Discover the Worldwide Lace Culture in Ljubljana

Organizers are looking forward to the event

Afrodita Hebar Kljun, the president of OIDFA 2016 organizing committee explains: “On the one hand I see the Congress as a perfect chance for promotion of Slovenian lace and on the other hand also to present Slovenia as a tourist destination with a rich cultural offer”. She also ads: “I look forward to meeting the lace colleagues from all around the world and the opportunity to present to them the rich heritage of Slovenian lace, which is still very much alive. I would like to point out that the modern lace creativity of Slovenian authors is equivalent to the lace global trends, and often it even dictates them.”

Mega Lacemaking Event and the Lace Fashion Show

The organisers invite you to take a stroll along one of the main streets in Ljubljana city centre, the Stritarjeva street, from 18:00 to 21:00 on Thursday, 23 June. Why? The street will be full of bobbin lace makers from all over the world and we believe you will be able to test how skilled you are as well. The next day, on Friday at 21:00, you are invited to the Lace Fashion Show at the GR – Ljubljana Exhibition and Convention Centre, where renowned Slovenian fashion designers and students of fashion design will present their products.

You can check the full program at the OIDFA 2016 congress official page.

Did you know? The oldest written sources on making lace in Slovenia talk of Ljubljana

In the year of 1659 the rules of good behaviour for young noble women were written. We learn that the art of lacemaking "Niederlaendische Kleckel Art" was a noble task and was a part of the education for aristocratic girls. Thus, it is said that in the middle of the 17th century the noble girls in Ljubljana shortened their time with the bobbin making. Lace has also been an important component of aristocratic clothing and the living culture of the Ljubljana aristocracy, for what we can find prove in the noble inventories from the 17th and 18th centuries.