The Caudry lace and embroidery museum promotes the modernity of its living heritage and the workshops of its territory through temporary exhibitions of young fashion designers. With six lace houses still in operation, Caudry is today the world center for the manufacture of lace for haute couture and luxury ready-to-wear. The museum, located in a former workshop from 1898, also evokes the other textile arts of the Caudrésis. Weaving, tulle, guipure and embroidery are part of Caudry’s textile tradition. Above all, it projects itself into the future with regular temporary exhibitions that highlight the work of designers currently in vogue. Right now, and until December 24, 2022, the collective On Aura Tout Vu, reveals its passion for the diversion of beautiful lace.
Roger didn’t expect it. People from the four corners of France and elsewhere listen to him speak religiously. Examine his every move. Dissect his every move and admire his dexterity, follow the thread of his story (and his work) with their eyes… or at least they try. ” There is something magical when you see all these threads cross, knot, intertwine and become enthusiastic in front of this hook made by his hands using a fishing hook and a socket of cartridge picked up in the woods. » Then when silence returns, after the ballet of the 1096 carriages which come to capture a weft yarn that the warp shuttle has just lifted, the questions abound. “What happens if a thread breaks? “How long does it take to make an inch of lace on this 1891 Leavers loom?” » « Are you a craftsman or an artist? “What qualities do you need to practice this artistic profession? » « How many of you are in France and in the world to know how to do this? »
In his late fifties, the tullist saw his professional career take an absolutely unexpected turn. Yet it is obvious. The Caudresian is the best tour guide that a museum can dream of having. For more than 23 years, he made lace on century-old looms from Sophie Hallette, one of the last six global companies capable of producing this exceptional lace, now brought together under the Solstiss label. Or rather, he regulated the machines that made it possible to manufacture the finest, finest and most delicate lace: the Leavers.
Un peu de mécanique
Contrairement à la plupart des autres dentelles, la dentelle Leavers n’est pas tricotée. Les plus courantes, celles que l’on achète dans le commerce, en grande diffusion, qui court partout sur les bretelles de soutiens gorge jusque dans les dos, qui subliment les manches, cols ou poignets de nos chemisiers, voire sur le corps tout entier, sont réalisées comme des pulls. Il s’agit de mailles dont les boucles s’enchevêtrent les unes dans les autres. Un seul fil est crocheté pour constituer l’étoffe.
Leavers or Textronics
Conversely, Leavers lace is made on a specific loom, called the Leavers loom after its British inventor John Leavers. Appeared in 1813 and after having made the fortune of the Caudresian weavers who knew how to exploit all the capacities of these trades, there are only very few left today and their manufacture stopped in the middle of the last century. The only ones still in operation are in France, exclusively in the North. In Calais, narrower trades supply Leavers lace with high-end lingerie and corsetry.
About fifty kilometers away, Caudry, which did not lose its production tool during the First World War, was able to offer large lengths of the finest and most delicate lace. It is on Leavers de Caudry looms that the laces for haute couture dresses are imagined, designed and produced. Designers believe that Leavers is “real” lace. The others, “texttronics” or “Rachel”, would only be very pale imitations. John Leavers can also flatter himself to be the father of the only fabric born in Europe and to have developed a loom (which takes up the principle of the fabric) to which an additional knotting step makes the fabric much more airy.
Orgues de Barbarie
En effet, les rangées horizontales de fils qui sont traversées alternativement et selon un ordre très précis, de l’ordre de la partition de musique, justement programmé sur des cartons qui rappellent ceux des orgues de Barbarie, peuvent s’arrêter à tout moment … puis reprendre plus loin. La Leavers ressemble à réseau tentaculaire et arachnéen de petits nœuds dont la finesse et la légèreté sont sans pareil. Ils forment des dessins, des graphismes et des perspectives qui font toujours aujourd’hui le bonheur des stylistes de mode. Au-delà des motifs floraux et végétaux, dont les programmes jacquards s’entassent à perte de vue dans les réserves du musée, la tendance s’oriente très clairement vers des esthétiques beaucoup plus géométriques, voire cubistes ou pointillistes.
On a pas encore tout vu
C’est une évidence lorsque l’on poursuit le parcours de la visite du musée. Comme de tradition, le premier étage de l’ancien atelier de dentelle en brique rouge et à large baie vitrée qui abrite le musée, consacre son espace à une exposition temporaire contemporaine. En ce moment Caudry met à l’honneur le collectif de haute couture On aura Tout Vu. Composé de Livia Stoïanova et de Yassen Samouilov, On Aura Tout Vu est une maison anticoformiste, qui a fait défiler des drones, sculpté de la céramique, bakélite ou composite pour habiller des corps féminins, et fait voler dans les plumes pas mal d’idées reçues sur cette activité typiquement française à cheval entre l’artisanat et l’art. Elle est extrêmement fidèle à la dentelle Leavers et n’a jamais travaillé qu’avec de « vrais denteliers » – ceux de Caudry. L’exposition (Re)Belles dentelles braque les projecteurs sur leur extrême créativité mais aussi sur l’immense potentiel de la dentelle Leavers. Elle apparaît ici sous un jour très moderne, presque futuriste.
Isabelle Manzoni
