Watching this has inspired me to set a new goal: improve my sewing skills enough to purchase lace from Cluny, and make myself an edwardian lingerie dress inspired piece. I really hope that they find people to continue the work, and it's such a shame that the UK government doesn't subsidize and support these dying arts.
One of the pieces of Nottingham lace my grandmother left me was one of her mother's handmade nightgowns, trimmed with lace. I don't know how they managed to sow like that - you can't even see the stitches they are so small and even. In the 1960s hippy time, I used to wear this nightdress out in public!!
There is support for endangered crafts, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) Leavers lace is not on the Heritage Trust's Red List, but they do offer grants for craftspeople keeping endangered crafts alive as well as funding for training so younger people can learn.
It’s so good that this documentary is here on TH-cam now. It is high time that something happens. It’s British heritage and may not be lost. (Having said this I think it’s also world heritage). The tears in the eyes of the elderly gentleman at the end really got me😢
The way he uses that punch card machine makes me think of an organist. His hands and feet all going at the same time yet all acting independently. The skill it takes is nothing short of amazing. Hopefully he can train someone before it's too late.
My mother's family is from Nottingham, and my grandfather used to seek out orders for the lace company he worked for. I only visited his workplace once, and all I remember is the noise & smell. I wish now I had paid much more attention. I do however still have some pieces of the lace which my grandmother left me. Thank you for this video, you have brought back a memory I had completely forgotten about.
Lace making should be historically protected industry. I love making christening dresses using real lace. When the day comes and only nylon or polyester lace is available I will no longer make the gowns.
If I lived in England I’d be begging for them to teach me to be the punch card operator. What a wonderful skill that contributes to something so beautiful and unique.
*THEY NEED HELP MARKETING* because other industries producing quality traditional cloth etc are doing very well, tailors are very busy. People are starting to appreciate quality traditionally made cloth and trimmings - I just snapped up 112 meters of Hand Woven Harris Tweed at auction and I know every single mm of it will sell in my suit commissions before the mass-produced modern stuff.
And then there must be new and young people who see a future in it and are willing to make these skills their own. Like in restoring old houses, like a Tudor building, you need people who can do all those traditional building techniques. There’s a market for it.
@@carmenm.4091 ABSOLUTELY - Gen Z LOVE finding old traditional things to do for a hobby and a living. Tech is not special to them. An iPhone is a screwdriver -- its a tool. They LIKE "real" things. Im a semi-professional bespoke tailor of mens historical clothing - I bought a 13" pair of fabric shears custom made from a company in Sheffield. I passed the details on to Alec Scteel the TH-camr - he went and did a video, it went up on Monday and has 250k views already and Ive spoken to the company - they have had a LOT of orders. These are £100 to £550 scissors. But in 2024 there are a lot of people who care and have the money to buy quality things that have history woven into them.
@@carmenm.4091 ABSOLUTELY - Gen Z LOVE finding old traditional things to do for a hobby and a living. Tech is not special to them. An iPhone is a screwdriver -- its a tool. They LIKE "real" things.
I visited one of the Harris Tweed factories (there are 3 of them on the island of Lewis/Harris) and it was like my Disneyland. My company at the time was using the material on some of the boots we manufactured. It was the best in every way. It's such an amazing material!
In a situation like this to preserve the art form, the Gov can intervene by allocating funds for internship to students local or foreign whoever is interested to pursue. People need to participate in local issues, elections, stand up for those who don't have a voice or power. Sadly people spend their time on things that carry no value. Thanks for sharing this wonderful art form.
I do some bobbin lacemaking and we often hear about how machines killed off the traditional bobbin lace trade. But watching this video was like watching a nature program when you suddenly feel sorry for the predator because they are now being hunted down by something even bigger! The “new” technology eventually becomes a traditional form in its own right and now that is also endangered. It’s sad.
I also do bobbin lace and frankly find it hard to appreciate machine made lace, lever or otherwise, knowing the time and painstaking work involved in doing it the real traditional way, by hand and not the make-believe machine way. There is a there is as much difference between handmade lace and lever lace as there is between lever lace and mass-produced lace. The handmade lace is much more delicate and beautiful. It certainly isn't full of holes that have to be repaired.
This was the comment I was looking for! These machines were designed to mimic the work of human artisans. Our mind and technical ability is limitless. Do away with the machines and the problem is solved. We'd suddenly appreciate our artisans again after starving them off during the industrial revolution. Watching this makes me want to knit myself some lace curtains. So long as there are people, there will be lace. Enjoy your retirement robots 🤖 .
OKay so I tried to go buy some because that's my first go to whenever I see these types of videos. First of all they need to have a functional website, it's pretty buggy. Second of all they need to sell lace by the meter online. Thirdly they need to hire a person to learn over from the cardboard punch guy. For a business to thrive you need to be adaptable and focus on sucession planing and make your product accessible to the masses. No point whining. They live in England for g's sake, not in some war ravaged city with bad internet and import/export restrictions, if they put the effort to make it accessible they can do it.
Twenty years ago there should have been a full course press to strengthen this wonderful industry. It still needs to happen but playing catch up will be a bear. Multiple trainees for the cardboard punch guy and mechanics should be done ASAP. And for pity sake make the trainee (and teaching) positions alluring. Perhaps a break on taxes? Room & board? There are almost endless options here. All to be dependent upon an agreement to work for day a minimum of 10 years at the lace manufacturers. As for new pace designs: Really, no one at the universities or trade shops of this wide world can puzzle out the way to retrieve this lost skill??? Set out a challenge! It is difficult to see ones way through a morass of challenges when one is heavily burdened just trying to keep apace with the day to day of ever growing headaches. They need help, practical, sustained, hands on assistance. People eager, creative, & willing to listen & be attentive to what the seasoned employees here have to impart.
@@jkgannon1049 "Multiple trainees for the cardboard punch guy and mechanics should be done ASAP." I can't believe those cards couldn't be replicated by 3-D printing
@erinharkiewicz7239 Still why not have people trained in traditional methods? Yes, one could simply bow to the oldest tradition, hand making of lace, but I argue, there's room for both traditions.
I have bought their lace by the meter online through third party sellers. I'm not sure they do direct sales to customers. He said in the video that he has tried to train people to do the card punching, but no one finished the process. It's a tough job, and, I imagine, it requires years of on-the-job training with very little monetary reward. Plus, with so few people working there, it's probably hard to train someone while you're trying to meet existing production quotas. And if the quotas aren't met, they can't pay anyone. I don't know the ins and outs of their business, but I don't think they are facing problems from lack of trying. We exist in an economy that's best suited for fast, easy, and cheap products, and this style of lacemaking is none of those things. When people can buy nylon lace for $1 a yard/meter, it's nearly impossible for lacemakers using older methods to stay in business. Unless there's some kind of subsidy for preserving historical processes that removes them from the pressures of the economy, they will not be able to survive.
They’re not trying to survive. They need a modern apprenticeship scheme so that the job is a bit more varied for the individual worker, look to capture a different market than the one they seem so proud of (Royal wedding dresses and couture houses) and like someone else said, get a decent website, produce stock items and sell worldwide to the public, for instance to the many women who make their own wedding dresses. I went to have a look and maybe buy a couple of metres - surprise surprise, I couldn’t.
Beautiful product, but folks.... This is learned helplessness. Digitize the cards and the patterns that "no-one can make ever again" and make the punchcards out of something more durable than cardboard for pete's sake! UHMW plastic comes to mind immediately. Scan the patterns that have the numbers written in and OCR/sequence them, and then make a machine that punches the patterns. This is not hard; a good high school robotics team could knock it out in a school year. Their product is beautiful, but it's still a business, and businesses need to modernize (and market!) in order to survive.
The punch cards need to fit inside of the machine. And I imagine all that friction creates heat. Does 3d printing get thin enough and does 3d plastics hold up to friction and heat?
