I have a fascinating job, namely teaching lace and make it. More than 25 years ago during my studies at the Dutch Lace Education, I started teaching. Currently I have two groups per week, each consists of about 4 to 5 persons. Generally I make and design the lessons myself. With the lessons at home, I teach people who are making lace as a hobby, but also artists, who might want to use it in their work.
Besides the lessons at home, I was in 2007 a guest teacher at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and gave in 2008 a seminar at the School of the Arts Utrecht. The purpose of these short courses is to acquaint the student with the lace and especially teach them a few basic techniques, so that they can apply it in their work.
I started lacemaking quite young. No wonder when your mother is making lace at home. As a child I sat next to her, when she was making lace and copied everything what she was doing with crayons.
Around my 13th birthday my mother was able to huy a lace pillow with bobbins of a friend of hers. It was at that time an enormous piece of good luck, because it was difficult to get the material. Under her guideance, I then started the game of bobbins, threads and pins.
This game still fascinates me: the calming of the rhythmic movements of the bobbins, the kant as the result, designing new lave or drawing old laces.