USTA VINTAGE

 
 
 
There is something magical in the word vintage, this dose of elegance, class and exquisiteness. We agreed within our team that vintage goes pretty well with USTA Magazine. Does it mean that we are also vintage? We hope it is not only about aging well! Anyway, together with excitement came the need to better understand what the keyword vintage truly denotes.
 
 
 


 

The first things that came to our minds were wine and design. This is why we set off for a trip to Georgia to visit the oldest wineries and discover the ancient winemaking methods of the amber wines from kvevri which are making a triumphant return to the top restaurants in Europe as orange wines. In USTA magazine you will learn what amber wines are and how they are produced. It was amazing to see these clay jugs buried in almost every Georgian yard! And to taste them with no fuss, served directly by the producer and with typically Georgian cheerfulness and endless toasts!

We have also made an attempt to portray Polish collectors’ environment. We checked what they are gathering and why and how their collection’s worth is growing. The areas of their interest were pretty varied, spanning from Scandinavian design, German Democratic Republic glass and Polish photography to plastic bead necklaces and toys from Olimpia flea market. USTA talked with outstanding specialist like Maurycy Gomulicki, Ani Orłowska, Karol Misztal or Adam Leja. We also bring you the best of retro luxury pleasures: Concord, Orient Express, Amphicar.  At the same time, we have something for those with smaller budgets: Relax boots, Kubota flippers, ancient CPN petrol stations and recently returning Syrenka cars.

We take you on a trip to Kyoto, one of our favourite cities in the world, where you can walk through an ancient street which looks exactly the same as 400 years ago. The smell of wooden ryokans, tatami and incense, the look of geishas in traditional kimonos (it is in Kyoto that you can buy the most beautiful vintage kimonos) and the taste of perfectly brewed sencha or matcha. Oh this was an unforgettable experience! We have selected both the traditional places as well as the modern ones which have just been born. Besides, this is an exceptionally Japanese issue, we talked with our favourite sushimaster in Tokyo, and we took a closer look at how he is making tofu. We also paid a visit to the exquisite headquarters of Hario to discuss the process of creating the cult V60 line.

We also managed to get into a retro house party, where we tasted somewhat strange dishes. Have you heard about sandwich tort, shrimp cocktail and tomato jellies? We took beautiful photos of the modern versions of these extravagant food ideas. The hardest part was to find a truly retro person. We described the oldest people of Okinawa, but whom should we pick as the hero of this issue? We’ve been thinking about it for weeks, screening many candidates. Finally, we chose charismatic people representing different generations. We hope that the charm, style and joie de vivre of Tadeusz Rolke or Małgorzata Potocka, won’t become things of the past any time soon. We also paid a visit to Wiktor Moroz, the owner of likely the biggest collection of cactuses and succulents in Poland. Mr. Wiktor seems as long-lived and resistant as his collection.

Dorota Chrobak is right to say in her film column that: “We live in the age when the past remains the source of the form and the content. The best songs had been recorded, the most interesting films had been created and the most beautiful design had already been invented”.  That sounds very nostalgic, especially at the beginning of autumn, but what else we can do? We can prove that it is not true, at least, not entirely true. We believe in the new and we are looking forward to new places, books, films, meetings, parties and of course, food. We hope that there are still a lot of interesting novelties awaiting us!