@@tracinickerson307punch card home knitting machines use thin plastic. You can punch your own patterns using a manual puncher. I wonder if you can make your own leavers lace machine with a similar concept. Their equipment is also wearing down and no one has made one in about 60 years.
@@tracinickerson307 3-D printing certainly can be thin enough, and I guarantee that some of the 3-D printing media is at least as "tough" as cardboard as to both friction and heat
The TV channel NHK World Japan has made many similar programs stressing the importance of passing these kinds of ancient skills along to a younger generation before they are lost forever. Pottery, clothing dyes, traditional food preservation - from pickles to making soy sauce - all are fascinating and many are at risk of being gone forever. Hoping the government or school system in the UK can step in to set up a teaching program for these lace makers.
In Japan had an artisan title figure called "Alive National Treasure". The goverment pay a month check to the artisan for continuing their craft, althought they had custormers or not.
Surely one of Britain's Living History museums would be interested in acquiring your business, repairing machines, learning the skills, exhibiting them to the public, & meanwhile making a product to sell. While there may be ways to streamline & modernize the process & to preserve the tools (scan & computerize the punch cards), one of those places should be ideal for preserving the skills of the early days. I hope you find someplace with an interest & that the gentleman who does the punch cards can find someone who is so fascinated with the rocess that a little dirt isn't a deterrent. I for one, do adore lace & I have miles of it (OK, maybe yards?), old & new, handmade & machine. If I were rich, I should love to be buried in a lace shroud with lace shawls given to all the mourners---now THAT would be a party!
I am surprised they have not thought of making a master out of Stainless steel as it can be lightweight enough when thinner and still strong enough to last longer than cardboard. But a machine can be created to punch the cardboard using the master key. Because lace is so expensive today, I have been learning to make my own lace for a dress that I designed. Only because I wish to only use cotton and not nylon or polyesters. Both of those fibers create so much static on me, I’m tired of getting zapped when reaching out to get something off the shelves in the supermarkets. It’s why I have been converting my clothes from any nylon or polyesters to linen, wool, cotton and a few other fabrics just like linen. Polyester clothes make you hot, sticky and sweaty and then it smells yuck, over time that smell just never gets washed out anymore so the garment had to be binned, it’s unless as rags as it does not soak up messes so your not able to recycle it as easy, sure you could make a rug out of it but I’m not sure how well it would turn out or last. The worst fabric ever invented was polyester, it’s flammable but worst still it melts so your clothes end up melting onto you if caught in a fire. That happened to a friend back in the 90’s her back, legs and arms were so badly damaged she was in critical care for over a year with so many skin grafts being done using the skin from the front of her legs and arms. No it’s time for the world to turn back the clock and start using natural fibers for clothing.
Depending on the natural fiber. Cotton is actually really bad for the environment -- even organic -- as it uses so much water. Bamboo is better in that regard. I hate synthetic fibers, but it's so hard to find natural fiber clothing these days that isn't cotton.
@@the_real_littlepinkhouseflyMining uses so much more water and that's how we get a lot of the synthetics. At least pure cotton doesn't end up as micro-plastics in humans and the environment, like synthetics do. Synthetics never disappear.
My son is a glass blower. No synthetic fabrics are allowed in the hot shop. One dreadful day a young lady ignored the rules. Her clothes melted into her. She survived but .......
I agree 💯%. Trying 2 get back 2 all natural fibers myself. Cotton/linen, etc just feels so much better in warm climates...but it is getting more difficult to find them. Wish I could learn how to sew and find hemp.fabric.. 😊
It's kind of odd hearing "the skills are gone", when there is at least one other company out there, manufacturing lace with seemingly the same technology. There is a Business Insider Video with basically the same content but about a French company (th-cam.com/video/y5uX143hx38/w-d-xo.html) and they seem to be able to create new patterns just fine...
I spent one week study types of lace and din´t understand a lot of things. It´s amazing to see these machines working! About a lack of workers, sometimes is not the hard work, is the work environment. With 24 I´m trying to work in the automotive field and din´t hired me because I´m a woman. And in book binding field, I started as apprendice, soon I learn by myself make to work a very vintage paper sewing machine, I wish to be there all of my life (with very poor salary) but my boss emplyed a boy "because a woman can not be a master binder" says. This is sad. Young people wish to work, but old folks dind´t care about nothing. Anyway, I´m crying to found a vintage place like this to work.
what makes me sad is that this is still machine work, this is so easy compared to the handmade things we already lost, can you imagine what we are losing here? we already lost handmade patterns and now we are losing machine patterns ...
In a way handmade is easier to revive because of the scale of it. These machine made crafts require such a huge range of support industries to keep them going many of which are also dying arts themselves. It makes it so hard for them.
Most likely. It's another factory job, and one that's likely cleaner and safer than a lot of others. If people will work for a biscuit factory or automaker, they'll work here if it pays a living wage.
It already cost $50 a yard and that’s just the base price sometimes they can cost $300 a yard people just aren’t willing to pay that when you can get the machine made polyester stuff to the untrained Sorry to say, but there’s just not that much difference to me there is I’m a seamstress and I love levers lace. I saw children’s heirloom clothes, but it cost $700 to make an infant gown with levers lace. Unfortunately, they simply can’t pay people enough. It’s not that they don’t want to.
@@amandaglidewell8451 you can get mass produced cotton lace at a fraction of the price of lever lace. Lever lace is mass produced machine made. Real lace is made by hand, not machine, but that would be even more expensive. For something fine and intricate, like Bucks point lace, at 3cm wide, it can take me about 5-10 hours to make 3 cm.
I thought the same thing. I'm pretty sure that, for example, the replication of additional cards could be handled by high-level scanning and 3-D printers
They desperately need young apprentices, and an organist to run that card punch machine! I would love to make a hobby project out of figuring out how to make new patterns, It looks like something I used to do as a kid. someone in the 1700's figured this out I think we can do it again!
I crochet lace so I have some inkling of what goes into these pieces. It is a beautiful art and a shame it is dying out. When I make something to give to someone (I never sell my work) they know just how much time and love has gone into the piece. Now I am at the stage of teaching my 12 year old granddaughter to crochet.
My Dad's job was a lost art, too. He was a Printing teacher. By the time he retired, it was only a couple of years until it was obsolete. Now, printing is all.done by computers. It was a beautiful art form that was practical, too. I can still smell the printer's ink, hear the clank of the machine, and see his nails embedded with black ink. It is sad this beautiful art form of lacing making is dying..I can relate that's for sure. 😢
I had heard of cluny lace from my grandmother. It's a total shame that the UK doesn't totally support this company. It is a part of the British history.
So beautiful, intricate, and technical. For something that took so long to develop and perfect to disappear is so sad. 'Tis the way fo the world though. EVERYTHING is only temporary.
Sad to see this old industry go. But please bear in mind, those of you offering advice: it’s not just replacing the cards, or finding apprentices with good aptitude to learn the skills and prepared to work for a small wage, or finding engineers who can repair the aging machines, or finding new markets for the product…. It’s All Of These At The Same Time!! These people aren’t defeatist or stupid, they are just being realistic. I’m sure the 1000s of patterns they have will be recorded in some way.
I feel like, they could give reviving pattern making a shot. I'm sure if you were to digitalise all existing patterns and then use a combination of training a model on it and having a very crafty person check them, they would be able to make new ones. I'm sure with the right marketing, fashion brands would go crazy for custom high quality lace, unique to their brand. Worst case, even the punching can be done by a machine, if noone is willing to learn the skill. It is mainly punching copies of existing cards. Finding a more durable material that works on the existing machines as cards would also help
It's a great shame apprenticeships can't be offered and get more people trained. The cards need to be scanned so they can be reproduced if need be. Government should helping support this British treasure for the future.
