Guba — hand-made product from sheep's wool

If we talk about old crafts, gubamaking is undoubtedly one of the lesser-known ones. Guba is hand-woven products made of 100% sheep´s wool. During its production, pods of woolen hair are caught in the weft state, which creates the appearance of a furry fabric, which is used as a carpet or an aesthetic home accessory. Guba makers also makes carpets from sheep´s wool, called raw materials, which, unlike sponges, are smooth and can be natural, colored or patterned.

In the region and probably also in Slovakia, we have the only, probably the last, craftsman who is dedicated to the manual processing of sheep´s wool from the beginning, raw material, to the finished product. Ján Fotta from Klenovac has been producing sheep´s wool rugs and carpets since 1979.  

The tradition of processing sheep´s wool in Gemer was mainly due to the number of sheep that have been raised here since ancient times. An example is the Malohont village of Klenovec. According to the records from the drapery book, which the village received in 1850 from the Emperor Franz Josef, there were approximately 2,000 inhabitants at that time, of whom 53 were drapers. Since the wool also had to be processed, drapery was at a very high level. The production of carpets and rugs was subsequently derived from this. Later, shoemaking began to decline. In 1956, when the Center for Folk Art Production conducted research, it found that there was only one mushroom producer in Slovakia. Therefore, they decided to establish a center for their production in Jelšava and Klenovec. At the time of the greatest boom in the leather industry, there were as many as 36 manufacturers in Klenovec. The last one, Mr. Ján Fotta, learned the craft from one of them, who was awarded the title of Master of Folk Art Production in the leather industry for his many years of service. With his unique products, he became the holder of the Gemer-Malohont Regional Product brand.