Gereedschap voor een naaldkantmotief in de vorm van kleermakerslinnen waarop groen perkament is genaaid met witte traceerdraden in boekenleggervorm c. 1906 - 1910

This lace pattern design was made at the Kantwerkschool, or Lace Making School, in The Hague. It’s a strip of green parchment, about 20 centimeters long, with white thread sewn on to create the design for needlepoint lace. The pattern features delicate, repeating floral motifs inside circles, all traced in fine white thread, and it makes me think about a kind of proto-digital, or early analogue method. The lace makers at the school must have spent hours, even days, meticulously working the threads, following a pre-set pattern but yet with subtle variations. I keep thinking of Agnes Martin, and how her grids are so seemingly regular but so full of the touch of the hand; this work feels related to that. These designs feel really connected to a longer history of pattern-making, the cross-pollination of ideas, and the conversation across generations and cultures. I mean, we are all stealing from each other all the time, aren't we?