Annual courses

APPROACHING BOBBIN LACE

Dedicated to new lacemakers

Saturday 14:30 to 17:30

Practical course: basic ideas, first stitches, terminology in use.

A training course dedicated to those approaching bobbin lace for the first time and during which the basic concepts necessary to begin will be taught. Some lace artefacts will be made.

Weekly course - 60 hours 

Instructor: Natalia Tagliabue Porro

Sede: Corte San Rocco, Via Matteotti 39

After the pre-enrollment (which is not binding to the participation in the course) all participants will be informed about services offered, available materials and actual cost of enrollment.

The course will be held if a minimum number of enrollments is reached. It has been designed for an optimum of ten participants.

For more information on cost and availability, please send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. quoting “Approaching Bobbin Lace courses” as subject or by telephone 348 2215068.

ADVANCED COURSE IN BOBBIN LACE

Dedicated to expert lacemakers

Tuesday afternoon from 14.30 to 17.00

By means of the experience of the master lacemaker it will be possible to consolidate, deepen and improve one’s own technical skill in the art of bobbin lace.

Weekly course - 60 hours

Instructor: Elena Arienti

Sede: Corte San Rocco, Via Matteotti 39

After the pre-enrollment (which is not binding to the participation in the course) all participants will be informed about services offered, available materials and actual cost of enrollment.

The course will be held if a minimum number of enrollments is reached. It has been designed for an optimum of ten participants.

For more information on cost and availability, please send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. quoting “Advanced course in Bobbin Lace” as subject or by telephone 348 2215068.

INSERTING LACE INTO CLOTH

After the pre-enrollment (which is not binding to the participation in the course) all participants will be informed about services offered, available materials and actual cost of enrollment.

The course will be held if a minimum number of enrollments is reached. It has been designed for an optimum of ten participants.

For more information on cost and availability, please send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. quoting “Advanced course in Bobbin Lace” as subject or by telephone 348 2215068.
 

LACE DESIGN

FRI 23 OCT 2015  09.30 - 12.30 / lunch break / 14.30 - 17.00 / “High Tea” break / 17.30 - 18.30

SAT 24 OCT 2015  09.30 - 12.30 / lunch break / 14.30 12th Biennial Event / 16:00 - 18.30

SUN 25 OCT 2015  9.30 - 12.30


Place: Cantù, Corte San Rocco, via Matteotti 39.

Teacher: Thessy Schoenholzer Nichols. Assistant: Mrs Mariarita Colombo

Prerequisites: a love of decoration (note: no need to be graphic artists or designers).

This course, through the application of dynamic, technical and practical methodologies, allows participants to give free rein to their creativity.
It will be organized in two phases: after developing numerous sketches, the student will proceed to execute his/her best idea, transforming it into a “pattern” that could actually be transformed into lace. Each student will make many drafts which might become the basis for a lace design.

Besides the decorative aspect, ample space will be reserved for the technical/operational phase concerning the preparation of “patterns” which are the classic aid for the craft of bobbin lacemaking in Cantù. The function of “patterns” is to provide hints from which the lace maker can get new inspiration for her activity; they also help the lace maker to acquire a wider knowledge of the great variety of stitches that can be realized from a pattern and will provide the students with a basis from which they can start to improve their practical skills.

The course will be held if a minimum number of enrollments is reached. It has been designed for an optimum of ten participants.

For more information on cost and availability, please send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. quoting “Lace design course” as subject.

After the pre-enrollment (which is not binding to the participation in the course) all participants will be informed about services offered, available materials and actual cost of enrollment.

INFO FOR THE NON RESIDENTS
Cantù is a municipality of Brianza, an area where the tradition of bobbin lace is an important part of the local heritage and is cultivated by expert lace makers with an eye to the preservation of the past and a great enthusiasm for the novelties of contemporary design.
The 12th International Lace Biennial might be an opportunity to spend a few pleasant days in the industrious Brianza discovering a craft that lives on in time overcoming with style the changing fashions.
In order to facilitate the participation of people who live outside the territory of Cantù (coming from abroad or from distant places), the Committee has activated a particularly favourable convention with a new guest-rooms facility that will be opened in the month of June.
Our guests will have at their disposal newly restored bedrooms with bathrooms and a shared kitchen area for the two weeks of the Biennial. And what’s more, you might take advantage of the vicinity of the Expo or of the nearby conspicuous natural and architectural beauties through the guided tours that the Committee will organize in accordance with your needs.
We are sure that our event will be of interest for you and look forward to your response about our courses and accommodations. Our best regards to you.

