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| Laces in Spain |
Having noted the differences between European neighbors, there is one common
thread indeed that links them all, and that is lace. The origins of lacemaking in Spain
can be traced back to the Middle Ages when beaded trims or passementeries were
introduced. They were the precursors of lace, originating in the Middle East where
fibers were twined and plaited to decorate clothing. The oldest piece discovered in
Spain was that of a metallic golden "guipure" that surely trimmed an ecclesiastical
vestment belonging to St. Domingo de Silos in the 11th. Century.
"Guipure" is a very old verb, meaning "to roll thread around a cord".
At the beginning of the 16th. Century, laces always contained a gimp which formed
the pattern, and the term has been preserved.
In modern language this word is applied to any lace with geometric designs, flowers
or arabesques, held together by loops or bars in contradistinction to other laces that
are made with an all-over net ground.
It started to be called lace because firstly it was worked separately and then joined to
material. We get in Spanish the word "encaje" from the ancient word "encaixe"
similar in its sense to "fit".
The first piece to be considered as lace as we know it, worked with white thread and
gold was found in Vic in Catalonia also on an ecclesiastical vestment.
It was not until the 15th. and 16th. Cneturies that lace came into its own when ruffed
collars were fashinable. Lace was extremly costly and so a person's wealth and
standing in society could be judged by the amount of lace he or she wore.
In the 16th. Century bobbin lace developed in Catalonia along with a needlepoint
called Point of Catalonia. Over the next 200 years metallic laces worked with gold
and silver threads were used for decorate ecclesiastical articles and the Madonnas's
dresses. Point d'Espagne orPoint of Spain was the name given in origin, by French
manufacturers using gold o silver threads,and its production in Spain achieved great
distinction being one of the most celebrated.
In the 18th. Century lace making became an important industry, organized so that
designers supplied the patterns and materials to lacemakers who worked the lace in
their homes. Silk, blondes and chantilly techniques were used, sometimes using
bobbin and needle lace together. They were greatly influenced by the French style but
evolved to fine linen laces named Catalonia Blonda or Puntes d'Arenys, this latter
from the village where they originated.
The Mares Lace Museum located in the village of Arenys de Mar (40 Km. from
Barcelona) owns a magnificent collection of laces where a wide range of techniques
are displayed, from the 15th. Century to the present day.
Although lacemaking suffered a decline in the 19th. and 20th. Centuries as a
handmade craft, there is now a revival. Lace courses and events are programmed in
every village troughout the country, in Catalonia the Annual Lace Day Event attracts
up to 3.000 lacemakers from all over Spain.
Lace days take place in the open air from March to December and the ladies can be
seen seated at tables demonstrating lacemaking techniques to the passers by. When it
gets particularly hot, they maybe use a lace fan to cool themselves. Relatively
unknown in many cooler climate countries, hand fans are so important in Spain that
they are really a part of Spanish culture.
Apart from lace fans, the other tradition still carried on today in parts of Spain is for
women to wear the lace "mantilla" or Spanish veil on special occasions. In Andalucia
and Castilla mantillas are worn for Holy Week processions and weddings. There are
three main shapes -rectangular, fish, or triangular ("pollitas"), and they are worked
mainly in bobbin lace, particularly Blonde and Chantilly, which is extremely fine.
Motifs are generally floral but can also be landscapes and even human figures.
For the most part, lacemaking is a hobby in Spain but there are some regions where it
forms a local industry.
Camariñas in the northwest of Spain is a small fishing village where every year during
Holy Week they have a Great Lace Event including a fashion show.
Laces in Camariñas arrived from European countries. Its arrival to Galician lands was
done in multiple ways: invasions, soldiers, sailors or by means of the Camino de
Santiago.
The laces are worked with plaited grounds, leaves and tallies forming flowers, as well
as a lot of geometrical motifs.
Nowadays, the region of Camariñas together with Almagro in the center of Spain,
concentrates the major part of the lace sector which is estimated in 3.500 lacemakers
"palilleiras" and an important annual bill income from their production.
Camariñas Council has designed in the last five years a Development Plan for bobbin
lace, in order to activate formation, commercialisation, promotion and restructuring of
the sector, which in short time has managed to invigorate it through each generation,
recovering ancient designs and making new ones. The versatility of lace has permitted
the diversification of its application in the textile sector, spreading to decoration and
design of objects as presents.
Almagro in La Mancha, is also important in lacemaking history, as ladies in the 16th.
Century earned their living from lace as described in Cervantes book Don Quixote.
Since 1766 to 1800 laces became an industry when first Mrs. Rita Lambert, and later
Mr. Juan Bautista Torres coming from Madrid and Catalonia set up an important lace
industry, mainly Catalonian Blonde. At that moment the Catalonian production was
exported to Europe, and Almagro became the first domestic supplier. Almagro's laces
were worked with heavier threads than Blondes made in Catalonia.
A typical "mantilla" made in Almagro worked in silk which remembers gothic
architecture was also popular, though it is surprising that there was not any gothic
style building in the zone. That probably means that this kind of lace was carried there
by people outside there too.
Tradition never declined completely, so you can find nowadays, if you visit La Mancha,
the ladies seated at their home doors, in different villages of the region working laces
in the open air during summer time. They work Encaje Popular (paysant lace) similar
to those worked in Camariñas, but leaves are worked in a longish way and they are
combined with geometrical clothstitch motifs. Numerical laces are also made,
influenced by the nearest region of Extremadura.
thread indeed that links them all, and that is lace. The origins of lacemaking in Spain
can be traced back to the Middle Ages when beaded trims or passementeries were
introduced. They were the precursors of lace, originating in the Middle East where
fibers were twined and plaited to decorate clothing. The oldest piece discovered in
Spain was that of a metallic golden "guipure" that surely trimmed an ecclesiastical
vestment belonging to St. Domingo de Silos in the 11th. Century.
