Stradun is the name of the pedestrian walkway in limestone between the Ploce and Pile Gate in old Dubrovnik of Croatia. Exploring the medieval quarters, my eyes fell on two women, oblivious of the hundreds of tourists passing by while concentrating on their work. Coming closer, I saw the women with two small cushions like pillows on their laps and expertly using bobbins of thread to weave pretty lace objects. On enquiry, one of them, Koncejski Sladana, explained in broken English that this handicraft of lace making was hundreds of years old and that she and her friend belonged to an NGO in capital Zagreb which has been working at keeping the craft alive.



Lace items Dubrovnik. PHOTOS BY AUTHOR



A tradition

Croatia’s lace making craft, in fact, is recognised by UNESCO as an ‘Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’. Called Cipka work in general, the tradition dates back to the Renaissance era in Europe. However, according to the official UNESCO website: ‘The difference between the lace making in other European countries and in Croatia lies in its creators. In Europe, lace making was in the hands of nuns, bourgeoisie and nobility, while in Croatia it was transferred from them to the hands of rural women in small villages. They have made lace for traditional clothes and furnishings.’ Done by rural women as a source of additional income, ‘it has left a permanent mark on the culture of its region. The craft, both produces an important component of traditional clothes and is itself testimony to a living cultural tradition.’

Croatia has three strands of lace making tradition, each distinguished from one another. The one I witnessed in Dubrovnik is known as ‘Bobbin lace’. It is made by braiding thread wound on spindles, or bobbins over a network of pins on a pillow.

Once it is finished, the pins are removed, and the pretty lace is released from the pillow. The designs are a combination of stylised geometric, floral, and animal motifs. It is always done in white flax or cotton thread and often used to make laceribbons for folk costumes or is sold at village fairs. The centre of this tradition is Lepoglava in the northern part of Croatia which first began in medieval times with the Order of Saint Paul. In fact, at first the lace pieces were meant for churches and as adornment during religious ceremonies. Later, it became part of clerical clothing. It was only later that village women used them as embellishment for traditional clothes and shoes. An international lace festival is held in Lepoglava every September to celebrate the town’s lace making culture.

Ingenious

Then there is the unique lace making tradition in the Hvar island, an hour away by speedboat from Split, the resort city in the Dalmatian region of Croatia. Arriving there, I was introduced to this style of lace making done by the Benedictine order of nuns in a small museum where their work is displayed from past to present.

Wonder threads

The nuns live in reclusion in the nunnery not far from Hvar town’s centre. Their ingenuity lies in extracting threads from agave plants looking somewhat like aloe vera plants, common in the island. A potted plant of agave greets you at the entrance. Thin, white threads are obtained from the core of fresh aloe leaves and woven into a net or other pattern on a cardboard background. You can’t but be awed by the patience and devotion of the nuns for fashioning out the beautiful lace motifs sometimes referred to as ‘agave lace.’ This lace remains the sole preserve of the Benedictine nuns of Hvar.

Pag lace takes its name from the Pag island in the Adriatic Sea. It is made with needle point in a spider web pattern and is embellished with geometrical motifs.



Hvar Island



But the lace makers do their work without any drawing. Each worker adds her own personal touch to a pattern perhaps learnt from her mother or grandmother making each product unique. The finished product is firm and, unlike other Croatian laces, it can be washed. Pag lace is still made in the age-old fashion coming down from centuries. A school has been opened to keep the tradition alive where older generation of women offer year-long courses. Pag is also famous for its flavoured sheep milk cheese. Lace has been worn as an adornment since the late 15th century in Europe, treasured for its delicate workmanship and airy patterns. In the beginning, decorative trims were created by threads getting removed from a woven cloth to create open patterns and then embroidered.

When the techniques for bobbin and needle lace were created, it was a departure. Not depending on solid cloth, the open designs were created with thread over a pattern and there was no backing fabric.

Debates are still on whether Italy or Flanders — bordering Belgium and France — is the birth place of needle lace. But it is agreed that bobbin lace was first developed in Italy and Flanders at around the same time. Experts say that before that, there is no authentic record of lace making. When lace adornments became popular with kings and nobles in Europe, and later as bridal wear, its value escalated as the handicraft needed long hours of painstaking labour. Machine-made lace arrived much later. In this sense the three Croatian lace making styles have maintained their unique tradition.