Frančiška Giacomelli Gantar
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
February 5, 1907
Frančiška Giacomelli Gantar | |
|---|---|
| Born | Frančiška Giacomelli February 5, 1907 |
| Died | January 1, 1988 (aged 80) |
| Occupations | bobbin lacemaker, drafter, designer |
Frančiška Giacomelli Gantar (27 February 1905 – 1 January 1988) was Slovenian bobbin lacemaker, drafter and designer. Her lacemaking patterns were very popular in Slovenia at her time and are still made nowadays.[1][2][3]
Frančiška Giacomelli Gantar was born on 27 February 1905 in Nova Vas pri Žireh into a poor family.[3][4][5] Her mother was a farm worker Frančiška Gregorač and her father was farm worker Franc Giacomelli.[4][6] It was her father who first taught her the basics of lace-making.[5] At the age of seven she entered the lace school.[3][5] Her lace teacher was Leopoldina Pelhan,[3] with whom she studied lace-making for eight years.[5]
Career
At fifteen she began working as a bobbin lacemaker.[5] She produced complex lace and demand for her work was high.[1][7] In 1920 a new border was set, and lace patterns ("paperci") from Idrija were no longer available.[1] Frančiška was artistically gifted, and some lacemakers encouraged her to start drawing patterns herself. At first she hesitated, as she was earning well from lacemaking.[1] In 1926 she created her first patterns.[3][5] She invented and drew the designs herself, first copying them with carbon paper, later with a special copying machine.[1] Initially, she created patterns for a shopkeeper who exported lace to the American market, and later for several other merchants.[5] She also produced custom patterns for individual clients, drawing to the requested size and filling them with motifs. She drew freehand with a soft pencil, so corrections could be erased. The only base she had pre-drawn was the honeycomb grid in various sizes.[1] Soon she abandoned lacemaking altogether and earned her living solely from designing and reproducing patterns.[1]
In 1931 she married Vinko Gantar. Her husband strongly supported her work and, when orders were heavy, also helped copy patterns with the machine.[1][3][5] Occasionally her sister and sister-in-law, themselves lacemakers, assisted her as well.[1] She kept every pattern she ever made.[1]