The Forge of Old Crafts is a place where figural gingerbread and woodcarving products are made. It houses a workshop and a gallery, workshops are possible by appointment.

‘Our art has taste’ - this is the idea guiding the artists at the Studio and Gallery ‘The Forge of Old Crafts’. The Forge is located in the Land of Extinct Volcanoes, in the Kaczawa Mountains, in the charming village of Dobków. The old smithy has been renovated and adapted to produce gingerbread. Gingerbread-making in Lower Silesia has a centuries-old history. The spirit of tradition has always accompanied it. Honey for gingerbread is obtained from the apiary, whose hives stand right behind the Forge. Spices are carefully selected and checked before use. Flour is purchased from the only one trusted mill.
However, there are many more requirements to make such, ‘figural’ as they call it, gingerbread. Each batch of it is made according to a recipe that is several hundred years old. It is thoroughly mixed and rested, and you need to know that sometimes it takes a really long time. Then, the well-rolled and ripe dough must be squeezed by hand into wooden moulds. These moulds are replicas or original designs and are also made by the studio. They can be created thanks to the fact that the artists have for many years been engaged in woodcarving and renovation of the memorabilia of the past centuries.
The exhibition in the gallery includes ready-made figural gingerbread, wooden forms used in the production, as well as tempera paintings. Other woodcarving products are also presented. Of course, all these are for sale.
In their effort to preserve the vanishing art of gingerbread-making, the founders of the Forge of Old Crafts organize workshops in this area.
Their participants learn how to make figural gingerbread.
The other part of the Forge’s activity is woodcarving and gilding. Gilding techniques are explained in another series of workshops.