It is ironic, then, though unsurprising, that such masterpieces of art often come from dire circumstances and challenging times that have no heart-melting romance in them whatsoever.  Most of the time the creation of an awe-inspiring artwork or a longer-term change or development in society is a matter of a basic attempt at survival in a materially challenging environment.

Bulgaria is not a medieval stronghold of bobbin lace craftsmanship.  While some European countries have organically developed traditions in handmade bobbin lace going back as far as the end of the 15^th century, Bulgaria consciously chose to develop expertise in the craft in the early 20^th century.  While European nations were going through complex and quite bloody periods in their history of identity-formation and border-setting, Bulgaria had an equally bloody, but quite constrained and inward-looking period of a five-hundred-year yoke under the Ottoman Empire.  While lace-making schools in Italy and Spain were becoming the power source of a creative process that lay the foundations of modern fashion houses, serving then the ferocious textile appetites of a growing European aristocracy, Bulgarians had very limited access to supplies or means to exchange know-how in advanced textile techniques.  The silver lining of such confinement was the flourishing of very distinct local weaving, embroidery, crochet and other lace-making techniques, but as far as bobbin lace specifically was concerned, the cylinder and bobbins were not a frequent sight in the Bulgarian household.

Kalofer is a small Bulgarian town nestled between the Balkan Mountains to the north and Sredna Gora to the south.  Occupying territories that have witnessed the ancient Thracian civilization, the modern settlement of Kalofer dates back to the 16^th century.  Founded by Bulgarian revolutionaries during Bulgaria’s five-hundred-year Ottoman rule, Kalofer managed to preserve its Bulgarian character and was a stronghold of Bulgarian traditional crafts in the areas of rug-making and cord production to the extent that Ottoman tradesmen called it Altin Kalofer (Golden Kalofer).  During the Bulgarian National Revival in the late 19^th century, with a burgeoning five to six thousand Bulgarian population (compared to a count of about two thousand today), Kalofer became a center of revolutionary activity and was the birthplace of famous revolutionaries in Bulgarian history whose statues stand tall in all cities in Bulgaria.  What that meant, unfortunately, at the time for Kalofer, was that during Bulgaria’s liberation battles, the town was almost completely burned down and the surviving population dislocated far and wide.

Come early 20^th century with a free and independent Bulgaria, some of the locals started re-building their life in Kalofer.  Bulgaria was on the eve of two more wars before WWI was even about to start, but people needed to make a living and the town’s economy desperately needed a strategic twist that would allow sufficient cash inflow.  Research and analysis by well-educated Kalofer citizens residing in Sofia and travelling to other European capitals suggested that lace-making is a lucrative business with little initial material investment, high margins and solid demand in Europe.  It seemed that the hardworking women of Kalofer could very well be trained and pick up this craft for the financial security that it could bring to the whole community.  Once the decision was made, a selected woman from Kalofer, Donka Shipkova, was sent to Sofia to be trained in bobbin lace-making by an artisan from Czechia.

Donka Shipkova was a diligent and devoted student.  Once she was fully trained, she went back to Kalofer and founded the first lace-making school in Bulgaria, backed up financially by local women-led organizations and advised by the Sofia-based Friends-of-Kalofer Association.

The Kalofer bobbin-lace school developed successfully despite immense difficulties in financing it and access to supplies.  In the face of Donka Shipkova, the school had a leader who dedicated her life to the craft and embedding it in the local community.  Taking and fulfilling lace orders in the process of training its students, the school served a dire thirst for work that ravished the area.  In her letters to her Sofia advisors, Donka Shipkova writes how with a capacity of 30 students that she could take in the first year, she signed up 68 because she could not send away women who desperately needed to make a living.  Not everyone could do the work, of course.  Lace-making requires skillful hands, attention to detail and perseverance for long hours at the cylinder.  Not every student became an artisan, but over the next few years the school yielded tens, if not hundreds, of women artisans of bobbin lace who fulfilled large lace orders from the cities in Bulgaria and beyond.  Kalofer’s bobbin lace story was a happy-ending one and the newly introduced craft did manage to provide a living for more than 150 houses in the small town of Kalofer.

However practically the craft was adopted in Kalofer, it is a creative occupation and its impact goes beyond the material.  More than a century after the establishment of the lace-making school in Kalofer, women have not only mastered the technique.  Through the decades women have adapted the original lace models and, by introducing locally significant floral elements, have arrived at the local variation of bobbin lace – Kalofer lace.

Kalofer lace is a type of bobbin lace that uses similar techniques in lace-making, but adapts the models to include locally significant ornaments.  The original mastermind that sets the tone for Kalofer lace has been identified to be precisely Mrs. Donka Shipkova, the first teacher in the Kalofer lace-making school.  Roses, tulips, oak tree leaves and sunflowers are styled in compositions interlaced with graphic images often used in traditional woodcarving.  Hundreds of models are preserved today and modern artisans continue the creative process in adapting and developing them further to continue to please the eye and living, but also to provide a much needed source of income and a creative outlet for those diligent and dedicated women who practice the craft until today.

Sometimes we feel the romance right away, other times it builds up as the story unfolds.  Kalofer holds its annual celebration on August 15^th and it has become the day of Kalofer lace.  On this day artisans of Kalofer lace exhibit their creations at the Creative Center for Kalofer Lace that has been established in the town and recently renovated.  There is a permanent collection showcasing original work of some of the first Kalofer bobbin lace artisans, including Donka Shipkova.  Every August 15th there are modern models on exhibit and available for sale, and there are also demonstrations of lace-making on cylinder by adults and younger students alike.  It is a sight to behold for anyone who appreciates history’s continuity and the magical harmonious toll of bobbins weaving delicate lace with a thread that keeps us all together – through the best and worst of times.