The tories during austerity massively cut funding to the Arts Council and the Crafts Council. They made a conscious decision to let our heritage die. These skills need to be preserved; they are living history.
Gee, who would have thought putting punishing regulations on domestic production while allowing foreign imports that don't have the extra overhead and can severely undercut the domestic producers would cause issues?!
why is something machine made an art form? Its mass produced. You wouldn't call knitting using a punch card system on a machine handmade or an art form, so why is this any different?
@@1aikane perhaps you should look up the meaning of art form. It is a style of art. Something that is a completed object is not an art form. Art form is a medium, a style, not a finished object.
There seems to be a resistance to adapting to modern retail opportunities. I'm in America and I went to the website to attempt to purchase some pf this lovely lace and the website is outdated and I gave up my attempt after clicking form one page to another. You won't survive if the masses can't get to you. You can't rely on fashion houses only, the public wants access It doesn't have to be a dying art, there are people who want to learn and be trained, but again, adaptability. Invest in the business and hire web designers and get that online sales ship launched. There's big money waiting!
I love handmade products. (for heaven's sake, not only do I knit, I spin yarn with a hand spindle) And of course this sort of lace requires human hands at virtually every step. But as for replacing the cards, producing new parts for the machines - I can't help but think that 3-D printers could solve these problems. And I can't help but think that AI assistance could recover the skill for creating new patterns.
how is something made by machine handmade? Handmade cluny lace is done on a lace pillow, by hand, not by machine. It's like saying a manual typewriter is handwriting.
@@warpedweft9004 Look how much hands on work is involved in this - your argument is like saying handspun wool isn't handspun if you use a spindle. Tools are always involved in virtually any human activity
@@erinharkiewicz7239 that is a very poor analogy. These machines are like the very old telegram and fax machines and pianolas. They are mechanical, machines. A spindle is not.
@@erinharkiewicz7239 you might just as well that hand embroidery is mechanical because you use a needle. There's no human creativity in this if you are not designing the patterns yourself and working them by hand. You punch a set of holes in card according to a predetermined pattern, and the machine does the rest. They aren't even designing any new patterns.
@@warpedweft9004 I have no idea why they aren't designing new patterns - and the idea that the ability to do so is "lost" is nonsense. There are French lever lace factories (you can find a Business Insider video) and they are doing new patterns all the time.
There’s absolutely college students out there who’d want to create software for their dissertation to digitize the paper patterns so they aren’t lost to time. You could also absolutely create a CNC style machine to create the punch cards. And I KNOW there are nerdy enough fiber loving folks out there who could decipher the language of the old patterns (basically figure out what all the symbols mean again) so that new patterns could be created. The savior for this vintage mechanized but not fully industrialized art is to introduce computers. If a CNC machine can do the messy job of punching the cards, then you need a CNC operator who won’t be nearly as messy and won’t develop arthritic or repetitive motion injuries. If someone can design software to digitize the old patterns then the CNC machine will have file types to read AND there will be a method to create to patterns which can then be done anywhere, by anyone with the knowledge to use the software. You would still need people. People to thread the machines, design patterns, babysit & program & maintain not just the industrial machines but the computerized ones too. They REALLY need to get involved with a university or multiple universities with textile programs AND computer science programs. THE ANSWER LIES WITH THE YOUTH!
Twenty years ago in Canada, I had the good fortune to purchase two tablecloths of heavy cotton Cluny lace at a local thrift shop. One lace cloth was given as a gift, the other still graces my table.
Fascinating my father-in-law and grandfather in law worked in silk Mills here in America. My grandfather in law was the one who was in head of all the patterns and he would walk the catwalk watch to make sure they were doing it right.
we are losing so much of what makes us human in this new ages of digitization and automation and globalization. so many mastercraft artforms disappearing before our very eyes....
Machine no one can repair, punch cards no-one can replace, one fire away from disaster, one dude who only knows how to do it who has arthritis… all that for a fabric that my grandma would love. has this company done anything to make themselves future-proof or were they too busy feeling sorry for themselves? Like wow get a grip
This is the sort of video that is sadly lacking on TH-cam. That said I’m not convinced that these people aren’t their own worst enemies - the company should have been recruiting and training new staff 10, 15, 20 years ago - at very least they could have promoted the royal wedding connection - plenty of others have done so in the past (think Emmanuels - unheard designers became a household name). But the card-punch guy isn’t selling his job “look at me, I’m dirty” great advert, i don’t think!
Tradition is wonderful, but if a company doesn’t modernize at all, it will stagnate and die. It seems like a few smart changes could update the business enough to make it viable in the modern day without removing the tradition behind it.
I saw a reply to one of the posts giving a link (th-cam.com/video/y5uX143hx38/w-d-xo.htmlsi=-1-6qRtCqzuBWvAq) to a video about one of the French lacemakers. OK that video is a couple of years old and things may have changed but the difference in attitude is incredible. The French aren’t downplaying the problems (100 year old machines for one thing) but they are so much more upbeat about the business - even creating new designs. Their comment that drawing the new design is the longest part of the process (3weeks) is telling - the British company just said there are no new designs.
I wonder if there's a long documentary about this and without background music , with just people narrating and the beautiful sound of these majestic machines?
Maybe young migrants would be happy to learn. Foreigners still cultivate fine motor skills in their children, girls embroider in Romania or Guatemala for example.
Scan the punch cards. Print on 3D printer. You'll have to work out the best filament to use, and they will probably break more than the cardboard, but it will be something.
It makes me sad that they are not training young people at all tasks. Such as training a new card puncher, yes a new person will be slower but it is better to train while the experience is still alive
Those cards are essentially binary codes,using AI would be an overkill. Putting aside that issue, when we are talking about preserving the practice, we don't just talk about continue producing it, but the process of it. Of teaching the muscle memories of the fingers punching the holes, of maintaining the history of the machine, of making lace patterns with organic detailed shapes that was trying to replicate handmade ones from their past.
@@imageez this art is in grave decline, I am just thinking how to preserve the knowledge until we are in a time where young people can do this for a living again. It’s just an idea..
Yeah I mean people are trying to relearn how to make a super fine type of muslin from Bangladesh and they have had to piece together how it was made being able to have the patterns would help
@@anikaphillips1372 I was just going to use this example too, if the process and tools were preserved in detail this could help revive the art at a later point. As the people would not be around to teach it there words and ideas can be preserved in AI from to teach and even improve the process.
@@KindellArmstrongI think it’s a very good idea to keep these cards safe in some shape or form (in a digital place) against possible destruction by fire. All could be lost to prosperity if that happened.
Life keeps changing and so many personal achievements are forever gone and irreatreavable . I hope that someone somewhere that has money cares enough to not let this precious way of lacemaking vanish into history. It is a cornerstone of human achievement that cannot be understood just with words. It takes seeing the lace and all of the details in making the lace to understand how and why it played such a huge part in history. Even handmade lace is very rare. I can’t even find any books about it in our vast collection of libraries here in Cuyahoga county, U.S. And I struggle to try to make it. I have grown old and have tried all my adult life to learn how to Tat. Another form of lace making. So it is here in my last years that I find online videos to teach. We are losing this precious art.
I hope this video helps people gain an interest is this style of lace making, even only as a hobby. I hope these videos help to revive dying arts before it is too late.
My grandmother worked in the Nottingham lace industry in the first half of the last century. She was a bobbin setter? a very skilled job. Nottingham lace was renowned all over the world.
They can't make any new patterns as that skill is gone. First, then you set to carefully digitizing every pattern and getting the originals archived. Without those, none of this would even happen.
I would literally move to England just to learn this skill in the hopes of keeping it from dying out. Suggestion: Reach out to engineers, die makers, mechanics and generally super smart people about making replacement parts, diagrams, blueprints and technical data sheets regarding repair. Perhaps even a new machine could potentially be built.
