She grew up in a family where a lot was woven from wool. Mom knitted, and when the first knitting machines appeared, Dad also started production. In those times, knitting and crocheting were in fashion and were also taught as part of the subject of handicrafts in elementary schools. Silvia Geringová knitted extensively even in the 1980s when she had...
She grew up in a family where a lot was woven from wool. Mom knitted, and when the first knitting machines appeared, Dad also started production. In those times, knitting and crocheting were in fashion and were also taught as part of the subject of handicrafts in elementary schools. Silvia Geringová knitted extensively even in the 1980s when she had young children, buying wool in Slovakia and Hungary. She even collaborated with the magazine Dorka, where she published her designs, and after 1989 she made sweaters for newly emerging boutiques alongside her job. However, Slovakia was flooded with imported clothing, leading to a decline in native production and a decrease in the intensity of her knitting.
She turned back to handcrafting thanks to ÚĽUV, where after 2000 craft courses for the public began. She learned woodcarving, glass painting – and it was through glass painting that as a workshop instructor at ÚĽUV’s creative workshop for children at the Východná Folk Festival in 2007 she became captivated by wool again. At the neighboring table, felting was demonstrated, and this technique fascinated Silvia Geringová. She delved into exploring it herself and gradually improved her skills through workshops in Brno and Lomnička near Cheb. Influenced by her Czech colleagues, she started using a spinning wheel three years later, and later even looms. To this day, she has added many other textile techniques to her creative repertoire, especially through courses at ÚĽUV and subsequent independent study of the subject.
For her, switching between techniques is characteristic. She sees in it a psychohygienic aspect of work, and she also enjoys seeking new challenges to overcome. However, as she herself says, she feels best with wool, which energizes her and working with it is very clean and pleasant. She uses merino wool from Germany, which she started using right in 2007 when she began felting. At that time, she couldn’t find a comparable alternative in Slovakia, and although Slovak wool processors are now emerging, she remains loyal to her German supplier. After starting to spin wool herself, she also returned to knitting with needles alongside felting. She also enjoys weaving, mostly using linen, with yarn ordered from Tatraľan Kežmarok and Latvia (finer), where she also sets up the warp herself with the help of her sister.
In textile techniques, precision in work is intriguing for her, often associated with calculations, which is close to her civilian job as an economist when she studied economic-mathematical calculations at the Faculty of Management at the University of Economics in Bratislava. She carries ideas in her head and easily finds them in things around her. Inspirations are the driving force of her creation – the desire to realize them, the pleasure of materializing them. She doesn’t sketch or plan designs, colors, or sizes. She notes details only after creating the product. And when re-creating the item, she continues to seek improvements in that technique or product.
Her connection to tradition as a typical child from Bratislava was built through summer stays in the village of Oľšavka in the district of Spišská Nová Ves, where her uncle was the director of a one-room school. They had a wonderful relationship with the local children, running around to all the houses in the village every day, always eating at someone else’s house and returning home only in the evening. Moreover, on summer evenings, the older girls in traditional dress regularly sang through the entire village. And at a neighbor’s house, where she visited daily, there were looms in the room… Perhaps in these memories, one could find the roots of her relationship with traditional culture, which she helps preserve today, infused with a fashionable essence, through her enthusiasm.
She is an active instructor, in the past leading courses for children (glass painting, felting, textile techniques) at ÚĽUV. In 2018, her instructional publication Woven Wool Pockets was released by ÚĽUV. She also led a course for adults where they could create these pockets. Currently, she is leading a knitting course with needles.
In 2019, she was awarded the title of Master of Folk Art Production.