocław. He says that he has particularly fond memories of working at Konsuma in ul Podwale, back in the Communist times.
"I used to make shoes to order. The job required extreme precision and a lot of focus. It's a little bit like carving in wood. Accuracy and patience is all that counts," he adds.
Museum exhibition
In 2013, Zygmunt Trąbczyński exhibited his works at the Ethnographic Museum of Wrocław. The exhibition featured over 100 sculptures, both religious and secular ones, to celebrate the European Heritage Days.
"I was visited by a museum counsellor. He took several sculptures of mine and showed then to the former Head of the Museum Mariusz Hermansdorfer. He said they were worth a separate exhibition," says Zygmunt Trąbczyński.
His wife, Halina, helps, inspires and advises him.
They are still passionate about each other. He says he would not make it without her; she says she admires his work.
"I am really amazed with his skill. I wouldn't be able to do this on my own," says Halina, who visits her husband's shop every day. She brings lunch roughly at 4 pm. She likes to watch her husband as he slowly makes subsequent figures, inch by inch at a time.
The Trąbczyński family live in ul Drobnera. They have a small one-bedroom flat, which is becoming too small for the sculptures.