"Guipure" is a very old verb, meaning "to roll thread around a cord".
At the beginning of the 16th. Century, laces always contained a gimp which formed
the pattern, and the term has been preserved.
In modern language this word is applied to any lace with geometric designs, flowers
or arabesques, held together by loops or bars in contradistinction to other laces that
are made with an all-over net ground.
It started to be called lace because firstly it was worked separately and then joined to
material. We get in Spanish the word "encaje" from the ancient word "encaixe"
similar in its sense to "fit".
The first piece to be considered as lace as we know it, worked with white thread and
gold was found in Vic in Catalonia also on an ecclesiastical vestment.
It was not until the 15th. and 16th. Cneturies that lace came into its own when ruffed
collars were fashinable. Lace was extremly costly and so a person's wealth and
standing in society could be judged by the amount of lace he or she wore.
In the 16th. Century bobbin lace developed in Catalonia along with a needlepoint
called Point of Catalonia. Over the next 200 years metallic laces worked with gold
and silver threads were used for decorate ecclesiastical articles and the Madonnas's
dresses. Point d'Espagne orPoint of Spain was the name given in origin, by French
manufacturers using gold o silver threads,and its production in Spain achieved great
distinction being one of the most celebrated.
In the 18th. Century lace making became an important industry, organized so that
designers supplied the patterns and materials to lacemakers who worked the lace in
their homes. Silk, blondes and chantilly techniques were used, sometimes using
bobbin and needle lace together. They were greatly influenced by the French style but
evolved to fine linen laces named Catalonia Blonda or Puntes d'Arenys, this latter
from the village where they originated.
The Mares Lace Museum located in the village of Arenys de Mar (40 Km. from
Barcelona) owns a magnificent collection of laces where a wide range of techniques
are displayed, from the 15th. Century to the present day.
Although lacemaking suffered a decline in the 19th. and 20th. Centuries as a
handmade craft, there is now a revival. Lace courses and events are programmed in
every village troughout the country, in Catalonia the Annual Lace Day Event attracts
up to 3.000 lacemakers from all over Spain.
Lace days take place in the open air from March to December and the ladies can be
seen seated at tables demonstrating lacemaking techniques to the passers by. When it
gets particularly hot, they maybe use a lace fan to cool themselves. Relatively
unknown in many cooler climate countries, hand fans are so important in Spain that
they are really a part of Spanish culture.
Apart from lace fans, the other tradition still carried on today in parts of Spain is for
women to wear the lace "mantilla" or Spanish veil on special occasions. In Andalucia
and Castilla mantillas are worn for Holy Week processions and weddings. There are
three main shapes -rectangular, fish, or triangular ("pollitas"), and they are worked
mainly in bobbin lace, particularly Blonde and Chantilly, which is extremely fine.
Motifs are generally floral but can also be landscapes and even human figures.
For the most part, lacemaking is a hobby in Spain but there are some regions where it
forms a local industry.
Camariñas in the northwest of Spain is a small fishing village where every year during
Holy Week they have a Great Lace Event including a fashion show.
Laces in Camariñas arrived from European countries. Its arrival to Galician lands was
done in multiple ways: invasions, soldiers, sailors or by means of the Camino de
Santiago.
The laces are worked with plaited grounds, leaves and tallies forming flowers, as well
as a lot of geometrical motifs.
Nowadays, the region of Camariñas together with Almagro in the center of Spain,
concentrates the major part of the lace sector which is estimated in 3.500 lacemakers
"palilleiras" and an important annual bill income from their production.
Camariñas Council has designed in the last five years a Development Plan for bobbin
lace, in order to activate formation, commercialisation, promotion and restructuring of
the sector, which in short time has managed to invigorate it through each generation,
recovering ancient designs and making new ones. The versatility of lace has permitted
the diversification of its application in the textile sector, spreading to decoration and
design of objects as presents.
Almagro in La Mancha, is also important in lacemaking history, as ladies in the 16th.
Century earned their living from lace as described in Cervantes book Don Quixote.
Since 1766 to 1800 laces became an industry when first Mrs. Rita Lambert, and later
Mr. Juan Bautista Torres coming from Madrid and Catalonia set up an important lace
industry, mainly Catalonian Blonde. At that moment the Catalonian production was
exported to Europe, and Almagro became the first domestic supplier. Almagro's laces
were worked with heavier threads than Blondes made in Catalonia.
A typical "mantilla" made in Almagro worked in silk which remembers gothic
architecture was also popular, though it is surprising that there was not any gothic
style building in the zone. That probably means that this kind of lace was carried there
by people outside there too.
Tradition never declined completely, so you can find nowadays, if you visit La Mancha,
the ladies seated at their home doors, in different villages of the region working laces
in the open air during summer time. They work Encaje Popular (paysant lace) similar
to those worked in Camariñas, but leaves are worked in a longish way and they are
combined with geometrical clothstitch motifs. Numerical laces are also made,
influenced by the nearest region of Extremadura.
Gold laces worked in Point of
Spain.
Spain.
Catalonian Blonde or Puntes
d'Arenys
d'Arenys
Simona fan worked in Camariñas
laces
laces
Almagro wood carved bobbins
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