I'm a proud owner of the piece of leavers lace. I hope the company would survive 🙏 Art and crafts are national treasure and should be protected at all costs 🙏
They need to get people who are eager to learn to do some apprenticeships so that the art will not die out. Get Andrew Bridgen involved if he wins his seat, to see what he can do to encourage the new Government to take an interest in these traditional businesses.
Thosr pattern cards could be cut by a digital cutter, with their designs stored in a computer. A digital cutter could easily cut new cardboard patterns. Whenever an old one wears out. Old patterns (those 10k sets of patterns) could be difitized as well making it possible to recreate an older pattern. The technology wouldn't be hard, but it would take some time to tune thebprocess just right to produce the tight cards.for those machine, and software development, and time to scan and correct the older patterns.
80% of the Leavers machines are now in France, the lace they manufacture is labeled « Calais-Caudry ». 11 manufactures still in business. Furthermore the lace of the Royal wedding dress comes from Caudry, Maison Sophie Hallette.
Nowadays there are so many people with Asperger’s or autism’s. They would be perfectly suited for this kind of work…. They don’t mind repetitive work. They even like it..
With millions of global lacemakers in int'l organizations/biz. I'm stunned you didn't solicit CVs/applicants/refs to them! IOLI, BLEN, RSN, literally millions more!
My paternal grandfather's ancestors on his mother's side were involved in the lace trade in Nottingham in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. My great-grandmother's aunt was a 'lace mender' at 16 according to the 1880 census, and her younger brother, at 10 years old, was a 'threader'. It's hard to imagine him climbing through those machines when he should have been in school. It does seem that some type of government subsidy could be provided for hiring apprentices. The company should consider having the pattern books scanned and archived electronically for the future.
My parents had an import business of Scottish wool knit lace tights in the 1970’s. They were working with the looms in Scotland that were still using antique machines making a beautiful and practical garment. They are all out of business now,to expensive to make and not enough demand.
Your business won't survive if you have a negative mindset. There's so much you can do, Jesus people that make historical gowns would be all over your lace. Films that make historical adaptions. Businesses need to learn how to adapt to change. You need to update some areas,like make your database digital, but most you can keep traditional and use that as a USP. It seems you don't know where your market is, like I know they rely on big house brands etc. But I didn't hear any mention of bridal gowns. They're the most laced up things ever! You need to look for a different angle and different ways to monetise your business.
If you can’t see how the future of A.I. can solve all the “dying arts” that “will forever be buried in the past” by these ‘so very special,’ ‘only remaining facility of its kind,’ ‘I’m so good at what I do,’ in the very cliche style of humble bragging - then perhaps it’s about time for your art to die. It’s getting really tiring! #donvy
I don’t think people realise how hard it is to make a business like this work. “Just automate more” you say. “Update the punch cards” you say. “Just train more apprentices” you say. All of these things cost a LOT of time and money that is in limited supply. Also suspect some things might not be workable re automation etc you would have to replace the whole machine which would destroy the point. I suspect the punch cards can’t be made out of plastic as they wouldn’t work in such a machine. . . I suspect the website is difficult to navigate because they are only set up for wholesale and not small orders as small orders would not be sustainable for their business. Who would set up all that work for just a metre at a time? Yes, I would love it if they did small orders but for a business that’s all time and effort and money to implement. I really really hope they survive. It would be horrendous if they were lost. I agree the British government should do more but tbh if you asked most people in the UK if they would rather save a small heritage craft or make sure other things get paid for like people not dying they would probably pick the latter unsurprisingly. The only way to really resolve this situation is to stop buying fast fashion entirely and return to appreciating the value of clothes, clothes making and high quality fabrics that last. Then these sort of industries will survive.
The problem is that lace is associated in the minds of ordinary people with the rich and Royal weddings. Normal people wear work cloths most of the time. Fashion designers did recently produce lace designs for frocks but the lace was cheap imitation from abroad. The lace table cloth was from my grandma’s era. Perhaps lace shawls could become fashionable or think of all the young women covering their heads nowadays, lace scarves would be good. My family were well and silk weavers but when rayon came in these natural cloths disappeared into the luxury market.
Couldn't they upload pictures of the different styles so the styles aren't lost and could maybe be recreated jn the future? That and the blueprints for the machines. Though, you'd think lace being used in luxury products would help it stay alive? Then again, I dont see any modernization in the marketing or buisness side of things, no matter how luxurious a thing is, if you can’t market it, its bound to die
I don’t understand WHY no new patterns can be made? I wish they’d explained more about that. Surely there must be people left in the world who learned how to tat from a grandmother or someone. And WHY don’t the people at Cluny’s do outreach, get TV n media interested in doing more stories like this. Go talk to University textile classes. I’m sure there are people interested if they even thought about it!
Maybe they need to choose between preserving the old technology and preserving the lace. My Idea is the old technology should be preserved in a museum (dedicate part of the shop to that?) And for production it should be updated with, say, new, more durable material instead of cardboard. There are so many plastics now, they might find the right fit. It is very sad to see an old art dying. I love lace making and studied hand lace making, Vologda style
Watching this has inspired me to set a new goal: improve my sewing skills enough to purchase lace from Cluny, and make myself an edwardian lingerie dress inspired piece. I really hope that they find people to continue the work, and it's such a shame that the UK government doesn't subsidize and support these dying arts.
One of the pieces of Nottingham lace my grandmother left me was one of her mother's handmade nightgowns, trimmed with lace. I don't know how they managed to sow like that - you can't even see the stitches they are so small and even. In the 1960s hippy time, I used to wear this nightdress out in public!!
I was surprised when they said Cluny lace is only $50/metre, for such rarified fine fabric I was expecting more.
I use their lace in all my historical garments, and it's gorgeous stuff.
There is support for endangered crafts, unfortunately (or maybe fortunately?) Leavers lace is not on the Heritage Trust's Red List, but they do offer grants for craftspeople keeping endangered crafts alive as well as funding for training so younger people can learn.
When you succeed please put up a picture of the finished piece. I envy people with your skills, in the good way😊. Best of luck
It’s so good that this documentary is here on TH-cam now. It is high time that something happens. It’s British heritage and may not be lost. (Having said this I think it’s also world heritage). The tears in the eyes of the elderly gentleman at the end really got me😢
The way he uses that punch card machine makes me think of an organist. His hands and feet all going at the same time yet all acting independently. The skill it takes is nothing short of amazing. Hopefully he can train someone before it's too late.
But these punchcards remind me of 1970's computers!
Organist meets stenographer
My mother's family is from Nottingham, and my grandfather used to seek out orders for the lace company he worked for. I only visited his workplace once, and all I remember is the noise & smell. I wish now I had paid much more attention. I do however still have some pieces of the lace which my grandmother left me. Thank you for this video, you have brought back a memory I had completely forgotten about.
My great-grandfather ( before he emigrated to America, 1911) was a lacemaker in Nottingham. I find it all so interesting. ❤
Lace making should be historically protected industry. I love making christening dresses using real lace. When the day comes and only nylon or polyester lace is available I will no longer make the gowns.
Amazing
yeah its sad that it is going away, but if people dont want it... wasting resources on it is not a smart move
People like to spout out this positive sounding rhetoric but never actually invest in anything worth preserving.
If I lived in England I’d be begging for them to teach me to be the punch card operator. What a wonderful skill that contributes to something so beautiful and unique.
Surely there are people who long to learn these skills! I wish I had the opportunity!!
I would GLADLY apprentice to learn this art!
It's not lack of interest anywhere with these dieing arts but lack of good pay/conditions.
Me too!
@@Clubkidknitter
Reach out to them!
*THEY NEED HELP MARKETING* because other industries producing quality traditional cloth etc are doing very well, tailors are very busy.
