Ferragamo and the needle lace of Tavarnelle

From a private collection in Florence, since donated to the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum.

The following is an English version of my latest column in the Italian needlework magazine Giuliana Ricama issue no. 6. A couple of things to note: the Salvatore Ferragamo Museo in Florence gave me photos to include in the publication but I did not ask for permission to publish them here, so I do not include them with this translation. If you want to see them, obviously if you are in Italy you can get the magazine or go to the museum but you can also check out their website or you can explore the 20th century archives of the Ministry of Goods and Cultural Activities website.

From a private collection in Florence, since donated to the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum.

“There is no limit to beauty, no saturation point in design, no end to the materials a shoemaker may use to decorate his creations so that every woman may be shod like a princess and a princess may be shod like a fairy queen.” -- Shoemaker of Dreams. The Autobiography of Salvatore Ferragamo, London 1957, Italian edition 1971, edited by S. Ricci.

At the end of the 1920s Salvatore Ferragamo (1898-1960), known Italian fashion designer and founder of the fashion house of the same name, decided he wanted to use needle lace on a few models of his shoes. The nearby small towns of Tavarnelle, Mercatale and Greve, located between Florence and Siena, were centres of lace production in those days. Several models were created using the work done by local embroiderers in their own homes. Tavarnelle lace was used by Ferragamo again in the 1930s and 1950s and his big innovation was the use of colour in the needle lace. Some shoe models were called the Anna, Carina, Iride, Merletto and Sofia.

Ferragamo shoe model from 1930-1932.

Thanks to Mr. Ferragamo, the lacemakers of Tavarnelle embroidered for the most famous women of the day like Sophia Loren, Anna Magnani, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Elisabeth Taylor, Audrey Hepburn and many more.

In the archives of the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum in Via Tornabuoni, Florence are models of shoes and sandals decorated with the lace of Tavarnelle but unfortunately nothing is displayed in the museum's permanent exhibition. You can however write to the museum and make an appointment to study them.

In 1906 a nun named Arcangela Banchelli arrived in Greve in Chianti and, being acquainted with the technique of needle lace, taught it to the students of the embroidery school which was one of the activities cared for by the Order of the Servants of Our Lady of Sorrows.

Over time, the fame of this lace arrived in Florence and very soon it was popular with the companies who created trousseaux. The first commissions came from them but soon commissions were also arriving from private individuals. At one time every girl in the area had tablecloths, curtains and other household linen items in their trousseaux decorated with the lace of Tavarnelle. In the beginning the lace was quite complex but over time, due to the high commercial demand, it became more simplified in order to reduce production time.

Two doilies of Tavarnelle lace from my collection.

Tavarnelle lace derives from Venetian needle lace but has a technical preparation more similar to Aemilia Ars needle lace from Bologna. The design is drawn on wax paper which is placed on top of 5-6 layers of butcher paper and all layers are then basted together around the outer edge. Then support stitches are added to aid in the working of the lace. Typical motifs worked are geometric shapes, flowers and leaves, small animals, religious symbols, initials and the figures of a man and woman. After the work is finished, the support stitches are cut on the back side and the lace is removed from the support.

About five years ago a lady named Carla Cantoni from San Casciano Val di Pesa decided to recreate an old design of a Ferragamo shoe with Tavarnelle lace for her own personal use:

Created for private use by Carla Cantoni, San Casciano Val di Pesa.

These shoes were created using Ritorto Fiorentino pearl cotton no. 12 and took approximately 90-100 hours to create the lace. Aren't they lovely?

In 2002 Ebe Ciampalini Balestri published a small volume (in Italian) on this technique called: Il "Punto Tavarnelle", e dintorni... It is still available direct from the Pro Loco di Tavarnelle tel: 055 8077832.

Thank you very much to Blandina for the use of her photos of her mother's shoes which she donated to the Salvatore Ferragamo Museum and to Carla for the photos of the lovely shoes that she made for herself.

