A Book Launch by Janice Cole

For some time I had known that Yvonne was planning to write a book on Floral Bedfordshire lace. She had fallen in love with it and felt it was a lace that lent itself to the development of different ideas and interpretation. I was therefore thrilled and flattered to be asked to check her English text and help with some expressions prior to it going to the publisher, so when an invitation arrived asking me to attend the launch of the book in Hamburg I had no hesitation in saying ‘yes’. Friend and fellow lacemaker Renate Hawkins was also invited so we decided to go together, to my great relief as German is a language of which I know little more than ‘good day’ and ‘thank you’, whilst, being Austrian, Renate speaks German. So scene set, flights and hotel booked we set off on January 25th for Germany and the city-port of Hamburg. We were looking forward to meeting with Yvonne and other lacemakers, in particular Kirsten Brinckmann who lives there and was instrumental in organising the launch.

We spent the afternoon after our arrival visiting the local Art Gallery, with its excellent art collection. It was there I purchased the postcard of a painting of a Dutch Lacemaker by Max Liebermann painted in 1881/2 (back cover), unfortunately the picture did not seem to be on display. Back at our hotel we found two English friends, Jeanette and Betty, and two Dutch, Ella and Annie, also there for the launch. It was going to be quite a gathering.

I personally started Saturday with a visit to the hotel swimming pool to be ‘faced’ with two naked men on their way too and from the sauna! Strange nude men before eight o’clock is not something I am used to! It kept me out of the sauna but I did visit the pool again. How I wished I and the men had been much younger and virile!

Mid-morning saw the four of us setting off for the Museum of Decorative Arts in rather windy conditions, but not as cold as we feared. We joined about 50 others in making our way to a room in the centre of the museum. Kirsten introduced Yvonne who first of all took us on a journey into the history of lace and in particular compared the price of Queen Charlotte’s dressing table (5 pounds) with the cost of the lace to cover it (more than one thousand pounds) reminding us of past values. She reminded us that we work with the same tools today. Yvonne went on to relate the link between the Arts and Crafts movement and Thomas Lester and how the exhibition in 2002 in Bedford had inspired her to reintroduce some of the grounds, designing a pattern for each. She went on to explain that travelling with her husband in the East had produced some of the inspiration for her designs. To quote Yvonne, “I would love the technique to speak for itself. I think it is incredible what people were able to create with threads 400 years ago. To me that is the fascination of lace.”

Yvonne’s son and his girlfriend entertained us with topical songs which gave a further dimension to the event. We had the chance to view the lace included in the book and after toasting Yvonne we were able to obtain our own copies of the book and have them signed.

The lace curator of the museum took groups of us upstairs to view the reserve collection, in particular I was taken with the Austrian art nouveau needle-lace, having only previously seen the patterns published by the Lace Guild. There was then time for Renate and me to go and see the beautiful art nouveau rooms in the museum. In the evening fifty of us joined Yvonne for a meal in a restaurant in the older part of the city. We had a very good time but this was not the end as the next morning we set off towards the north of the city and Kirsten’s studio.

What an inspiration! Her lace artefacts are set around in a most delightful and light room, very artistically arranged. Her 40th birthday present of Greta and her pillow take pride of place. It was in fact a special day for Kirsten as it was twenty years to the day since she had taught her first pupil. Sharing Kirsten’s studio are a patch-worker and also a toy maker, they find they get inspiration from one another and exchange ideas. I think the venue itself is inspiring and it must be a pleasure to learn and work there. As you can see from the photographs she incorporates some of her lace into garments and also uses it for jewellery and to cover buttons, rose ground is such a versatile and attractive ground. It was a delightful visit and it set me to wondering if I can do something with the spare room I have downstairs, it would be great to have a light and spacious workroom.

Yvonne and Kirsten then took us on a sightseeing tour culminating in hot chocolate and cake, by the river. The evening saw us back by the river port for a special fish meal, six nationalities sat round our table of eight! The wine and conversation flowed, what a wonderful end to a truly memorable weekend. I returned home on a high with a beautiful book to remember it all by.

I would like to thank Yvonne for inviting me and Kirsten for organising the weekend. We were made to feel very welcome and were extremely well looked after.