People are starting to appreciate quality traditionally made cloth and trimmings - I just snapped up 112 meters of Hand Woven Harris Tweed at auction and I know every single mm of it will sell in my suit commissions before the mass-produced modern stuff.
And then there must be new and young people who see a future in it and are willing to make these skills their own. Like in restoring old houses, like a Tudor building, you need people who can do all those traditional building techniques. There’s a market for it.
@@carmenm.4091 ABSOLUTELY - Gen Z LOVE finding old traditional things to do for a hobby and a living. Tech is not special to them. An iPhone is a screwdriver -- its a tool. They LIKE "real" things.
Im a semi-professional bespoke tailor of mens historical clothing - I bought a 13" pair of fabric shears custom made from a company in Sheffield. I passed the details on to Alec Scteel the TH-camr - he went and did a video, it went up on Monday and has 250k views already and Ive spoken to the company - they have had a LOT of orders.
These are £100 to £550 scissors. But in 2024 there are a lot of people who care and have the money to buy quality things that have history woven into them.
@@carmenm.4091 ABSOLUTELY - Gen Z LOVE finding old traditional things to do for a hobby and a living. Tech is not special to them. An iPhone is a screwdriver -- its a tool. They LIKE "real" things.
@@carmenm.4091 Some of my clients pay £10 per button for a suit or a pair of trousers - people will pay if they know you exist.
I visited one of the Harris Tweed factories (there are 3 of them on the island of Lewis/Harris) and it was like my Disneyland. My company at the time was using the material on some of the boots we manufactured. It was the best in every way. It's such an amazing material!
In a situation like this to preserve the art form, the Gov can intervene by allocating funds for internship to students local or foreign whoever is interested to pursue.
People need to participate in local issues, elections, stand up for those who don't have a voice or power.
Sadly people spend their time on things that carry no value.
Thanks for sharing this wonderful art form.
Or they could ease regulations on domestic producers while heavily taxing or banning foreign imports...but that would work and makes too much sense.
@@mrsleep0000wouldn’t this simply cause a boom of domestic industrialized mass production? Not exactly what we’re after here.
I've come to realize that unfortunately the world is a changing place where quality made things like this do not interest people like in the past.
Hopefully this film will draw in the right persons to train for that card punching bit. That's pretty essential.
I do some bobbin lacemaking and we often hear about how machines killed off the traditional bobbin lace trade. But watching this video was like watching a nature program when you suddenly feel sorry for the predator because they are now being hunted down by something even bigger! The “new” technology eventually becomes a traditional form in its own right and now that is also endangered. It’s sad.
I also do bobbin lace and frankly find it hard to appreciate machine made lace, lever or otherwise, knowing the time and painstaking work involved in doing it the real traditional way, by hand and not the make-believe machine way. There is a there is as much difference between handmade lace and lever lace as there is between lever lace and mass-produced lace. The handmade lace is much more delicate and beautiful. It certainly isn't full of holes that have to be repaired.
This was the comment I was looking for! These machines were designed to mimic the work of human artisans. Our mind and technical ability is limitless. Do away with the machines and the problem is solved. We'd suddenly appreciate our artisans again after starving them off during the industrial revolution. Watching this makes me want to knit myself some lace curtains. So long as there are people, there will be lace. Enjoy your retirement robots 🤖 .
It would be very sad if no-one made leavers lace; it’s such an exquisite embellishment.
OKay so I tried to go buy some because that's my first go to whenever I see these types of videos. First of all they need to have a functional website, it's pretty buggy. Second of all they need to sell lace by the meter online. Thirdly they need to hire a person to learn over from the cardboard punch guy. For a business to thrive you need to be adaptable and focus on sucession planing and make your product accessible to the masses. No point whining. They live in England for g's sake, not in some war ravaged city with bad internet and import/export restrictions, if they put the effort to make it accessible they can do it.
Twenty years ago there should have been a full course press to strengthen this wonderful industry.
It still needs to happen but playing catch up will be a bear.
Multiple trainees for the cardboard punch guy and mechanics should be done ASAP.
And for pity sake make the trainee (and teaching) positions alluring. Perhaps a break on taxes? Room & board? There are almost endless options here.
All to be dependent upon an agreement to work for day a minimum of 10 years at the lace manufacturers.
As for new pace designs:
Really, no one at the universities or trade shops of this wide world can puzzle out the way to retrieve this lost skill???
Set out a challenge!
It is difficult to see ones way through a morass of challenges when one is heavily burdened just trying to keep apace with the day to day of ever growing headaches.
They need help, practical, sustained, hands on assistance. People eager, creative, & willing to listen & be attentive to what the seasoned employees here have to impart.
@@jkgannon1049 "Multiple trainees for the cardboard punch guy and mechanics should be done ASAP." I can't believe those cards couldn't be replicated by 3-D printing
@erinharkiewicz7239
Still why not have people trained in traditional methods?
Yes, one could simply bow to the oldest tradition, hand making of lace, but I argue, there's room for both traditions.
They do have lots of sellers online, eBay has some direct from them and Etsy sells it too.
I have bought their lace by the meter online through third party sellers. I'm not sure they do direct sales to customers.
He said in the video that he has tried to train people to do the card punching, but no one finished the process. It's a tough job, and, I imagine, it requires years of on-the-job training with very little monetary reward. Plus, with so few people working there, it's probably hard to train someone while you're trying to meet existing production quotas. And if the quotas aren't met, they can't pay anyone.
I don't know the ins and outs of their business, but I don't think they are facing problems from lack of trying. We exist in an economy that's best suited for fast, easy, and cheap products, and this style of lacemaking is none of those things. When people can buy nylon lace for $1 a yard/meter, it's nearly impossible for lacemakers using older methods to stay in business. Unless there's some kind of subsidy for preserving historical processes that removes them from the pressures of the economy, they will not be able to survive.
They’re not trying to survive. They need a modern apprenticeship scheme so that the job is a bit more varied for the individual worker, look to capture a different market than the one they seem so proud of (Royal wedding dresses and couture houses) and like someone else said, get a decent website, produce stock items and sell worldwide to the public, for instance to the many women who make their own wedding dresses. I went to have a look and maybe buy a couple of metres - surprise surprise, I couldn’t.
They sell through eBay! And sellers have it on Etsy.
Beautiful product, but folks.... This is learned helplessness. Digitize the cards and the patterns that "no-one can make ever again" and make the punchcards out of something more durable than cardboard for pete's sake! UHMW plastic comes to mind immediately. Scan the patterns that have the numbers written in and OCR/sequence them, and then make a machine that punches the patterns. This is not hard; a good high school robotics team could knock it out in a school year.
Their product is beautiful, but it's still a business, and businesses need to modernize (and market!) in order to survive.
You are completely right.
The punch cards need to fit inside of the machine. And I imagine all that friction creates heat. Does 3d printing get thin enough and does 3d plastics hold up to friction and heat?
@@tracinickerson307punch card home knitting machines use thin plastic. You can punch your own patterns using a manual puncher. I wonder if you can make your own leavers lace machine with a similar concept. Their equipment is also wearing down and no one has made one in about 60 years.
@@tracinickerson307 3-D printing certainly can be thin enough, and I guarantee that some of the 3-D printing media is at least as "tough" as cardboard as to both friction and heat
@@tracinickerson307 Don't need to 3D print, they could be punched or laser cut from precut sheets of plastic or metal.
This makes me sad to see the extinction of an art form. Is this progress?😢
The TV channel NHK World Japan has made many similar programs stressing the importance of passing these kinds of ancient skills along to a younger generation before they are lost forever. Pottery, clothing dyes, traditional food preservation - from pickles to making soy sauce - all are fascinating and many are at risk of being gone forever. Hoping the government or school system in the UK can step in to set up a teaching program for these lace makers.
In Japan had an artisan title figure called "Alive National Treasure". The goverment pay a month check to the artisan for continuing their craft, althought they had custormers or not.
