Irish lace in Brittany: a human and economic necessity

Following the Irish model from the 1850s, a domestic Irish guipure industry also developed in France in the latter years of the 19th century. First, quite briefly in Franche-Comté and the east of the country, then very quickly in the southwestern tip of Brittany.

At the beginning of the 20th century , the entire economic and social fabric of the fishing ports of Cornouaille and their surrounding areas was based on sardine fishing, the keystone of the meager incomes of a large majority of families.

 

At the turn of the 19th to the 20th century , the migratory whims of the small silver fish put a stop to this mono-activity, throwing the populations of the fishing ports of Douarnenez to Concarneau, passing through Audierne and the Bigouden country into poverty .

Unlike Ireland 50 years earlier, famine was narrowly avoided thanks to a local and national solidarity movement, orchestrated by local notables and religious institutions.

But, as the crisis continued, soup kitchens were no longer sufficient in the long term, and other solutions had to emerge.

Nuns and ladies of local high society, taking up the Irish initiative 50 years earlier, imported the guipure technique from Ireland and taught it to cannery workers and their daughters, providing them with an alternative income.

Mrs. Penanros and Chancerelle in Douarnenez, Mrs. de Lécluse in Plouhinec, Sister Pauline in Guilvinec, Mrs. Chauvel and Sister Suzanne in Ile-Tudy, Miss de Lonlay in Lanriec, Nevez and Trégunc, created “ouvroirs” workshops, where several hundred lacemakers produced Irish guipure.

Many others worked at home. In 1910, a prefectural study estimated the number of professional or occasional lacemakers in South Cornwall at around 2,500.

The lace thus produced was collected and resold in Paris and the United States, via the Professional Syndicate created by the Franche-Comté native Mlle de Marnier, or by the Pichavant house in Pont-l'Abbé which also supplied the thread.

It even had its moment of glory, proudly exhibited at the Lace Festival at the Tuileries in 1905.

Thus, 50 years apart, Irish lace saved two communities, already very close in their history, by providing them with income and restored dignity.