©Ph. Schlienger
EXCEPTIONAL
The craftsmanship
1 MACHINE AND MAN
The manufacture of Dentelle de Calais-Caudry® lace is an ancestral technique resulting from the perfect balance of the combined actions of the metal and the thread, of machine and man.
Agile hands touching and feeling, people watching and even listening, these are indispensable for each step of the industrial production which is nevertheless intrinsically artisanal. A mastery of ancestral techniques, gestures which have been handed down from generation to generation over 200 years result in a luxurious and outstanding product.
Photo ©Ph. Schlienger
2 A LONG PROCESS
Although the Leavers loom is where the lace takes shape, twenty or more steps are necessary during a period of six to eight weeks before it can be sent off to the four corners of the world. Each one of these steps requires the talents of highly qualified craftsmen who have mainly been trained in-house from anything from a few months to up to ten years.
Photo ©Ph. Schlienger
3 DESIGN
To start with a sketcher from the design team lets his imagination guide his pencil strokes to weave his soul into a new pattern. This creative inspiration is translated into a technical drawing by a draftsman. The pointer then plots out the threads to scale for the jacquard system which is the brain of the loom, and nowadays usually electronic.
Photo ©Ph. Schlienger
4 warping and beaming
In the workshop much attention is given to the delicate preparation of the thread. The warpers wind the warp threads onto the large rollers, and the beamers the gimp and embroidery threads onto the smaller rollers, controlling the even tension and perfect winding. Once in place at the back of the loom, the 10 000 threads are passed, pulled and knotted with the utmost precision across the loom by the chain builders.
Photo ©Ph. Schlienger
5 bobbin winding
The bobbin winders refill each of the bobbins with about hundred metres of extremely fine yarn which they delicately and surprisingly rapidly insert into a tiny gap between two brass and copper discs which are hardly a millimetre wide.
Photo ©Ph. Schlienger
6 bobbin fitting
Having been heat pressed the bobbins are by hand placed back one by one into the carriages by the bobbin fitter, who carefully checks the alignment by eye and the weight and the thread tension by hand. The set of 4-5000 carriages is then put back onto the loom.
Photo ©Ph. Schlienger
7 tulliste
The tulliste oversees the Leavers loom. Knowing each loom individually, he is responsible for the maintenance, makes the adjustments and operates them. He surveys the slow production of the sumptuous gossamer like fabric which emerges as if by magic at a speed of 2 metres per hour.
Photo ©Ph. Schlienger
7 tulliste
He listens to the music of the machine’s sounds with a clockmakers attention to detail, and knows when the slightest false note is the sound of something wrong. He is capable of diving into the forest of threads to catch and mend a broken thread with his hook.
Photo ©Ph. Schlienger
8 Inspectors
Once off the loom the greige lace passes under the beady eyes and hands of inspectors who examine it and gently slide it along the huge tables.
Photo ©Ph. Schlienger
9 Menders
The slightest errors are eliminated by the expert hands of the menders who fill in missing stiches and imperfect patterns. For some types of lace such as Chantilly clipping is necessary, cutting off thread ends between motifs by hand then by machine, in order to reveal arrows here and there on the surface of the lace.
Photo ©Ph. Schlienger
10 dyeing
The next important step on the path is when each piece of lace is washed, heat set, dyed and finished in a world of water, steam, pigments, odours and hot air, where treatments for appearance, touch and feel are applied. This is followed by a final check.
Photo ©Ph. Schlienger
11 scalloping
Returning to the workshop the bands, galloons and “volants” that were woven together need separating, then the scallopers release the picots or eye lashes or loops which surround them and reveal their noble distinction.
Photo ©Ph. Schlienger
12 FINAL TOUCH
When appropriate, as is often the case for Haute Couture, the lace can be further embellished with a treatment or printing which will give it a unique aspect. It can be hand or machine embroidered with fine bourdon cord stitching, frogging, sparkles and sequins, mohair, raffia, etc…
Photo ©Solstiss
13 Off to the designers
Having been checked, folded or rolled, the lace is finally ready to deliver into the hands of the fashion designers who take over and work their magic showing off its seductive allure and making people marvel on catwalks around the world.
Photo ©Ph. Schlienger