Surely one of Britain's Living History museums would be interested in acquiring your business, repairing machines, learning the skills, exhibiting them to the public, & meanwhile making a product to sell. While there may be ways to streamline & modernize the process & to preserve the tools (scan & computerize the punch cards), one of those places should be ideal for preserving the skills of the early days. I hope you find someplace with an interest & that the gentleman who does the punch cards can find someone who is so fascinated with the rocess that a little dirt isn't a deterrent. I for one, do adore lace & I have miles of it (OK, maybe yards?), old & new, handmade & machine. If I were rich, I should love to be buried in a lace shroud with lace shawls given to all the mourners---now THAT would be a party!
I am surprised they have not thought of making a master out of Stainless steel as it can be lightweight enough when thinner and still strong enough to last longer than cardboard. But a machine can be created to punch the cardboard using the master key.
Because lace is so expensive today, I have been learning to make my own lace for a dress that I designed. Only because I wish to only use cotton and not nylon or polyesters. Both of those fibers create so much static on me, I’m tired of getting zapped when reaching out to get something off the shelves in the supermarkets. It’s why I have been converting my clothes from any nylon or polyesters to linen, wool, cotton and a few other fabrics just like linen.
Polyester clothes make you hot, sticky and sweaty and then it smells yuck, over time that smell just never gets washed out anymore so the garment had to be binned, it’s unless as rags as it does not soak up messes so your not able to recycle it as easy, sure you could make a rug out of it but I’m not sure how well it would turn out or last. The worst fabric ever invented was polyester, it’s flammable but worst still it melts so your clothes end up melting onto you if caught in a fire. That happened to a friend back in the 90’s her back, legs and arms were so badly damaged she was in critical care for over a year with so many skin grafts being done using the skin from the front of her legs and arms.
No it’s time for the world to turn back the clock and start using natural fibers for clothing.
Depending on the natural fiber. Cotton is actually really bad for the environment -- even organic -- as it uses so much water. Bamboo is better in that regard. I hate synthetic fibers, but it's so hard to find natural fiber clothing these days that isn't cotton.
@@the_real_littlepinkhouseflyMining uses so much more water and that's how we get a lot of the synthetics. At least pure cotton doesn't end up as micro-plastics in humans and the environment, like synthetics do. Synthetics never disappear.
My son is a glass blower. No synthetic fabrics are allowed in the hot shop. One dreadful day a young lady ignored the rules. Her clothes melted into her. She survived but .......
@@the_real_littlepinkhousefly "Bamboo fiber" is only rayon too.
I agree 💯%. Trying 2 get back 2 all natural fibers myself. Cotton/linen, etc just feels so much better in warm climates...but it is getting more difficult to find them. Wish I could learn how to sew and find hemp.fabric..
😊
It's kind of odd hearing "the skills are gone", when there is at least one other company out there, manufacturing lace with seemingly the same technology. There is a Business Insider Video with basically the same content but about a French company (th-cam.com/video/y5uX143hx38/w-d-xo.html) and they seem to be able to create new patterns just fine...
I spent one week study types of lace and din´t understand a lot of things. It´s amazing to see these machines working! About a lack of workers, sometimes is not the hard work, is the work environment. With 24 I´m trying to work in the automotive field and din´t hired me because I´m a woman. And in book binding field, I started as apprendice, soon I learn by myself make to work a very vintage paper sewing machine, I wish to be there all of my life (with very poor salary) but my boss emplyed a boy "because a woman can not be a master binder" says. This is sad. Young people wish to work, but old folks dind´t care about nothing. Anyway, I´m crying to found a vintage place like this to work.
what makes me sad is that this is still machine work, this is so easy compared to the handmade things we already lost, can you imagine what we are losing here? we already lost handmade patterns and now we are losing machine patterns ...
we haven't lost handmade patterns. My study is full of books of them. So many I doubt if I'll get to try them all before I leave this Earth!
Like the lady said: once is gone is gone. How sad that we are loosing very fast this kind of beautiful work.
In a way handmade is easier to revive because of the scale of it. These machine made crafts require such a huge range of support industries to keep them going many of which are also dying arts themselves. It makes it so hard for them.
Does it have to be cardboard? Can you 3d print thin plastic versions of the cards?
Good question. Are there enough working machines to test this? Is there anyone who can learn to repair the machines that make it?
I was surprised when they said Cluny lace is only $50/metre, for such rarified fine fabric I was expecting more.
That's probably the wholesale price rather than retail, and for designer brands they maximize profit over quality any more.
"England's last surviving lace-maker isn't paying people enough to want to make lace." There. I fixed it.
Most likely. It's another factory job, and one that's likely cleaner and safer than a lot of others. If people will work for a biscuit factory or automaker, they'll work here if it pays a living wage.
It already cost $50 a yard and that’s just the base price sometimes they can cost $300 a yard people just aren’t willing to pay that when you can get the machine made polyester stuff to the untrained Sorry to say, but there’s just not that much difference to me there is I’m a seamstress and I love levers lace. I saw children’s heirloom clothes, but it cost $700 to make an infant gown with levers lace. Unfortunately, they simply can’t pay people enough. It’s not that they don’t want to.
@@amandaglidewell8451 you can get mass produced cotton lace at a fraction of the price of lever lace. Lever lace is mass produced machine made. Real lace is made by hand, not machine, but that would be even more expensive. For something fine and intricate, like Bucks point lace, at 3cm wide, it can take me about 5-10 hours to make 3 cm.
Yeah bc they don’t have very much money bc it’s an artisanal lace company
Said the OP whos entire wardrobe likely consists of Shien.
I somehow think that they are gatekeeping the knowledge because it is their business.
I thought the same thing. I'm pretty sure that, for example, the replication of additional cards could be handled by high-level scanning and 3-D printers
They desperately need young apprentices, and an organist to run that card punch machine!
I would love to make a hobby project out of figuring out how to make new patterns, It looks like something I used to do as a kid. someone in the 1700's figured this out I think we can do it again!
I wonder if 3-D printers could be somehow used to make the punch cards or to even run the machine.
Wow. Amazing. The chap who punches. What a skill!
I crochet lace so I have some inkling of what goes into these pieces. It is a beautiful art and a shame it is dying out. When I make something to give to someone (I never sell my work) they know just how much time and love has gone into the piece. Now I am at the stage of teaching my 12 year old granddaughter to crochet.
My Dad's job was a lost art, too. He was a Printing teacher. By the time he retired, it was only a couple of years until it was obsolete. Now, printing is all.done by computers. It was a beautiful art form that was practical, too. I can still smell the printer's ink, hear the clank of the machine, and see his nails embedded with black ink. It is sad this beautiful art form of lacing making is dying..I can relate that's for sure. 😢
well then since im not doing anything , how can i apply to work here and learn so the dreams continue on till dust.
I had heard of cluny lace from my grandmother. It's a total shame that the UK doesn't totally support this company. It is a part of the British history.
So beautiful, intricate, and technical. For something that took so long to develop and perfect to disappear is so sad. 'Tis the way fo the world though. EVERYTHING is only temporary.
Sad to see this old industry go. But please bear in mind, those of you offering advice: it’s not just replacing the cards, or finding apprentices with good aptitude to learn the skills and prepared to work for a small wage, or finding engineers who can repair the aging machines, or finding new markets for the product…. It’s All Of These At The Same Time!! These people aren’t defeatist or stupid, they are just being realistic. I’m sure the 1000s of patterns they have will be recorded in some way.
It makes me very sad too. I hope they can survive.
My early ancestors were from Devon Colyton and Honiton I have a collection of old laces I just love it ! I think my gene's have memory of lace making
I feel like, they could give reviving pattern making a shot. I'm sure if you were to digitalise all existing patterns and then use a combination of training a model on it and having a very crafty person check them, they would be able to make new ones. I'm sure with the right marketing, fashion brands would go crazy for custom high quality lace, unique to their brand.
