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WHERE
NEEDLELACE HAD ITS BEGINNINGS
A
3,000-year-old brooch, found in ancient Armenia
and now in the Berlin Museum, shows two women
wearing head scarves edged in lace similar to the
lace-edged scarves worn by Armenians in the past.
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In her book
Armenian Needlelace and Embroidery, Alice Odian Kasparian states that in her opinion, Armenia was
not only the original home of needlelace but of needle art in general.
She cites four archeological
discoveries as support. Each of these discoveries,
going back some 3000 years, depict women in fine
dress with lace on the edges of their clothing.
Further, Serik Davtyan, a textiles
and needle art authority believes that the same
evidence supports his belief that the people of
Armenia were familiar with the methods of lace
making centuries before the art reached other
parts of the world.
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 The first is a requirement for raw material
such as hemp, flax, cotton, wool and silk for the threads.
A native plant of Armenia was hemp described by the
Armenian word djout
(pronounced jute). The workshops in Van were called djoutaran.
Flax called voush
was also used for lace. There is also evidence that
ancient Armenia possessed silk made from the silk worm, like the Mulberry
tree. The secrets of unraveling silk from
cocoons needed for silkmaking became the secrets of the
Armenian heritage. There is no evidence to indicate if
silk in Armenian preceded that of China.
The second is the availability of vegetable, animal and mineral sources
for the dyes as well as the knowledge to prepare the
dyes. The trade of dyeing existed in every Armenian
community. They were called Boyajian,
which is also a common Armenian name. Worms from the
valley of Ararat made a red dye. Logwood gave a
bluish-black color. Vortan
garmir (or cochineal) was a fast
red. Turmeric berries, onion skins provided yellow.
Catechu gave the browns. Indigo the blue. Other colors
came form plants, fruits, buds, roots and nuts.
The third are the tools needed to weave the lace such as
needles, hooks, knives and thimbles. At first lace was
made by knotting with the fingers. Tools made of fish or
bone soon developed. However, Armenian lace could not be
done by hand and required too much tension for fish or
bone. Rather, Armenian lace required tools of iron. Hans
Wulff in his book, "The Traditional Crafts of Persia",
suggests that there is evidence that Armenians possessed
iron ore and knew how to process it centuries before
other peoples. Evidence exists to indicate that Armenians
used iron or steel needles as early as 1000 B.C. Steel
needles were not manufactured in Europe until 1370 A.D.
Finally, the special hard woods for the looms, frames and
hoops are required not only to prepare the thread, but
also to prepare the web warp (the set of threads placed
in the loom) and woof (texture of the lacework).
Armenia’s rich forests of oak and walnut trees
provided the required woods.
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The combination of each of the
four requirements resulted in lacework becoming
the artistic gift of every Armenian woman. When
they visited each other they would bring their
threads and needles. Armenians today are
blessed with a richness of heritage that goes
back over 30 centuries. Such craft has been
placed in museums leaving machines to manufacture
the needlework of today. Gone are the creative
detailed works of our grandmothers; what is left
is the lifeless cloth of progress.
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Thanks to Bob
Takvorian, MA for the contribution of this article.
Reference: ARMENIAN NEEDLACE & EMBROIDERY by Alice
Odian Kasparian
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Raw products such as hemp, flax,
cotton & silk for threads