Upper Silesia, a region in southern Poland with long historic ties to the coal industry, is marked by the blood, sweat, and tears of miners. Situated in Southern Poland, Upper Silesia is soaked in hundreds of years of mining tradition. Beneath this raw exterior, however, lies a deep culture history, with roots that are hundreds of years old. Upper Silesia has its own dialect, which was banned for many years in Poland but survives to this day, as well as a hard material dimension, coal, which is being repurposed in the modern day.
As folklore revival is becoming all the more popular in Poland, this valuable export has become a commodity of a very different quality. Mined in Upper Silesia since the 17th century, coal played an important role not only in the Polish economy, but also for the entire European continent.
Today, it is being made into jewellery, as a symbolic tribute to the land from which it came. In Katowice, the capital of Upper Silesia, there are a few workspaces turning coal into a different type of precious commodity: delicate, hand-crafted jewellery.
One of these is the brand I Coal You, owned and operated by Katarzyna Depa, who has been tied to the region for decades. Her clients are not only visitors to the region looking to find a unique souvenir, but also people from the region itself who view the crafts as an opportunity to represent their culture.
While the trend of making jewellery from coal is a modern one, like most traditions in Upper Silesia, it has deeper roots. In fact, the first coal beads appeared in Upper Silesia in the 19th century, and were made by miners for their beloved wives and girlfriends.
