Cyprus, Bulgaria
‘Lefkaritika’ – a local cultural product with a fashionable future? Monica Oprean from Green Village partner, Satul Verde Association models a skirt made by Panayiota Demetriou And Elizabeth arthur models a skirt and jacket – both using ‘Ottoman’ colours ©Martin clark (left), ©jacopo patone (right).
• Words Martin Clark • Photographs Martin Clark, Marine Duteil, Sophie gordon, Jacopo Patone
The villages of Pano Lefkara, Kato Lefkara and Kato Drys are known worldwide for ‘Lefkara lace’. The traditional textile became famous when Leonardo da Vinci reputedly visited Cyprus and purchased a piece of ‘Lefkaritika’ as an alter cloth for Milan Cathedral. Cypriot Green Village partner, Kato Drys Village Council, know something about cultural heritage.
As well as the change of fortune and lifestyle brought about through the selling of lace, the village was also the birthplace of the late Reo Stakis. This famous Cypriot climbed out of poverty to build a hotel empire and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Lacemaker Panayiota Demetriou was born in the beautiful mountain village and lives there now, selling the ‘Lefkaritika’ that she and a small team of ladies make, from ‘The Lace House’ in nearby Kato Lefkara. 21 I Green Village
Cyprus, Bulgaria The very first Green Village ‘empowering communities’ action (March 2011) was in Pano Lefkara and started the local Greek Cypriot community working together to promote the traditional lace in a more contemporary and fashionable way. A fashion show that spilled into the picturesque streets, ‘Your Granny Can Fly’ was organized by an international team of Manuela Beloescu from the Satul Verde Association in Romania, Thomas Hadjikyriacou from Hylates in Cyprus, Anna Zobrina, who manages the Lefkara Hotel and Martin Clark from Grampus Heritage in the UK. This is the story of what’s happened since then… Green Village ends in May 2013 and through Work Package 14 (‘Legacy Plan’) aims to develop ongoing vocational training. The ultimate goal of that training and the project is to instigate real sustainable rural development. Part of this has to be job creation and in Kato Drys, Pano Lefkara and Kato Lefkara that means more people getting involved in traditional textiles becoming fashionable. 2012 was the International Year of Intergenerational Learning and one burning ambition in the lace making villages, is to get more young people making lace... but as high fashion rather than tablecloths. In October and November of 2011, there were two significant photoshoots carried out to promote what had been created so far. The first was in Pano Lefkara and drew on Adamos Achilleoudis a local tavern owner for help along with lacemaker Eli Ruanas and students from the Cyprus College of Art in Larnaca provided models and a photographer Jacopo Patone . The second was in the village museum in Kato Drys and involved several local models, with Marine Duteil of Grampus carrying out the photography with Dimitris Kasialou & George Venizelou.
traditional embroidered & cut threadwork patterns but bright new colours ©Marine duteil
Local taverna owner Adamos Achilleoudis, serves homemade cultural food in a traditional setting; he is a great supporter of the Green Village ideas - “our villages need young people and new ideas”. ©jacopo patone
January 2012 saw the first tentative steps in job creation with the formation of a community business ‘PlAumistra’ – a colloquial word for ‘lacemaker’. Carrying the ‘Green Village’ logo, the organisation now has a collection of around 150 garments and gives part-time employment to six ladies. ©Martin clark 22 I Green Village
Cyprus, Bulgaria After first using only the traditional three colours of brown, white and ecru, there has been an introduction of ‘Ottoman’ colours from the north of Cyprus. The bicommunal nature of lacemaking (Pano Lefkara was a mixed village up to 1964) has always been important to Grampus and getting Greek and Turkish Cypriots to work together and take their common cultural heritage forward, adds a new dimension to Green Village.
In 2012, the International Year of Inter-generational Learning – teaching are Eli Raunas (middle) Panayiota Demetriou (left, right) and Alexandra Andreou (right), learning are Nora (middle), Nikoletta and Katrina (left), Marine ( right). ©Marine Duteil ( left), ©Martin clark (middle, right).
Discussions now revolve around the marketing of Lefkaritika – bringing clients to the villages is important but the modern market needs web-based options as well and high quality, hand-made cultural products sold at a fair price can travel from the three Cypriot mountain villages anywhere in the world.
Traditional Irish linen, French thread and the colours of the original ‘Lefkara Lace’ but with a fashion appealing to young people. ©Marine Duteil ( left), ©Martin clark (right). 23 I Green Village
Cyprus, Bulgaria
(Up) Marine Duteil and Chentelle Matthews of Grampus Heritage with Bulgarian village textile – Green Village links the mountainous villages of Cyprus’s Larnaca District and Bulgaria’s Devetaki Plateau – both with beautiful textiles and both needing bright ideas to hang on to their young people. ©sophie gordon (left), ©Martin clark(right)
4 young girls from st martin’s school and their creations made from the bulgarian textiles. ©Marine duteil
The Lefkaritika into fashion is a truly ‘Green Village’ concept and is transferable all over Europe – wherever traditional textiles are available (and currently gathering dust in someone’s bottom draw). With the help of London-based ‘Sublime Magazine’, the Green Village Work Package ‘Learning by Doing’ has seen fashion design tutors and students from Central St. Martin’s college working to develop training in the Cypriot mountain villages. The hope is that through tailored (no pun intended!) curriculum, the skills and endeavor of older villagers will not be lost but transferred to a new generation of lacemakers and find a new haute couture market. A recent visit to Bulgaria captured some great ideas for using traditional textiles from there, in a brand new ‘village café culture’ concept (to feature in a later addition of the Green Village magazine). ■ 24 I Green Village