Irish guipure: the golden age of crochet

The appearance of crochet in Europe

Although the exact origin of crochet is unknown, traces of it can be found in various cultures around the world, including Europe, Africa and Asia.

Today, knitting and crochet are considered to have the same ancestor: Nalebinding (“binding with a needle” in Danish), used during the Viking period in Scandinavia to create durable clothing.

It is generally accepted that crochet as we know it today emerged in the late 16th century.

Several countries claim its invention, including England, Germany, Scotland and France.

It was first taught to young girls by nuns in convents. As the technique developed, crochet became a favorite pastime of ladies at the courts of Italy, Spain, and France.

In the wealthier classes, women worked with cotton thread and crochet, imitating the precious needle lace of Spain and Italy, notably the prestigious Venetian lace.

The emergence of Irish guipure

Between 1845 and 1852, the mildew crisis that struck the whole of Europe caused an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe in Ireland.

In the second half of the 19th century, the Great Famine caused the death or emigration of around 1 million people, more than a third of the island's population.

In this dramatic context, nuns taught the technique to the poorest, providing them with a replacement income.

The success was immense, with Irish guipure being exported all over the world for clothing and decorative uses.

A real domestic industry was born, Irish women raised their heads, and this popular art became a national symbol.

Following the Irish diaspora, the technique was exported throughout the world, to Europe, the United States, Australia, and even Asia.

The transmission, which until then had been exclusively oral, was now the subject of a multitude of publications throughout Europe, from the second half of the 19th century to 1914.

Irish guipure in France

Among the works that continue to be a reference today, we find in a very prominent place those of French authors: Mlle Riego de la Branchardière (considered the mother of modern crochet), Mme Hardouin and Thérèse de Dillmont.

In France, too, a domestic Irish lace industry developed in the last years of the 19th century, first in Franche-Comté, then throughout the east of the country, and finally, and most importantly, in Brittany.

This surprising development, driven by the Assistance through Work movements, occurred against the growth of mechanical lace ( Leavers lace from Calais-Caudry), which at the same time sounded the death knell for the bobbin and needle lace industry.

So much so that a rivalry arose between Irish and French lace makers, who, through their respective distribution channels, fiercely competed for the market of the elegant bourgeois woman, both in Europe and in the United States and the Commonwealth.

A priceless heritage

Looking back, one can only be amazed at the contrast between the wealthy bourgeois women who wore this lace and the modest producers. But have things really changed today?

Irish or Breton, crochet lace makers wrote, probably without realizing it, a remarkable page in women's fashion.

From their remote lands, their modest workshops or homes, they produced with their own hands an incalculable number of lace-making marvels. Some of these priceless pieces are now exhibited in major New York museums.

"Ireland" was at the height of its popularity during the Belle Époque, then in 1914, a global cataclysm sounded the end of its hour of glory.