site.btaLace Craftsmen from around the World Visit Kyustendil to Learn about Local Embroidery and Lace

Lacemakers from around the world visited Kyustendil to learn about the local embroidery and lace on Thursday. The group included 67 delegates from the 21st Congress of the World Lace Organization, held in Karlovo 16-18 August, said Dr. Bistra Pisancheva, co-founder of Sedyankata studio, in an interview for BTA.

“Kyustendil is an attractive city for me, as it has examples of needle lace that cannot be found anywhere else in the world,” commented Pisancheva, DSc in Folklore Studies. She noted that museums and private collections across Western Europe have displayed the lace work of Kyustendil.

She told BTA that lace made in Kuystendil is complex and unique, nothing like lace from both abroad and other parts of Bulgaria. Pisancheva believes that this complexity explains the great variety, where no two shirts feature the same lace pattern. She added that for her, lace is like a second life, and lacemakers are her second family – more colorful and joyful.

Kyustendil artist Evgeni Serafimov noted that the group of lace experts came to Kyustendil mainly because of the embroidery, which recently attracted attention. It was presented in a contemporary way as something traditional by also referencing examples from the past. 

“We are showing them the collection of the Partnyori [Partners] Dance Formation, which includes authentic Kyustendil folk costumes, and more specifically authentic Kyustendil shirts from the late 19th century. These are finished with the so-called complex needle lace, which has disappeared because it is extremely difficult and slow to make and requires a very fine needle,” Serafimov explained. The group included lace makers from New Zealand, Australia, Puerto Rico, Belgium, Finland, Switzerland, Sweden, England, France, Belgium, and Japan. Pisancheva gave the example of an 83-year-old woman who traveled by train for 11 days and stayed in nine different hotels to reach Karlovo from her town in the United Kingdom to attend the 21st Congress of the World Lace Organization.