Photo by the author The Hutsul town of Kosiv is a true center of folk craftsmen: inimitable wood carvers, potters, weavers, and embroiders live and work here. Famous Kosiv ceramics is so well-known all over the world that collectors from different countries come to the local market to make purchases.
An exhibit of Yavoriv wooden toys has recently opened in the Kosiv Museum of Folk Crafts. Craftsmen from the villages of Yaniv and Shklo (Lviv oblast) brought to their colleagues in the Ivano-Frankivsk region samples of original handmade wooden toys and dolls. Artists from the Lviv region, members of the National Union of Masters of Folk Art Antin Hula, Semen and Taras Tlusty, and Vasyl Yaremyn will show environment-friendly wooden toys for children: corncrakes, handcarts with horses, cradles, clappers, and propelled toys. Next to them on display are the handmade dolls by Yaniv female masters. Unfortunately, traditional children’s toys carved from wood are decreasing in number at the famous Kosiv market, being replaced by foreign-made playthings that are imported primarily from China. So the exhibit’s aim of promoting our crafts and protecting our renowned traditions remains topical.
