00:00Knitting a jumper is like painting.
00:03When you're painting, when you're writing a book,
00:06you think about it, and it just comes to mind.
00:09Pictures, landscapes, motifs, scarves come to mind.
00:30There used to be a lot of knitting.
00:42There's no house where women didn't knit,
00:45older or younger.
00:47There were always three generations.
00:49Now we come, me and my colleagues,
00:53the youngest generation that knits.
01:00This is Zlatibor Mountain, an ideal place for sheep farming.
01:04The wool for the sweaters is sourced right here.
01:07The sheep are sheared in spring,
01:09and then the wool is washed and prepared for knitting.
01:15Someone washes it on the stream, someone washes it at home,
01:18but it's best to do it on the stream.
01:20Then it goes to the mill.
01:22Now we have good mills.
01:24It used to be done at home,
01:26but now it goes to the mill.
01:28We do it like this, and then we weave it by hand.
01:32We wash it there, into a ball,
01:35and then we knit from the ball.
01:39Although the tradition of knitting
01:41has been nurtured in this region for centuries,
01:44organized production began in the early 1960s,
01:47at the initiative of designer Dobrila Smiljanić.
01:52She started working in the agricultural cooperative
01:57when she opened a fire
02:00for the cooperative she was working for.
02:07Among other personalities,
02:09these sweaters were worn by Queen Elizabeth II,
02:12Nancy Regan and Jovanka Broz,
02:14First Lady of former Yugoslavia.
02:16They were even sold on Fifth Avenue in New York.
02:20Their trademark patterns are still the Zlatibor landscapes
02:24and the characteristics wooden houses.
02:27When you say damper,
02:29it's the first association of wooden houses
02:33connected to a damper,
02:36whether it's in Behar,
02:39or in autumn colors of leaves,
02:42or in summer colors of flowers.
02:45It's what makes up the landscape of this village.
02:59Smiljanić is a fashion designer from Belgrade.
03:02Her sweaters can be found in numerous boutiques
03:05in Japan, Canada, the USA and Europe.
03:08She remembers that her mother loved wearing
03:11the Sirogojno sweaters.
03:13The childhood memories served as inspiration
03:16for her to start her own sweater production.
03:19One of her collections is dedicated to the Sirogojno sweaters.
03:23When I started my first dampers,
03:25I had a clear picture,
03:27who would like to have those dampers,
03:30because our women make them uniquely here,
03:33and I can't compare them to other women in handwork.
03:36Zorica Marković is proud that her village
03:39and the work of her fellow knitters
03:41is being recognized worldwide.
03:43Thanks to these knitting needles, she says,
03:46she was able to pay for the education of her two children.
03:49She firmly believes that preserving this tradition
03:52will celebrate the local cultural heritage
03:55and also contribute to a sustainable future.
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