In the footsteps of Warsaw craftsmen - the last masters of exceptional trades
Author: Iga Skolimowska – theatre scholar, Warsaw resident and author of tourist guides for young people
Warsaw can surprise visitors not only with its modern architecture, but also with its abundance of greenery and places to relax. However, it turns out that even in 2026, you can still visit craft studios, which are a rarity in the modern age. Some Warsaw workshops have been run by the same family for a hundred years or more. They are home to artisans who sew made-to-measure gloves, create hats on traditional millinery blocks, or bind books in hand-gilded leather. Their services do not necessarily cost more than fast-fashion items, and the quality of their goods means they will last many years. Why not take a walk around the capital in the footsteps of Warsaw craftsmen and craftswomen? It could be a unique opportunity to pick up a souvenir you won’t find at any airport.
Handmade gloves for generations
The Czesław Jamroziński Glove Workshop has been operating at 83 Marszałkowska Street since the post-war years and is one of the last places in Warsaw (and Poland!) where gloves are still cut and sewn by hand, without the use of ready-made templates. Craftsmanship started in this family in the western city of Kalisz before the war, moving to the capital after 1945. Czesław, who you can meet in person at the studio to this day, became an apprentice under his uncle at the age of fifteen, taking over the workshop in the 1970s. The small, almost miniature, shop has a counter and a display of hand-sewn gloves, and the interior looks as if time has stood still since the 1980s. To this day, orders come from both occasional customers looking for something special for themselves, and those seeking a unique gift for loved ones – ranging from soft yellow deerskin gloves to classic leather pairs for the autumn chill.
A short walk from Czesław Jamroziński’s studio is another workshop, also for gloves. This small unit, at 18 Śniadeckich Street, is run by Anna Giedroyć, who also continues her family’s glove-making tradition. The workshop was established in 1946 and functions to this day thanks to Anna’s determination. It is worth mentioning that the master craftswoman acquired her skills on her own. As she says herself, her mother did not believe her daughter would be able to learn glove-making and run the business, so she is entirely self-taught. If you want to see how gloves are cut by hand – with no machines or production lines – these are among the last places in Poland where it is still possible.
Hats and caps made on a milliner's block, not a production line
A few tram stops away, at 2 Częstochowska Street in the Ochota district is the Maria Wąsiewicz Hat Studio – one of the last millinery workshops in Warsaw where hats are still made by hand on a wooden block. As recently as the mid-20th century, milliners were as common in Warsaw as hairdressers are today – now it is a niche trade unjustly overshadowed by fast fashion, big brands, and shopping malls. However, Maria Wąsiewicz’s studio still has loyal customers who are looking for unique hats, caps, or other headwear. It is worth visiting the store on Częstochowska Street, if only to get to know Mrs. Wąsiewicz and to see how many styles and colours headwear once came in, and still does!
A clinic for broken umbrellas
In the very heart of downtown Warsaw, at 6 Chmielna Street, is the unique Parasole na Chmielnej (Umbrellas on Chmielna), a workshop with a rich history. It was founded by Julian Gostkiewicz, an insurgent in the 1863 January Uprising against Russian rule, who was later banished to Siberia. After returning from exile, he founded one of Warsaw’s first umbrella studios, and after the war, the plant found a permanent address on Chmielna Street, where it is now run by the fourth generation of the family. Umbrellas were once an essential fashion accessory in their own right – virtually a staple of any wardrobe – with colours and styles carefully chosen to suit either everyday outfits or special occasions. Today, people think about umbrellas only in terms of function, which has greatly influenced the umbrella business – the workshop on Chmielna mostly repairs broken umbrellas today (in the so-called Umbrella Clinic) as well as selling new ones, though unfortunately no longer handmade by a master craftsman.
Nonetheless, if the Warsaw weather (which can be fickle) surprises you right in the city centre, this is the best place to buy not just any mass-market plastic umbrella, but something that will last for years to come. Warsaw also has another workshop of this kind – Barbara Szafrańska’s Umbrellas in the capital’s atmospheric Praga district – but it is worth calling ahead as such niche businesses do not always keep regular opening hours.
Handmade brushes for every type of hair and beard
At 26 Poznańska Street is another exceptional workshop – but rather than hats or umbrellas, what’s made here by hand is brushes. The Adam Barylyński Brush Workshop, established in Warsaw in 1925, is one of the last places of its kind in Poland. It has been run continuously by the same family, today by the founder’s granddaughter, Mrs. Urszula Barylińska. The brushes made here are created exclusively from natural materials and are in large part hand-crafted, just like a century ago. As a result, they are of a quality that cannot be found in mass-produced or machine-made items as each one demands careful choice of materials and an artisan’s personal experience. Recently, there has been a great deal of customer interest in boar-bristle hairbrushes, which do the job splendidly while also massaging the scalp and untangling tresses with no tugging. You can also find several types of beard brushes here – every man can find the right accessory for their type of facial hair. Rather than buying just another plastic brush from a chain store, why not visit this place and pick up something that will not only serve your daily routine better but also last for years. At the same time, your purchase will support local masters of this disappearing trade.
Hand-bound books, custom picture frames, and more
If, on the other hand, you have any family heirlooms such as old novels, photo albums, or granny’s recipe books that need restoring or protecting from the ravages of time, it may be worth visiting a bona fide bookbinder. For example, you could try the Andrzej and Grzegorz Strusiński bookbinding studio at 39 Nowy Świat Street, which has been operating for generations. Their impressive portfolio includes projects for Pope John Paul II himself, as well as for the Chancellery of the President, and the workshop’s speciality is handmade, gilded and embossed natural leather bindings.
But if it’s framing you are looking for, such as for a painting, photo, postcards or other important mementoes, visit an exceptional studio in Warsaw’s Mokotów district.
Located at 9 Tatrzańska Street is the headquarters of a craftsman operating (especially on social media) under the intriguing pseudonym of Mabellini Delio x Czuły Oprawca. (Czuły Oprawca, or tender framer, is a play on words as oprawca can also mean ‘torturer’). The workshop is a rarity today as it specialises in the hand-framing of paintings, prints and mirrors in custom-made frames. It is a craft that appears simple at first glance but in practice requires a sense of proportion as well as an eye for just the right type and colour of moulding to match a given work. And it is best done by a framer who is himself an artist and painter and has a unique understanding of the work being framed – just like Michał Koszewski. Some of the works he has framed have also been unusual – and are not limited to paintings: from classic works of art, through wedding invitations, to the cast of a pregnant woman’s belly, and a Hermès scarf that had to be gently stretched taut and pinned into place. Valuable artworks and memories should be entrusted to the right frame!
Despite Poland’s newly emerging craft centres, there are some skills and niches that are slowly disappearing, probably irretrievably. Perhaps most poignant is the fate of trades related to those described above: umbrella repair workshops and glove makers have completely vanished from most of the country. This makes Warsaw a unique capital as the last remaining haven of such niche craftspeople as glove-makers, umbrella-makers, and brush-makers. Fortunately, more and more tourists and locals are starting to treat crafts as something valuable in themselves, rather than as mere a relic of the past. So visiting one of these studios and buying a pair of custom-made gloves or framing an album of Warsaw photos can be about more than just a unique souvenir – it can represent real support for skilled artisans who may be the last of their profession. So when walking around the capital, drop in on the workshops on Chmielna, Tatrzańska, Poznańska or Częstochowska – they are home to living wonders that are hard to come by in today’s era of fast fashion.
