The main task of Acorn elves is to bring joy
It all started innocently enough one autumn – I was gluing various creatures from chestnuts and other natural materials in the garden with my children and we ran out of chestnuts. So I used acorns instead, which we had plenty of in the garden thanks to the oak trees… and the first acorn elves were born!
I uploaded photos of the best figures to Twitter and Facebook and soon they became my most successful posts. People were thrilled with them. So I continued to create, photograph and share them until I had enough pictures for a wall calendar.
Media interest
Since the birth of the acorn elves, I have given several interviews and a lot of articles and reports have appeared. If you want to know more behind the scenes of their creation, feel free to read them:
- interview and articles in foreign languages (English, German, French)
- complete list of all articles including Czech language on Czech version of the site
Dubanci is the name of the author?
No, dubanci are those oak figures, translated it means something like acorn elves.
So who is the author?
The author of the acorn elves (dubaneks) is Petr Václavek. The acorn elves are more or less a one man show – all of them are created and photographed and postprocessed by me, Petr Václavek. I also create and manage their website, social media profiles and e-shops (Czech e-shop and international Zazzle e-shop) including its products. The only exceptions where I collaborate with other people are:
- books – the first one was written by Slávek Rydval with his wife Leona Št’astná, the newer ones are written by Klára Smolíková
- film production – I cooperate with BareBear production studio, scripts are written by Klára Smolíková again
Do you want to know how I got into filmmaking, photography and graphic design? Read my creative story.
A brief history of the Acorn elves
2022
- In March, I gave a talk on Acorn elves (and photobanks) at the think-tank Own Projects & the Creative Economy, hosted by Robert Vlach as part of the Czech freelance portal community.
- A new (only Czech for now) Acorn elves book is coming out.
Acorn elf and the Secret Message
2021
- The Acorn elves were at Cartoon forum 2021 in Toulouse with animation studio BareBear production: article, interview
- Acorn elves made it to the final of the Czech Internet Award Crystal Lupa 2020 in the One (wo)man show section for the second time and jumped to the 8th place again.
2019
- Since September 2019, the Acorn elves have regularly had their own page in the children’s magazine Tečka.
- The Acorn elves made it to the final vote of the Czech Internet Crystal Lupa Award 2019 in the One (wo)man show section and came in 8th place.
- The Acorn elves magnetic kit – Dubnetky.
2018
- Great article in the Swiss magazine LandLiebe 07/18 in German.
2017
- The book Dubánek příběhy jednoho roku.
Dubanese books
Dubánčí rok and Dubančí den picture books were published.
- The Acorn elves for the first time on television – on Prima in the programme Vychytávky Ládi Hruška.
2016
- Video report on tn.cz. They are made by a Czech! – Acorn elves almost made it to TV!
Acorn elves for the first time on radio – Interview about Dubánci for Czech Radio Region.
- First acorn elves postcards!
- The Czech Acorn elves e-shop and also the international Zazzle e-shop were created.
2015
- The Acorn elf on the toilet!
- The first calendar
- Acorn elves made the cover of the Christmas supplement of Lidové noviny Pátek.
2014
- The first acorn elves – a tourist, a cyclist and a driver.
- Acorn elves ancestors
2013
- The first documented critters made from natural materials, unfortunately after I left them outside and they got wet, they completely disintegrated