AMONG BACKGROUND STITCHES

Friday 09:30 – 12:30 / 14:30 – 18:30

Saturday 11:00* – 13:00 / 14:30 – 19:30

Sunday 09:30 – 12:30

* On saturday morning the beginning of the course has been postponed at 11:00 in order to allow the participants who wish to do so to pay a visit to the Library of the Art Lyceum Fausto Melotti where a section of our exhibit is held.

Prerequisites: knowledge of bobbin lace.

Auxiliary materials: course pack. (On enrollment participants will be informed about the material to be made available by the instructor and what each participant must bring).

Drawing from the common heritage of local tradition, some of the background stitches most frequently used in bobbin lace will be taught. The production of bobbin lace in Cantù is very rich of background stitches that have been gathered, sorted out and codified by the Art School (nowadays Art Lyceum Fausto Melotti) between the end of the XIX and the first half of the XX century.
For each stitch, the participants will receive the scheme of the threads twine and the pattern of execution that they will turn into the realization of a sample lace. At the end of the course the participants will have formed a small album that will be working tool from which they will draw inspirations to enhance their long cultivated passion.

The course will be held if a minimum number of enrollments is reached. It has been designed for an optimum of ten participants.

For more information on cost and availability, please send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. quoting “Among Background Stitches” as subject.

After the pre-enrollment (which is not binding to the participation in the course) all participants will be informed about services offered, available materials and actual cost of enrollment.

INFO FOR THE NON RESIDENTS
Cantù is a municipality of Brianza, an area where the tradition of bobbin lace is an important part of the local heritage and is cultivated by expert lace makers with an eye to the preservation of the past and a great enthusiasm for the novelties of contemporary design.
The 12th International Lace Biennial might be an opportunity to spend a few pleasant days in the industrious Brianza discovering a craft that lives on in time overcoming with style the changing fashions.
In order to facilitate the participation of people who live outside the territory of Cantù (coming from abroad or from distant places), the Committee has activated a particularly favourable convention with a new guest-rooms facility that will be opened in the month of June.
Our guests will have at their disposal newly restored bedrooms with bathrooms and a shared kitchen area for the two weeks of the Biennial. And what’s more, you might take advantage of the vicinity of the Expo or of the nearby conspicuous natural and architectural beauties through the guided tours that the Committee will organize in accordance with your needs.
We are sure that our event will be of interest for you and look forward to your response about our courses and accommodations. Our best regards to you.

* In foto: alcune pagine dell'album di merletti realizzato da un'alunna dell'Istituto Statale d'Arte negli anni '50 del secolo scorso.

APPROACHING THE ROSALINE LACE

First notions for the realization of bobbin laces with the “Rosaline” stitch used in Cantù. The “Rosaline” stitch is inspired to the stitch of the same name which was widely used in laces produced in Belgium in the last decades of the XIX century which, in its turn, was inspired to the needle laces produced in Venice throughout the XVIII century. The participants will make samples and a simple artifact. As an aid to the course a course pack will be provided covering the subjects that will be taught. (On enrollment participants will be informed about the material to be made available by the instructor and what each participant must bring).

THURSDAY 22th October 2015 14:30 – 18:30 (with a break for High Tea)

FRIDAY 23th October 2015 09:30 – 12:30 /lunch break/ 14:30 – 18:30 (with a break for High Tea)

SATURDAY 24th October 2015 09:30 – 12:30 / 14:00 – 16:00 (Event 12th Biennial) 16:30-18:30

SUNDAY 25th October 09:30 – 13:00

Teacher: Elena Arienti

Place: Villa Calvi, Cantù

Prerequisites: knowledge of bobbin lace

The course will be held if a minimum number of enrollments is reached. It has been designed for an optimum of ten participants.

For more information on cost and availability, please send an e-mail to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. quoting “Among Background Stitches” as subject.

After the pre-enrollment (which is not binding to the participation in the course) all participants will be informed about services offered, available materials and actual cost of enrollment.

INFO FOR THE NON RESIDENTS
Cantù is a municipality of Brianza, an area where the tradition of bobbin lace is an important part of the local heritage and is cultivated by expert lace makers with an eye to the preservation of the past and a great enthusiasm for the novelties of contemporary design.
The 12th International Lace Biennial might be an opportunity to spend a few pleasant days in the industrious Brianza discovering a craft that lives on in time overcoming with style the changing fashions.
In order to facilitate the participation of people who live outside the territory of Cantù (coming from abroad or from distant places), the Committee has activated a particularly favourable convention with a new guest-rooms facility that will be opened in the month of June.
Our guests will have at their disposal newly restored bedrooms with bathrooms and a shared kitchen area for the two weeks of the Biennial. And what’s more, you might take advantage of the vicinity of the Expo or of the nearby conspicuous natural and architectural beauties through the guided tours that the Committee will organize in accordance with your needs.
We are sure that our event will be of interest for you and look forward to your response about our courses and accommodations. Our best regards to you.