Description

If you prefer your jewellery big and beautiful, then you’ll love this item. It’s a round, lace pendant with a black suede tie.

The heart is made from a large piece of acrylic, smoothed and polished to the extent that it looks almost like a precious stone. Within this heart is embedded jet-black lace, patterned into the shape of a rose. This large surface is the perfect canvas on which to display the beautiful craftsmanship that comes from Chantilly, the famous lace-producing region of France from which we buy all of our lace.  It’s spun on 19^th century looms before behind finished using hand-knotting techniques. The result is a superfine and yet textured finish.

This necklace works best on bare skin, with scooped neckline. Or, alternatively, on a pale background. This will help to make the lace pattern as visible as possible, and thereby demonstrate the incredible craftsmanship which created it.

The suede necktie makes this item enormously practical, as it allows for it to be easily adjusted to suit any occasion. If you’d prefer, the charm can be detached and worn on a chain – since there’s a ring on the top of the pendant.

The Lace We Use

Lily Gardner Lace Jewellery uses a particularly rare black lace still made in Northern France on original 19th century looms.  This super delicate rose patterned lace is based on an original 17th design. Then,  it was made by hand via an intensive sight destroying bobbin technique.

This method changed with introduction of looms brought from Nottingham to Northern France at the time of the Industrial Revolution. Solid British invention met French style and artistry – et voilå! The result was a lace which is now known as Leavers Lace (named after the Leavers looming machine from England).

Today, even though our lace is made on slightly more modern (?) antique looms, miraculously it retains the complex original design with all the detailed shadow effects of the flowers and foliage that make it so unique.

If you look closely too, you will see where the lacemakers have spent hours finishing the fabric by hand with intricate knotting.

Who Makes Our Lace?

Our lace, which is also used by France’s leading couturiers, is made in the small lace making town Caudry. Here, generations of French families have passed down the complex techniques of setting looms (with up to 7000 threads per pattern) and pattern ‘wheels’ – which hold a type of  ‘magic ‘code for each beautiful and perfectly unique design.

The weavers –  not only know how to set up intricate pattern wheels but are so skilled they can detect minor changes in the sound of the loom that indicate a broken thread. No alarms, just a keenly trained ear is needed!

Awe Inspiring Fact: One loom can produce only 60 metres of lace a day, and it can take three people two months to set one up.

Lily Gardner  – Designer’s Note

“I first found this beautiful and very expensive lace in London’s Berwick Street in a shop famous for fabrics chosen by the Royal Ballet. I fell in love with this particular patterned lace but had no idea what I could use it for. Then I discovered the magic of Perspex, a crystal clear tough glass like type of acrylic – and an idea grew of creating a kind of armour for this extremely delicate textile. As if the lace was a fossil preserved for all time in amber.

The Perspex is ultimately modern whereas the lace is the embodiment of history, tradition and all things artisanal. A beautiful marriage. To me, it makes for an intriguing object that can be worn, observed and admired – daily. Which as you know, makes it completely rare. “ – Lily Gardner

• Recorded Delivery (3-4 days) – £4.00
• Next Day Delivery if ordered by 3PM. (No weekend delivery) – £10.50
• Next Day Saturday Delivery if ordered by 3PM Friday – £12.50

• Recorded Delivery (5 working days via post) – £10.00
• Next Day Delivery (via DHL) if ordered by 3PM. (No weekend delivery) – £25.00

• USA (5-7 working days) – £15.00
• USA (2-3 working days via DHL – excl. US taxes and duties) – £25.00

• AUS, NZ (5-7 working days) – £15.00
• AUS (5 working days via DHL) – £30.00
• NZ (5 working days via DHL) – £33.00

• 5 working days via DHL – excl. taxes and duties – £28.00

• Please email us to get an accurate idea of delivery times if your order is time sensitive – i.e. you are ordering for a special date – and the delivery cost.