The oldest written document where lace from Idrija is mentioned dates back to the year 1696. In the beginning lace made of thick flax thread and were thus of lower quality were primarily meant for the domestic market, ecclesiastical lords and the wealthier farm owners. In 1860 Štefan and Karolina Lapajne opened the first lace shop in Idrija. At the same time a fundamental change occurred: the former continuous laces were replaced with composed laces and the generally introduced and used lace-making technique was the so-called broad ring, the ring where seven pairs of bobbins were used. The company Franc Lapajne, established in 1875, succeeded on the demanding markets of the western and northern Europe. The need for professional education was growing and in the year 1876 the Ministry of Trade in Vienna decided to establish a Lace School in Idrija. Through courses and schools, where teachers from Idrija were in majority, knowledge of lace-making spread to the region of Cerkno, the wooded area of Trnovski gozd and to the valleys of the Selška Sora and the Poljanska Sora.

After the annexation of the western and the south-western part of our country, including Idrija, to Italy in 1920 the requirements of the market changed. Idrija could only compete with a larger quantity of produced lace, which dictated a simpler way of making lace, using only five pairs of bobbins – the narrow ring. After WWII it was mainly elderly women with humble pensions who were making lace constantly. After having nationalised the company Franc Lapajne, lace trade in Idrija was led by the Lace-making cooperative and later the firm Čipka. In the 1990s new sales galleries and studios were established for designing, making and selling lace and lace products.

Mirjam Gnezda



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