Worst case, even the punching can be done by a machine, if noone is willing to learn the skill. It is mainly punching copies of existing cards. Finding a more durable material that works on the existing machines as cards would also help
Seriously, start by digitizing your archive. You could cut out those cardboard templates in minutes. The machines are another matter!
And the amount of people living from benefits in the UK is crazy. The government should force them all to get a job in these dying industries.
It's a great shame apprenticeships can't be offered and get more people trained.
The cards need to be scanned so they can be reproduced if need be. Government should helping support this British treasure for the future.
The tories during austerity massively cut funding to the Arts Council and the Crafts Council. They made a conscious decision to let our heritage die. These skills need to be preserved; they are living history.
i live near the heart of the 'lace market' area - weird seeing it on WSJ
If there was demand, modern machines could be made to produce the same quality lace.
Fashion students need to be made aware of products this wonderful country makes
Gee, who would have thought putting punishing regulations on domestic production while allowing foreign imports that don't have the extra overhead and can severely undercut the domestic producers would cause issues?!
We must find a way to preserve this significant art form
why is something machine made an art form? Its mass produced. You wouldn't call knitting using a punch card system on a machine handmade or an art form, so why is this any different?
@warpedweft9004 automobiles are machine made and a Deusenberg is an art form.
@@1aikanenot even close. Its engineering and is also machine made.
@@warpedweft9004 have you ever sat in one? Have you seen the craft and workmanship?
@@1aikane perhaps you should look up the meaning of art form. It is a style of art. Something that is a completed object is not an art form. Art form is a medium, a style, not a finished object.
Why aren't they training apprentices? I'm sure many people would love to have that as a career.
There seems to be a resistance to adapting to modern retail opportunities. I'm in America and I went to the website to attempt to purchase some pf this lovely lace and the website is outdated and I gave up my attempt after clicking form one page to another. You won't survive if the masses can't get to you. You can't rely on fashion houses only, the public wants access It doesn't have to be a dying art, there are people who want to learn and be trained, but again, adaptability. Invest in the business and hire web designers and get that online sales ship launched. There's big money waiting!
My wedding dress was made of this lace! It’s beyond gorgeous. Simple, elegant, and timeless!
It’s a beautiful art. I hate to hear that we’re losing this beautiful lace industry.
I love handmade products. (for heaven's sake, not only do I knit, I spin yarn with a hand spindle) And of course this sort of lace requires human hands at virtually every step.
But as for replacing the cards, producing new parts for the machines - I can't help but think that 3-D printers could solve these problems.
And I can't help but think that AI assistance could recover the skill for creating new patterns.
how is something made by machine handmade? Handmade cluny lace is done on a lace pillow, by hand, not by machine. It's like saying a manual typewriter is handwriting.
@@warpedweft9004 Look how much hands on work is involved in this - your argument is like saying handspun wool isn't handspun if you use a spindle. Tools are always involved in virtually any human activity
@@erinharkiewicz7239 that is a very poor analogy. These machines are like the very old telegram and fax machines and pianolas. They are mechanical, machines. A spindle is not.
@@erinharkiewicz7239 you might just as well that hand embroidery is mechanical because you use a needle. There's no human creativity in this if you are not designing the patterns yourself and working them by hand. You punch a set of holes in card according to a predetermined pattern, and the machine does the rest. They aren't even designing any new patterns.
@@warpedweft9004 I have no idea why they aren't designing new patterns - and the idea that the ability to do so is "lost" is nonsense. There are French lever lace factories (you can find a Business Insider video) and they are doing new patterns all the time.
Those punch cards are literally one's and zero's...that part is perfect for computerisation
Time to innovate new ways to create woven lace.
There’s absolutely college students out there who’d want to create software for their dissertation to digitize the paper patterns so they aren’t lost to time. You could also absolutely create a CNC style machine to create the punch cards. And I KNOW there are nerdy enough fiber loving folks out there who could decipher the language of the old patterns (basically figure out what all the symbols mean again) so that new patterns could be created.
The savior for this vintage mechanized but not fully industrialized art is to introduce computers. If a CNC machine can do the messy job of punching the cards, then you need a CNC operator who won’t be nearly as messy and won’t develop arthritic or repetitive motion injuries. If someone can design software to digitize the old patterns then the CNC machine will have file types to read AND there will be a method to create to patterns which can then be done anywhere, by anyone with the knowledge to use the software.
You would still need people. People to thread the machines, design patterns, babysit & program & maintain not just the industrial machines but the computerized ones too. They REALLY need to get involved with a university or multiple universities with textile programs AND computer science programs.
THE ANSWER LIES WITH THE YOUTH!
This company is too busy feeling sorry for itself
This is amazing, so much skill and knowledge mustn’t be lost!
Fantastic feature!
Twenty years ago in Canada, I had the good fortune to purchase two tablecloths of heavy cotton Cluny lace at a local thrift shop. One lace cloth was given as a gift, the other still graces my table.
Fascinating my father-in-law and grandfather in law worked in silk Mills here in America. My grandfather in law was the one who was in head of all the patterns and he would walk the catwalk watch to make sure they were doing it right.
we are losing so much of what makes us human in this new ages of digitization and automation and globalization. so many mastercraft artforms disappearing before our very eyes....
Machine no one can repair, punch cards no-one can replace, one fire away from disaster, one dude who only knows how to do it who has arthritis… all that for a fabric that my grandma would love. has this company done anything to make themselves future-proof or were they too busy feeling sorry for themselves? Like wow get a grip
This is the sort of video that is sadly lacking on TH-cam. That said I’m not convinced that these people aren’t their own worst enemies - the company should have been recruiting and training new staff 10, 15, 20 years ago - at very least they could have promoted the royal wedding connection - plenty of others have done so in the past (think Emmanuels - unheard designers became a household name). But the card-punch guy isn’t selling his job “look at me, I’m dirty” great advert, i don’t think!
Tradition is wonderful, but if a company doesn’t modernize at all, it will stagnate and die. It seems like a few smart changes could update the business enough to make it viable in the modern day without removing the tradition behind it.
I saw a reply to one of the posts giving a link (th-cam.com/video/y5uX143hx38/w-d-xo.htmlsi=-1-6qRtCqzuBWvAq) to a video about one of the French lacemakers. OK that video is a couple of years old and things may have changed but the difference in attitude is incredible. The French aren’t downplaying the problems (100 year old machines for one thing) but they are so much more upbeat about the business - even creating new designs. Their comment that drawing the new design is the longest part of the process (3weeks) is telling - the British company just said there are no new designs.
There are all sorts of crafty lady in the United States who would love to learn this!
I wonder if there's a long documentary about this and without background music , with just people narrating and the beautiful sound of these majestic machines?
Maybe young migrants would be happy to learn. Foreigners still cultivate fine motor skills in their children, girls embroider in Romania or Guatemala for example.
Scan the punch cards. Print on 3D printer. You'll have to work out the best filament to use, and they will probably break more than the cardboard, but it will be something.
The punching cards don’t seem that hard to reproduce though… I don’t understand why they say they can’t make new ones?..
If it is such a dying art, and they’re the only ones still doing it, why not educate people in doing the work? Why sit around hoping to be saved?
It makes me sad that they are not training young people at all tasks. Such as training a new card puncher, yes a new person will be slower but it is better to train while the experience is still alive
What's really the difference between this lace and modern industrial lace? This is industrial lace, just inefficiently made
What a lot of wah wah wah.😩 Sheesh!!
That card puncher is cousin to a Telex machine: we even saved the paper ribbons for reuse.
I'd love to understand more about why new designs cannot be made?
