2024-02-13 21:55:37
Previously, Czechs had no reason to go to the Hrzánská Passage in the backdrop of Prague’s Old Town. Shops with green window frames were home to companies that mainly targeted foreign tourists with their offer. But with the beginning of the new year, the offer changes drastically. Musicians and artists are based here, who will culturally elevate the passage to Celetná Street. Recently, he opened a space for Czech young fashion “Sláva!”.
The passage, which is part of the Baroque palace of Hrzánu z Harasov, is just a few steps from the Old Town Square and belongs to the Stadler-Trier Music Foundation. The owner started thinking about its transformation after the coronavirus pandemic, when most local companies focused on foreign tourists went bankrupt or terminated their leases. The foundation wants to renovate the premises, but before developing a project, it has decided to offer them to artists, designers and musicians who will bring local and contemporary Czech culture to the city center.
At the end of last year, he opened a new space here focused on clothing fashion, textiles, jewelry and design. A center called “Glory!” founded by Tereza Váchová actually by accident, originally she wanted to organize a young fashion show in the palace in connection with classical music. “And with that idea, I came to a meeting here at Hrzánů Palace and left with an offer for this space. There is no bigger one,” laughs the likeable designer and founder of the Skin On The Market project, which aims to organize fashion shows with cultural overlap .
At the beginning of the 20th century, Franz Kafka’s parents rented the two-room space upstairs. They had the haberdashery, which was later continued by Jan Stadler’s father, a merchant and patron of classical music. Váchová wanted to follow up on his legacy, but as she admits, the final name of the fashion center was somewhat “lost in translation”:
“The Sláva brand was created by changing František Stadler’s first name to Slávka, and in internal communication I nicknamed the place Mr. Sláva’s store. And even though I later realized my mistake, it was somehow already experienced and we didn’t want to change it,” she blushes the owner of the brand, who runs the space with her friend Jarmila.
In the beginning, there was an abandoned space after the wax museum. It was characterized by black walls with wires peeking out here and there, as well as a hole in the floor that connected the two floors in a forlorn way. With limited funds, the pair began to look for someone to support the project and help them turn the place into a worthy hall for the exhibition of young artists’ brands, fashion shows and a coworking workshop. They found the good donor in the A8000 studio.
Glory! focuses on young talent in fashion, textile art and design. | Photo: Magdalena Medková
“We have been supporting the Budějovický Majáles for a long time. When we were contacted by the Skin On The Market collective, which comes from the same creative background, we were happy to agree to the cooperation. The inspiration for the architectural solution was the space itself and its multifunctional use. It can be said that we tried to create a scene for everything that will take place here in the future. Whether it’s exhibitions, parades, a permanent store or a meeting of the local community,” says architect Petr Jakšík.
The reconstruction lasted 56 days. It went quickly thanks to students from the Czech Technical University and the Faculty of Philosophy in Prague, who participated in modifying the black walls and building a coworking workshop. “I think that in less than two months, about thirty of them took turns here. The worst part was scraping the paint off the walls. But thanks to the volunteers, it went quickly,” says Váchová. “Everyone realized their part in their own way, the key was not to scratch everything. We wanted to achieve a result that would brighten the spaces and give them an artistic touch,” adds the architect.
Take a look in the gallery at how the trio brought the wax museum to life and what’s going on in Sláv! can do