Printwork Embroidery or Ricamo a Chiaroscuro

Some fun news, I've starting writing a regular column for the new Italian embroidery magazine Giuliana Ricama that I told you about here. They have graciously permitted me to print an English translation of my column here on my blog when each issue that it appears in has come out. So, if you're in Italy and you'd like to read the article in Italian, you'll have to contact the magazine, but for those English speakers, it is below. Please note that the photos of the actual embroidery did not appear in the magazine due to technical issues and the photo of the original etching print does not appear here on my blog because the magazine purchased permission to use it and my blog did not.

One more thing: the photos of this embroidery were sent to me by a lady who contacted me trying to find out something about the piece that she had found at an antiques shop in the U.S. The photos are hers and are used here with permission.

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Printwork Embroidery is a technique of embroidery that imitates engraving artwork prints and was very popular in the first half of the 1800s. It then experienced a great revival after the The Great Exposition of London in 1851 where a masterpiece of the technique which featured a young girl embroidering surrounded by the alpine countryside was exhibited by the Swiss embroiderer J.U. Tanner.

Great pains were taken to precisely imitate the marks of the engraver and in order to reproduce the effect of the prints, the embroidery was executed in silk thread in either black or tones of seppia brown. In some cases the work was realized entirely with stitches while in others the background was given washes of colour in order to produce tones similar to the original etching and to avoid endless detailed stitching to obtain a three-dimensional effect.

Catalogues of Italian expositions of the period attest to many prizes being awarded for excellence in this technique as we can deduce from this quote: "...printwork embroidery in silk (awarded) for accuracy and fineness of work and for the well-understood application of shading". (Provincial Exposition of Industry and Agriculture held in Parma, 1871.) In that catalogue there are a dozen prizes which were awarded to this technique alone.

The photos are of a piece that was found at an antiques shop in Crystal River, Florida in the U.S. about 20 years ago. It is a work that is executed with great skill by an embroiderer whose name we know: Luigia Muzio. Dimensions of the piece are 18cm x 12cm and everything is stitched except the date which is printed in ink with a stain around it. After it was purchased, it was reframed using archival materials to ensure it's protection. The ground fabric is silk while the thread is difficult to determine whether it is very fine silk or hair. The embroidery is in good condition with the exception of a bit of deterioration at the top corners. The dedication reads: "For M. Maria Elisabetta Simons in thanks Muzio Luigia stitched 1869".

Depicted is Felice Orsini (1819-1858) an Italian patriot who became famous for his attempt to assassinate Napoleon III on the 14th of January 1858 and for which he was later guillotined in Paris that same year.

The original artwork print is signed Masutti (which could be the artist Antonio Masutti, 1813-1895) and today is part of the collection of the Risorgimento Museum in Turin, Italy. The embroidered copy meanwhile, can be found with the American lady who found it at her home in North Carolina. It is unknown if the embroidery was executed in Italy or in America.

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(The subject of the print is Felice Orsini making bombs of his own design in his room in England where he tested them before making the attempt on the life of the French Emperor in Paris.)

Thank so much to Susan for permission to use her photos and for the wonderful adventure of investigating this interesting piece!

Giuliana ricama - new needlework magazine

Last June I received an excited email from a friend in Verona with news that very soon a brand new embroidery magazine was about to come out with their first issue. My friend had met with and liked the people involved and was writing to tell me that she was sending me a copy.

There was much excited buzz online about this new magazine when the first issue was released. It was different from all its predecessors and distributed only through needlework schools. Issue "0" was free of charge!

Issue "0" of Giuliana ricama, June 2014.

Even before I received my copy I had lots of emails from Italian embroiderers asking if I knew about it, if I'd seen it yet, what did I think? Reviews were mixed. Some people were very enthusiastic, some less so. What I did hear loud and clear was that it was different from what people were used to - in every way. Change is good. The magazine had gotten people's attention and they were talking about it.

Italian embroidery magazines have traditionally tended to be beautiful. High-glossy pages full of breathtakingly beautiful masterpieces. Sparse on instructions, mostly eye-candy.

