This is the first in a series of posts about the Artisanship and craftsmanship of La Perla, taking a detailed look at the different types of fabrics, lace and finishing touches and details used by La Perla today.
Lace
Lace is a particular case of material produced using specific machinery; looms.
The different working techniques and different types of looms used allow various qualities of lace to be obtained. The weft and warp are created together – the effect is three dimensional: the design seems to stand out from the background.
Leavers lace (the most previous)
Jacquard lace (the most common)
Lace is often given support by being doubled with tulle.
Leavers lace
The name “Leavers” comes from the name of the loom on which the lace is produced. These are antique looms that were first used in England in the early nineteenth century and later arrived in France, at Calais, where the greatest concentration of fine lace production can still be found today. Calais currently holds the world record for producing Leavers lace and has about 1,000 of the existing 1,200 looms currently in use. Characterised by very elaborate processes to weave the weft and warp, the ability of the leavers loom to work with a very high number of threads means that the lace created stands out thanks to the high definition of the pattern and a particularly fine gauge.
Jacquard lace
The name “Jacquard” comes from the name given to the family of looms invented in Germany following the Second World War. The simple, quite unrefined lace produced on the first loom in this series was gradually improved on subsequent looms, from Jacquard, to Jacquardtronic, to Textronic to conclude with the most recent creation, the Super Textronic.
The common characteristic of all these looms is the tricot stitch from which the lace is created, a stitch that is easier and quicker than the weft and warp of the Leavers looms, but which gives a thicker lace, with a less defined pattern, a rather uniform background and a “flat” appearance with little depth
gweniesblog 