Cyprus’ world-famous ‘Lefkaritiko’ lace a dying craft
618 views · Published 25 November 2018 · 6:57 · Indexed 20 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(17 Nov 2018) LEADIN: Cyprus' Lefkaritiko lace has gained worldwide fame, but as fewer young women learn the intricate craft, many feel its days are numbered. Leonardo da Vinci is said to have purchased the famed Cypriot embroidery, and now retailers are trying to renew its appeal to save it from becoming history. STORYLINE: On the east Mediterranean island of Cyprus, local legend has it that the craftsmanship of famed 'Lefkaritiko lace' was of such quality that Leonardo Da Vinci himself purchased a tablecloth during a visit. He's thought to have gifted it to Milan's cathedral after a visit to Cyprus in the late 15th century. To buttress the legend, local merchant Demosthenes Rouvis even contends the ziz-zag pattern that adorns the tablecloth on which Jesus Christ and his disciples dine in Da Vinci's masterpiece The Last Supper closely resembles those found on Lefkaritiko embroidery. For more than a century, Lefkaritiko lace gained worldwide fame, not only because of its intricate patterns and exquisite quality, but also because of the merchants who peddled it from Britain to China. Britain's Royal family is also reputed to have been customers. The modern-day incarnation of the strictly hand-stitched embroidery - that uses Irish linen and French thread - was passed on from generation to generation for some 600 years. The art was taught to Lefkara women by the ladies of Cyprus' former Venetian rulers when they vacationed in the village, says veteran embroider Evdokia Stavri. "The ladies of Lefkara learned how to embroider from Venetian women, who spent the summer months here," she says. "But using their own creativity and skill, they created their own Lefkaritiko lace and most of the patterns took their names from the environment and nature." The embroidery made Lefkara and its once 5,000 residents famous and wealthy at the embroidery's commercial height in the early 20th century. Margarita Charalambous, president of the Lefkara Embroiders' Association says a full-sized table cloth can take up to two years to make and can fetch up to 4,000 euros (approx. $4,500 USD). Charalambous says Lefkaritiko is fast becoming a dying art as fewer and fewer career-seeking young women take up the craft because it's no longer lucrative. "I'm 56-years-old, I'm the youngest of those women who embroider," she says. "In ten to fifteen years, I don't believe there will be anyone else to carry on creating Lefkaritiko. That's a shame because it's a 500 to 600-year-old tradition that's on its way to disappearing. "Now, you'll ask me why don't our daughters learn to embroider? They don't because there's no incentive." Shop owner Louis Papaloizou, whose grandmother Elizabeth was reputed as the first woman to journey abroad to sell Lefkaritiko lace, says few tourists spend the kind of money to buy original works, often settling for cheap imports. "No one now trades in lace abroad," says Papaloizou. "I was the last of the Mohicans, there aren't any more. Now they come to find us here, but we produce lace with a great deal of difficulty because the women embroiderers are getting old. "They're into their 80s and no longer want to embroider. And the young women don't want to embroider at all. So, we're heading towards the end. Ten or 15 years at the most, we're finished. There's no future in this." Yet, some efforts are being made to keep the craft alive by updating the traditional look with different coloured threads and using it to adorn fashionable handbags to entice a new clientele. "They had the idea of using Lekraritiko lace to do something else, to make handbags," says Charalambous. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/2b7bbab223d8cef3fcf728167bc7456f
