THE BEGINNING

HOW THIS WHOLE THING STARTED!

As we all know from life experiences, many things happen from incidental situations. They're always the most interesting twists and turns because you're not sure how it started, but there you are, all of a sudden, in the midst of something unexpected.

As Product Development Director for my company, D'Angelo Home Collections, i'm always on the hunt for unusual products to develop for our retail customers, including Bed, Bath & Beyond, Linens ‘n Things and other Fortune 500 retailers. I had traveled to India previously and seen most of what was available – native products made from local materials, fine craftsmanship in various mediums, products already being imported to the U.S. and being sold in the market. I've designed several categories of home textile products, such as table linens, bath rugs, area rugs, etc., but these products can only differ from the competition primarily by new design elements, but no big surprises. After all, a 100% cotton bath rug is just that, made ‘different' for the new season by adding a special yarn here and there or some trendy color or pattern. This I've done. But something REALLY new would be interesting…

My friend, Kavita Mallik, was heading for her native India via Singapore. She is familiar with products I'd made and projects we were researching at that moment, moving more into decorative tabletop and other textile categories. I asked her to ‘keep her eyes open' in case she saw something interesting during her trip to Singapore and India.

A couple of weeks into her trip, we spoke and she told me she had been connected to a distant relative living in Chennai who was making home textile products and “had this beautiful, unusual lace” I might like. The relative, Aruna Seth, was introduced and immediately sent me a huge box of samples. “Here we go again…” I thought. More ‘stuff” that looks like everyone else's stuff. I couldn't imagine India was making some kind of worthwhile ‘lace' if I've never seen it in the market before.

I was confused when I opened the box of samples. This could not be from Aruna but perhaps was sent from someone by mistake from France or Belgium. I knew some people there – maybe it was from them. Slowly, it became clear it was Aruna's lace and samples, and, as I read her “bio” of how she came to have this amazing lace, I had to sit down and catch my breath.

The story of the lace should be read under the website section of the Wall Street Journal article. It explains all and no one could write it better than Ellen Byron, the Journalist who traveled with me to interview Aruna and the Lace Ladies in Southern India.

To see the lace, you cannot help but envision your Grandmother. It conjures up memories of days gone by. But the most unusual moment was traveling all the way to the tip of the India continent to see girls sitting in Convent workrooms making intricate, detailed Venetian Lace. Local village Ladies, previously trained in the Convent while schoolgirls, now working in “social units” organized by Aruna Seth, were making Point Milan and Cluny lace, sitting in small groups with bobbin lace making ‘pillows' and scores of little wooden bobbins dangling from the last row just twisted and woven by flying fingers, all the while in a tropical village tight with rubber, banana and jackfruit trees. Many homes have hard, red clay floors, thatched roofs and a few plastic chairs in the living room for seating. “Bedrooms” are mostly a woven mat placed on a bare floor. This is an region you would more likely expect to see someone making a wood or beaded decorative piece or something from the local coconuts, but certainly not pure white, delicate lace with pure Irish linen.

Aruna with a Lace lady

Aruna explained her history and how this evolved from a simple request from a man in New York, an Austrian man, who owned a specialty store for high-end linens. He heard about these lace makers, the result of Belgian Christians settling in this area in the early 1800's and introducing their traditional bobbin lace making skills to the local girls. The goods were exported to Belgium and France in prior years, now replaced even in the land of its' origin by machine made lace. Lace techniques were passed onto the local girls who left the direction of the Convent when they married, then having no application for continuing the skill, the Convent Lace Girls, now Ladies, moved on to other necessary work. The photo entitled “the competition” shows a typical broom head made in a small local factory where lace girls may end up working for a few pennies more.

The Competition

Aruna resurrected the skills of the married Ladies and started a ‘social unit' to bring them together and begin making lace outside the Convents. This was 15 years ago. Fast forward. The man from Austria with the New York store passed away. Some small hotels were purchasing lace napkins, doilies, table linens with lace trims and other items. Aruna was trying to increase lace sales so more Ladies would have employment, including making other types of products such as beautifully embroidered pieces from special embroidery techniques from France. Things were starting to move forward bit by bit, but the orders from the New York store needed to be replaced in order to keep the Girls & Ladies working.

Aruna and I met in November of 2004 in New Delhi. She is a soft, elegant woman in traditional dress, still sporting her long, dark hair. A modern lady with a Masters in Fine Art, she has a true ‘eye' for color, balance and design. When we met, her hope was to replace the business lost by the death of her Austrian customer and bring in more women to learn skills of making lace, embroidery and other product skills. We made an agreement during that trip to work together and save the art of the lace making, increase sales, offering higher wages and better working conditions to attract more ladies to make lace.

Aruna & Victoria

Then December came. Along with it, the Tsunami. In that one ‘moment', the small hotel customers, especially those in Sri Lanka, vanished. The small, clean building on the beach used by the Lace Unit #1 was destroyed. Many of the ladies already employed were lost or displaced, certainly turning their attention to their families and survival. The number of ladies was now reduced. Aruna and I spoke at length and decided at that moment we would regroup and rebuild because saving the art of lace making should not disappear because of this unique tragedy. She is dedicated and realized if she does not save the art, it is gone forever – from everywhere! I've joined her battle and we're on our way. Seeing the community where the lace is made, visiting the Convents, meeting the girls and ladies and seeing the Tsunami affected area, but mostly seeing the actual lace ensured we could never walk away and let this die. THIS IS THE LAST OF ITS KIND, just like a beautiful creature on the verge of extinction. If this were a whale or a bird – remember when the American eagle was in danger? People rally – people care. That's why we've brought this out in the open and will pursue vehemently whatever is necessary to save this ‘endangered' art form. It's a skill of motion and balance, delicacy and stamina, and, most of all, it's the way the Lace Ladies support their families and survive in a beautiful but unforgiving environment. One day soon, I would like to show these lovely Ladies where their beautiful lace is sent, for them to understand the appreciation anyone viewing the lace has for their skills. This would be a moment to remember.

If you would like more information regarding the process, history or our efforts to preserve this fine art form from extinction, please contact Victoria at D'Angelo Home Collections, Inc., info@dangelohome.com , or
call: 877-745-5278 .