Since the first half of the 17th century, the beginnings of the lace trade in the Orlicke hory region are connected with the history of the city of Vamberk and the personality of Magdalena Grambova , who came from the Netherlands to Vamberk in 1627 and, since 1633, governed the Vamberk estate. According to a legend, she taught local women how to make lace according to the Belgian patterns.
A Belgian lacemaker visited Vamberk in 1643. Lacemaking was compulsory work for women from Vamberk. Some researchers thought, that countess Grambov· took advantage of the knowledge of this folk technique here as she wanted to improve it for her economical benefit.
There was a legend that she had been burried in the church of St. Prokop
in Vamberk and her gravestone was found in 1899.
The Southeast part of the foothills of Orlicke Hory Mountains was active in a diversified manufacturing production of laces. In the east part of Bohemia there were lacemakers and lace traders in the area between the towns and villages of Trutnov, Hradec Kralove, Pardubice, Litomysl, Kostelec nad Orlici, Rychnov nad Kneznou, Rokytnice v Orlickych horach, Solnice, Dobruska, Opocno.
Door-to-door salesmen were probably buying up and selling laces too. People from Vamberk made their living by lacemaking, on the other hand in all of the surrounding villages they did mostly spinning . We donot know what types of laces were made at that time in Vamberk.
Linnen hats decorated by knotted and grid-like embroidery with edge from Valinciennes lace were parts of women s folk clothing from the end of the 18th century. Similarity in patterns of hats in muzeums at this region could vouch for their domestic origin.
Hats were decorated by Flanders lace after 1830.
Researchers R. Bibova a M. Smolkova published in their book AlenÁon lace from from Rychnov nad Kneznou They noticed how the beautiful folk works made originally without patterns were changed to declined mercenary goods without art feeling. Very fine laces were made with the knowledge of the point ground, they were called "vlackova" lace and they were typical for the lace production here over 100 years.
"Vlackova" lace was made without drawings and descriptions and patterns were inherited from one generation to another and were developed. The thicker thread with glitter outlined or made motifs and supported beauty and variability of patterns. "Vlackova" lace with point or Torchon ground was made with a precision technique and they are very fine and full of brightness.
Its pattern has a peaceful rhythm and complements harmoniously fine emboidery of folk textiles. "Vlackova" lace was very popular and people from all walks of life used it. Vamberk also made unusual kinds of "vlackova" lace, which were called "fajnovace" and "slezska vlacka" and were made for folk costumes in the north of Moravia. Also wide tape laces called "krojove" ( it means for folk costumes) and "prizove" laces of
Torchon types were made for Moravian folk costumes. Most of the lace production there were exported to distanced countries. From the end of the 19th century there was an increasing number of types of lace - fashion goods for interior textiles - wide tape laces for edges, yard "cutted" laces and piece goods for aplications. The church laces had been quite unusual for a long time.
Factors and lace-traders didn't buy laces from lacemakers themselvess and a lot of salesman did it for them. Traders went with goods to Slovakia, Hungaria, Poland or Germany, from one town to another, from one market to another. Goods were in a wooden box 120 cm high and 50 cm wide with straps used for carrying the box on their backs.After 1850 they could go with post-service and used a railway from Usti nad Orlici to Moravia.
Despite this, some of them continued to go by foot as old, already white-haired lacemaker Kosek did about 1860. They divided their market areas up for each other. Some of factors came home only for the winter time.
The type of sale and laces were changed during the second part of the
19th century with the beginning of machine-made lace production. Traders
from the area of Orlicke Hory Mountains exhibited their goods on important
exhibitions in Bohemia and abroad and in 1873 at the World's fair in Vienna.
They got new, fashionable, Belgian patterns and they wanted to use also the folk creative ability. Commercial Chamber an Museum of Decorative Arts in Hradec Kralove were giving courses for lacemakers and organized competitions.
They opened a lace school in Vamberk c.k.Prvn odborn· krajk·Ysk· akola in 1889 and also taught art there. Aloisie Kubiasova who had been educated in Vienna was the first teacher. The school was nationalized in 1905 and was integrated into the school system under the School State Institute for Home Industry.
The lace school in Vamberk always had a lot of students, not only of a school age, but also experienced lacemakers who developed their technical knowledge there.
In the beginning of the 20th century there was a lot of factors and lace traders in this area. The richest of them were concentrated in Vamberk ,which became the centre for production and trade remaining so as it also after the opening of the machine-made lace factory in the 1920s in Vamberk and later in Rychnov nad Kneznou. .
The variety of lace goods were made here - laces for folk costumes in Moravia, yard and pieced lace, also metal laces, curtains made by bobbin and filet lace, bed covers, small and large tableclothes, milieu, handkerchiefs, instructions for bed linnen and clothing accessories.
Lacemakers used old patterns and also artificially created patterns from
folk motifs, which came from traders. Lacemakers met each other to make
laces together as they did a long time ago for spinning, outside in summer
and in their cottages during the winter time. Men helped too.
They wound up thread on the bobbins, made prickings and they often made bobbin lace themselves. Lacemakers worked very hard, they have the time rate of output from traders for every pattern.
The Cooperative Vamberk Lace Vamberk was founded in 1946, there was made a lot of lace for the World's fairs in Brussels in 1958 and Montreal in 1967. First cooperatives were founded already in 1920s in Peklo and Sopotnice but couldn't compete with traders there for a long time.
Art designer Marie Sedlkov·-Serbouskov· cooperated with
lacemakers in Rybna nad Zdobnici at that time. She is one of the founders
of Czech modern lace and came from Javornice near Rychnov nad Kneznou. Her
work was part of the best Czech art during the period of functionalism.