When my copy of Giuliana ricama arrived I tried to be impartial as I wanted to do a review on my blog. Large format (9 1/2" x 11 7/8") with perfect binding and a heavy card cover, it has semi-gloss paper inside and just over 100 pages. It's too big to fit in my scanner so I have to give you cropped cover pics.

The macramé beach accessories on the cover interested me. The first page inside the cover had an advertisement that promised digital download for your smart phone or tablet, this also interested me.

The letter from the editor asked for feedback, collaboration and ideas.

There was a wide variety of projects: traditional embroidery, drawn-thread work, cross-stitch, macrame, crochet, bobbin lace, trapunto, reticello, punto antico, cutwork, huck-weaving, sicilian filet lace. Traditional projects like bed linens as well as fun things like t-shirt embellishment. Relatively simple projects, nothing that seemed like years of work. The magazine seemed to me to be aimed at young women or perhaps women with younger children.

Personally, (and you know I'm interested in Italian needlework almost exclusively) while there were some Italian-needlework specific projects, I didn't think it would be a magazine for me mainly because of the level of simplicity and that I felt the projects were too "young" for me.

However, when issue No. 1 came out and I saw the cover art online with Sardinian Punt'e nù embroidery, I was curious enough to ask a friend to send me a copy. I was delighted to find that this new issue had a number of historical articles and an interview with one of the masters of Italian needlework.

Issue no. 1 of Giuliana ricama, November 2014.

I started to hear good things about the staff of the magazine from people who were meeting them at the various textile fairs and shows in Italy.

Giuliana Ricama was not distributed on newsstands but through Italian embroidery schools. If you wanted a subscription, you had to do it through your local needlework school. I liked this idea, it meant that only those who were interested had exposure to it. The down-side to this of course is that all those people who embroider at home without attending schools don't see it on the racks of their local supermarket. But really, how often do you see needlework magazines on the racks anymore? Unfortunately this also meant that those of us outside of Italy could not subscribe. I was very lucky to have a friend gift me with a subscription but I feel incredibly guilty at the cost of overseas shipping every time I receive a new issue and imagine that my friend has other things to spend her money on, but I'm grateful nonetheless that she is making it possible for me to see this magazine.

One thing I noticed immediately in this issue was that the ad promising future digital support was gone and I have since learned that they have decided not to pursue the digital subscription option.

Issue No. 2 arrived and I was happy to see that the historical articles and interviews seemed to now be regular features. The range of ideas for projects was widening, this time there were things for those people who like to do historical re-enactment costuming. Step by step photos of stitch instructions were more elaborate and numerous than previous issues. There were some more-involved and technically-advanced projects too, not just simple quickies anymore, though small projects were still offered as well.

Issue no. 2 of Giuliana ricama, February 2015.

I have to say, having seen the cover art online, I couldn't wait for Issue No. 3 to arrive. This time I was inspired to stitch more than one of the projects. There was a subscription form in this issue which meant that if you lived in Italy, you could now get your issues delivered to your home instead of your local embroidery school. The letter from the editor continued to ask for feedback and collaboration and to point out that they were implementing reader suggestions in an effort to improve the magazine with each issue. I think they are doing just that - improving with every new issue. I saw the collaboration of various embroidery schools who seemed to be abundantly submitting projects. I for one, am looking forward to seeing what the next issue holds - changed my tune, didn't I?

Issue no. 3 of Giuliana ricama, April 2015.

When I was in Italy this past April, I went to their offices to meet with the editor-in-chief Marco and the sales manager Nicoletta. We sat in a room full of boxes of needlework that had been sent to the magazine for future issue projects. I may have peaked, but I'll never tell!

The staff are very dedicated to the magazine and very much in need of support from anyone who is willing to submit projects, ideas and/or articles. Their interest is not limited to Italian needlework so this means that you can support them with any idea that you might have. Contact them here. They really do want to hear from you!

Just so I've said it, the text of the magazine is in Italian.

Giuliana Ricama website: http://www.giulianaricama.com/
Giuliana Ricama Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/giulianaricama