To dye for: Czech blueprint tradition alive and well in these pandemic times

For Jiri Danzinger, settling on a line of work was a no-brainer: he grew up in a Czech family with a long tradition in blueprint dyeing. The 40-year-old craftsman is the 11th generation of a family living off the Unesco-listed technique in the eastern village of Olesnice.

"Nobody ever forced me, but I also never had another job offer," said the bespectacled Danzinger in one of the Czech Republic's two surviving blueprint workshops, his hand resting on an age-old rolling press.