The paper has been worked out based on the investigation into a museum collection at the Wallachian Open-Air Museum, including documents from Karel Jež´s estates replenished with knowledge
from archival documents and literature. As resulting from these, the
brush-making workshop of Karel Jež (1885-1959) from Lázy (District of Vsetín) is an example of a rural workshop operated by a small-scale craftsman in the first half of the 20th century. The handicraft is for him a welcome opportunity of earning some extra
money to farming which is the main source of livelihood for the whole family. In the introduction, the study informs about the history
of brush making in Moravia and Wallachia beginning with the19th
century. It presents Karel Jež´s family situation, and it characterizes
their source of livelihood consisting in arable and cattle farming.
Furthermore, it focusses on the operation of brush-making handicraft, description of his workshop, production techniques, materials, types of goods, and way of selling. It draws the information mostly from Jež´s notebooks where he wrote down
particular orders. He did not have any shop and he did not produce for other distributors, but everything that he made he sold either at
home or at markets and fairs. He mostly used domestic raw
materials which his customers brought to him, as substantiated by
numerous records in his diaries. The complete equipment of the
workshop offers a unique opportunity of presenting it within a long-term exhibition of the Wallachian Open-Air Museum.