Why are they not digitizing these jacked cards?? I am sure with AI and lasers they can be recreated should something happen to them
Those cards are essentially binary codes,using AI would be an overkill. Putting aside that issue, when we are talking about preserving the practice, we don't just talk about continue producing it, but the process of it. Of teaching the muscle memories of the fingers punching the holes, of maintaining the history of the machine, of making lace patterns with organic detailed shapes that was trying to replicate handmade ones from their past.
@@imageez this art is in grave decline, I am just thinking how to preserve the knowledge until we are in a time where young people can do this for a living again. It’s just an idea..
Yeah I mean people are trying to relearn how to make a super fine type of muslin from Bangladesh and they have had to piece together how it was made being able to have the patterns would help
@@anikaphillips1372 I was just going to use this example too, if the process and tools were preserved in detail this could help revive the art at a later point. As the people would not be around to teach it there words and ideas can be preserved in AI from to teach and even improve the process.
@@KindellArmstrongI think it’s a very good idea to keep these cards safe in some shape or form (in a digital place) against possible destruction by fire. All could be lost to prosperity if that happened.
I wish they would sell online and fireproof the archive
Another sigh of a dying world . . .
Life keeps changing and so many personal achievements are forever gone and irreatreavable . I hope that someone somewhere that has money cares enough to not let this precious way of lacemaking vanish into history. It is a cornerstone of human achievement that cannot be understood just with words. It takes seeing the lace and all of the details in making the lace to understand how and why it played such a huge part in history. Even handmade lace is very rare. I can’t even find any books about it in our vast collection of libraries here in Cuyahoga county, U.S. And I struggle to try to make it. I have grown old and have tried all my adult life to learn how to Tat. Another form of lace making. So it is here in my last years that I find online videos to teach. We are losing this precious art.
Chanel should just buy it.
I hope this video helps people gain an interest is this style of lace making, even only as a hobby. I hope these videos help to revive dying arts before it is too late.
My grandmother worked in the Nottingham lace industry in the first half of the last century. She was a bobbin setter? a very skilled job. Nottingham lace was renowned all over the world.
They can't make any new patterns as that skill is gone. First, then you set to carefully digitizing every pattern and getting the originals archived. Without those, none of this would even happen.
I would literally move to England just to learn this skill in the hopes of keeping it from dying out. Suggestion: Reach out to engineers, die makers, mechanics and generally super smart people about making replacement parts, diagrams, blueprints and technical data sheets regarding repair. Perhaps even a new machine could potentially be built.
This is just up the road from where I live. Absolutely stunning works of art.
I'm a proud owner of the piece of leavers lace. I hope the company would survive 🙏 Art and crafts are national treasure and should be protected at all costs 🙏
They need to get people who are eager to learn to do some apprenticeships so that the art will not die out. Get Andrew Bridgen involved if he wins his seat, to see what he can do to encourage the new Government to take an interest in these traditional businesses.
Thosr pattern cards could be cut by a digital cutter, with their designs stored in a computer. A digital cutter could easily cut new cardboard patterns. Whenever an old one wears out. Old patterns (those 10k sets of patterns) could be difitized as well making it possible to recreate an older pattern. The technology wouldn't be hard, but it would take some time to tune thebprocess just right to produce the tight cards.for those machine, and software development, and time to scan and correct the older patterns.
So no-one can reverse engineer a way to learn how to make new patterns?
this is literally an ad, WSJ is a tabloid akin to "paid programming"
80% of the Leavers machines are now in France, the lace they manufacture is labeled « Calais-Caudry ». 11 manufactures still in business.
Furthermore the lace of the Royal wedding dress comes from Caudry, Maison Sophie Hallette.
Nowadays there are so many people with Asperger’s or autism’s. They would be perfectly suited for this kind of work…. They don’t mind repetitive work. They even like it..
With millions of global lacemakers in int'l organizations/biz. I'm stunned you didn't solicit CVs/applicants/refs to them! IOLI, BLEN, RSN, literally millions more!
My paternal grandfather's ancestors on his mother's side were involved in the lace trade in Nottingham in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. My great-grandmother's aunt was a 'lace mender' at 16 according to the 1880 census, and her younger brother, at 10 years old, was a 'threader'. It's hard to imagine him climbing through those machines when he should have been in school. It does seem that some type of government subsidy could be provided for hiring apprentices. The company should consider having the pattern books scanned and archived electronically for the future.
It's such a shame that no-one wants to learn the trade of making Cluny lace anymore. Or that you can't get anyone to service the machines etc. 😢😢
My parents had an import business of Scottish wool knit lace tights in the 1970’s. They were working with the looms in Scotland that were still using antique machines making a beautiful and practical garment. They are all out of business now,to expensive to make and not enough demand.
Your business won't survive if you have a negative mindset.
There's so much you can do, Jesus people that make historical gowns would be all over your lace.
Films that make historical adaptions.
Businesses need to learn how to adapt to change.
You need to update some areas,like make your database digital, but most you can keep traditional and use that as a USP.
It seems you don't know where your market is, like I know they rely on big house brands etc. But I didn't hear any mention of bridal gowns. They're the most laced up things ever!
You need to look for a different angle and different ways to monetise your business.
If you can’t see how the future of A.I. can solve all the “dying arts” that “will forever be buried in the past” by these ‘so very special,’ ‘only remaining facility of its kind,’ ‘I’m so good at what I do,’ in the very cliche style of humble bragging - then perhaps it’s about time for your art to die. It’s getting really tiring! #donvy
I don’t think people realise how hard it is to make a business like this work. “Just automate more” you say. “Update the punch cards” you say. “Just train more apprentices” you say. All of these things cost a LOT of time and money that is in limited supply. Also suspect some things might not be workable re automation etc you would have to replace the whole machine which would destroy the point. I suspect the punch cards can’t be made out of plastic as they wouldn’t work in such a machine. . . I suspect the website is difficult to navigate because they are only set up for wholesale and not small orders as small orders would not be sustainable for their business. Who would set up all that work for just a metre at a time? Yes, I would love it if they did small orders but for a business that’s all time and effort and money to implement. I really really hope they survive. It would be horrendous if they were lost. I agree the British government should do more but tbh if you asked most people in the UK if they would rather save a small heritage craft or make sure other things get paid for like people not dying they would probably pick the latter unsurprisingly. The only way to really resolve this situation is to stop buying fast fashion entirely and return to appreciating the value of clothes, clothes making and high quality fabrics that last. Then these sort of industries will survive.
The problem is that lace is associated in the minds of ordinary people with the rich and Royal weddings. Normal people wear work cloths most of the time. Fashion designers did recently produce lace designs for frocks but the lace was cheap imitation from abroad. The lace table cloth was from my grandma’s era. Perhaps lace shawls could become fashionable or think of all the young women covering their heads nowadays, lace scarves would be good. My family were well and silk weavers but when rayon came in these natural cloths disappeared into the luxury market.
Couldn't they upload pictures of the different styles so the styles aren't lost and could maybe be recreated jn the future? That and the blueprints for the machines. Though, you'd think lace being used in luxury products would help it stay alive? Then again, I dont see any modernization in the marketing or buisness side of things, no matter how luxurious a thing is, if you can’t market it, its bound to die
I don’t understand WHY no new patterns can be made? I wish they’d explained more about that. Surely there must be people left in the world who learned how to tat from a grandmother or someone. And WHY don’t the people at Cluny’s do outreach, get TV n media interested in doing more stories like this. Go talk to University textile classes. I’m sure there are people interested if they even thought about it!
Maybe they need to choose between preserving the old technology and preserving the lace. My Idea is the old technology should be preserved in a museum (dedicate part of the shop to that?) And for production it should be updated with, say, new, more durable material instead of cardboard. There are so many plastics now, they might find the right fit.
It is very sad to see an old art dying. I love lace making and studied hand lace making, Vologda style
The biggest problem is that current generations don't have enough patience for this type of craft. Many crafts are in danger of dying off.
I totally agree!