Not everyone is given the opportunity to enter the museum during their lifetime. The nine lacemakers of Alençon have this privilege. The unique pieces that they make within the Atelier national naturally find a place behind the display cases of the Museum of Fine Arts and Lace, when they do not directly join the collections of the Mobilier national.
It is not given to everyone to be the central character of a play that was the star of the last Avignon festival. A rare privilege, once again, that the lacemakers of Alençon owe to the kindness of Caroline Guiela Nguyen, director of the Théâtre national de Strasbourg and associate artist of the Théâtre national de Bretagne in Rennes, who, in her new show, Lacrima highlights the unique know-how of little hands
ornaises.
The director went there I was overwhelmed by the beauty and technicality, but also struck by the blood and tears shed for these creations,”
explained Caroline Guiela Nguyen this summer to West France. She learned that lace makers could suffer from heart problems because they regularly held their breath to better concentrate on the stitches. So they looked out for each other.
Read also. Why is Alençon lace in Orne unique in the world?
The patient work of lacemakers is all the more fascinating because it is the inverted symbol of a society that moves too fast. Time seems to stand still when we observe these fairy fingers that make the needles dance in a tiny and perfect choreography. Consider that it takes about ten hours of work to make a square centimeter of lace. “
It is an activity which requires surgical precision “, says Pauline Nkundwanabake, 32, a lacemaker for six years.
The fascination also lies in the history of a technique, the…
