Burano lace

Burano lace, needle lace made on the island of Burano, a few miles from Venice in the Venetian lagoon. Burano has a long-established tradition of needle-lace making, though precise historical records are lacking. The fine 18th-century form died out in the early 19th century but was revived in 1872, with noble patronage, to provide relief for the islanders after a disastrous winter for the fishing industry. An elderly inhabitant remembered the technique of manufacture and taught the local women.

Burano’s lace school flourished for nearly 100 years, imitating 17th-century Venetian needle laces with considerable success and making copies of Belgian point de gaze and French Alençon laces, as well as developing a typical Burano form worked in a slightly brown cotton thread. New designs were introduced during the 20th century, but in the late 20th century the school was forced to close by the competition of cheaper imported laces from Asia. Nevertheless, some lace was made on the island into the 21st century, and the building survives as a museum, the Museo del Merletto. See also Venetian needle lace.