Video Stories written with a pin. From the Dacian helmet, to toys and lace dresses. “All my life I dreamed of doing this”

A crochet enthusiast turns craft fairs into an opportunity to tell stories through objects. His outfits are never overlooked, being another point of attraction.

Ana Chitulescu is an easily noticeable presence in craft fairs. Brightly colored toys, carefully crocheted, bold ponchos, flowy dresses if the event you’re attending happens to be held in the warm season, shirts with traditional prints brought to the present day, sweaters, hats, gloves, carefully crafted ornaments, decorations you’d want at home because you know they change your mood for the better.

He comes from Drobeta Turnu Severin to most of the important trade fairs. “I don’t have the title of folk craftsman yet, but I will,” reveals the artisan.

He recently delighted the people of Craiova with his presence, at the traditional fair organized in Bănie by Sfântul Dumitru. She wore an outfit that she 100% put her stamp on, as she usually does. “It’s made from a candle that I decorated to represent the four seasons. I made it especially for this fair because you never know what the weather will be like. There have been years where we’ve had snow, one day it rained, today it’s sunny.” Ana Chitulescu explains what she thought about when she made it.

At a similar outfit, he gave up with difficulty at another fair, because a gentleman told him categorically that he was not leaving without it, because he liked it very much and wanted to make a pleasant surprise for his wife. “I didn’t make it for sale, just like the one you saw isn’t for sale. I like to wear things like that, but not everyone does.” explains the craftswoman.

However, the clothing items they make have passed the test of fairs and arouse real interest. Many times he meets people who would really like to have something like that, but they can’t afford it. And he never thinks.

“I don’t care about the price, but obviously you can’t give them anything. There was a situation, years ago, in Herculaneum, when a lady really wanted a sunflower poncho. He told me – I love it from the bottom of my heart, but I don’t have the money to buy it. – And I gave it to him. I thought that if she really likes it, she should wear it.” revealed Mrs. Ana.

“I think I was born with a crochet hook in my hand”

Most of the items she is currently working on are crocheted. Years ago, however, when he started devoting his time to this passion, traditional sewing, a craft that requires a lot of patience and skill. He gave up in time because he realized that it would be very difficult for him to sell the products at the price they deserve, considering that it takes maybe months of work to make a single traditional shirt. Instead, she adapted them, and today she combines canvas with crocheted lace.

“I like to do ii, but not everyone who comes to the fairs and respects a ii, for example. They come to look, pick them up, spin them around, get them dirtier, and that’s it. The prices seem very high to them. Although it’s a job I don’t tell you, at any work done. Our work is not paid. But we work from the heart what we work”says Mrs. Ana.

Before dedicating herself to her passion, she worked as a telephone operator. “I worked to have a job and to have money. Instead, this is what I dreamed of doing all my life. I had obstacles, I still do, I didn’t develop as I wanted. But I hope that one day I will be free, that is, I will start on my way”, adds the craftswoman.

What he still hasn’t succeeded, he says, to the extent of his work capacity, is to capitalize on his products. He participates in fairs, in time he entered the world of craftsmen and the organizers have lists and invite them, but such events, although they ensure visibility, are not enough. “I work a lot. If I could, I think I would work every day. I wake up first thing in the morning, I go and make my coffee, then I start work. I do something in the morning, maybe I make lace, I think about what jobs I still have to do, and during the breaks, I’m still with the crochet in my hand. I have a lot of goods, I have a lot of ideas. And I can’t sit down.” added Mrs. Ana.

He learned this craft in his family and practiced it later including in school. “And my mother worked a lot. But she worked for the house. Laced the sheets, crocheted the curtains…”revealed the artisan.

He gladly passes on the craft he practices to anyone who is interested. The museum in Drobeta Turnu-Severin also organizes summer schools and children come there who have the opportunity, in a few days, to learn a little of the secrets of crocheting. However, one of his fond memories is related to a young woman whom he met, not many years ago, in a fair in Târgoviște and whom he taught, on that day of the fair, to make boots for children, because it was precisely these objects that the young woman was extremely excited about from everything she had seen at the stand.

“I think she was about 28-30 years old young lady, something like that. And he says – Please, if you want, I would also like to learn how to make boots! – And he learned. That was, I think, around September or October. And he called me on Christmas. It was an immense joy for me when he told me that he made three pairs of boots,” Ana Chitulescu recalled.

He would like there to be much more interest and to become permanent initiatives such as actions organized in summer schools, for example. Or organize regular meetings between needlework enthusiasts.

Dacian helmet made of melana – admired at all fairs

And at the fair in Craiova, as in other fairs he participated in this year, since he started making it, the helmet from Coțofenești reproduced with the pin – an idea that he admits he took from a young woman from Iași – was one of the most admired products.

“I saw the show on TV and I say: really, I can’t do it? And I did it too. I can have the helmet on the table and do it. I don’t necessarily need someone to teach me how many stitches, how many polka dots, how many… I just did it. I made a squirrel after a picture. I had in mind: I have to make the squirrel. I really like squirrels. And it really worked out for me”, Ana Chitulescu also said. The toys made are, moreover, testimony to the skill and imagination of the craftswoman.

He made the helmet in several colors and in different sizes, because at one point in a fair a mother asked him for two for the children. He works on one such object for two days. “It’s not done quickly. Two days, with a break at the table and that’s it. It’s not an easy job. Those beans are a bit more difficult to make. For me it’s not difficult, but you won’t be able to make them in a day. And I don’t necessarily care about prices. But, I don’t know, don’t even give them for free… If I’m going to give them for free, I’ll give them that way, because I want to, because I see that they like it.” said the craftswoman.

He feels that in order to achieve his dream of getting to enjoy with his products people who are in love with the same clothing style, something is still missing. Maybe it’s a store that he hasn’t reached yet for a collaboration, or maybe online exposure, which he hasn’t used very much so far. “I have, now and then, put photos of the products, but not for sale”, Mrs. Ana also specified.

His products, along with those of other craftsmen in the area, can sometimes be found at the souvenir shop at the Medieval Fortress of Severinului.