From attic to museum

Janusz Biliński, a producer of hand-painted Christmas ornaments, founded the museum in 2012. He began collecting early in his business career, keeping fragile decorations at home so that they would survive for future generations.

When other Polish manufacturers heard about the planned museum, they sent examples of their own work. The collection expanded beyond the output of a single business. The museum operates beside a working factory, bringing old ornaments together with the continuing craft of shaping glass and painting baubles by hand.

This arrangement separates the history of the objects from the demonstration of how new ones are made. One part of the visit concerns pieces collected over the years; another concerns the work involved in making their successors. Biliński was preserving old ornaments before there was a museum to display them. His company received the Company of the Year 2011 award from its business partner Christopher Radko, a year before the museum opened. The award reflects the founder's professional work alongside his private collecting.