Lace makers Census

The Finnish law do not allow us to publish personnel information about the Lace makers.

However the existing information and the new one that we are collecting in the frame of the BLEN project will allow us to disclosed some of the questions placed below.

If you are interested in a research project about this subject get in touch with us.

The BLEN project have developed a questionnaire trying to draw a profile of the lace makers in each of the countries partner of this project. This questionnaire can be answered on line in English.In Finnish is available on request.

The history, the present and the future of the lace making in Rauma was also one of our targets.

Here you will find some questions, but a combination of this information can also be link with other local cultural heritage factors.

How many were they?

Lace making has long traditions in Rauma. We know from 18th and 19th century, that several hundreds of lace pillows have been used in the town.
For example in year 1832 there were 397 lace makers, when the total population of Rauma was 1633.

That means, that almost all the families have been active
in lace making. The lace making was an economically important factor for that time.We have a photo file of those days, by the analyses of these photos a cultural socioeconomic reports can be developed.

How many are they now?

What is the situation now? The town has about 38.000 inhabitants, and we know, that the Rauma Lace makers Association, or Lace Guild has some hundred of members.

Some hundred of people participate in lace making courses organized by the Adult Education Centre each year. But how many people there are making lace now? How many people get incomes by lace making?

There are 2 shops in town selling lace, tools, pricking
and more products.By crossing the information of how many lace pieces are sold every year and their price we have
an idea about the possible size of the lace market in Rauma, domestic or international.

This market can change in a near future.Under E-Shop (blen.net) we have developed in cooperation with the Shops an E-Commerce application, where you can have access to some products sold in the Rauma Shops.

Tools for controlling the development of this application have been implemented.

That information will be published in our next annual report about "Lace Making in Rauma".

Are the present the lace makers from families, where the lace making is a tradition?

Or are even newcomers, who have moved to Rauma recently interested in lace making?

Do the mothers still teach their daughters to make lace, or do all participate in some courses?

Do the lace makers plan they own patterns,or do they prefer the old traditional patterns?

Have foreign patterns been popular?

Where and why people get their interest in lace making? Is it a family tradition or is it in some workplaces as in a bank or in a hospital, where many colleagues get inspiration from each other?

Have had any repercussion the Lace exhibitions organized for more than 10 years showing lace from different countries at the Rauman Museo?

Are our summer Lace activities contributing to development of the lace in Rauma?

Are the present Rauma lace makers coming from all kind of social groups and professions? Is the traditional handicraft especially of interest in some groups?

Are the most lace makers old, or are there many young people too, who make lace?

There are a lot of questions, we could see, we can not published yet the answers. This year, Rauma Museum organizes an exhibition of lace making as a family tradition in one family.

In connection with the exhibition we want to ask the visitors about their relationship to the lace making in order to complete the new report.

We will also posted the questionnaire to the members of the Rauma Lace makers Association. When the lace making courses will begin in September, the old and new participants
will get it too.

Because Internet is a very dynamic tool we upgrade this information at any time, but if you are researcher in either this field or ethnographic, please get in touch with us you do not have to wait until we publish it.

As soon we process the new information, we want to tell you about the profile of a present Rauma lace makers and add this new acknowledge to the lace makers Census chapter.