Mikhailov lace: What's so special about this Russian craft? (PHOTOS)

The birthplace of this colorful lace fabric is the ancient Russian town of Mikhailov and the surrounding villages in Ryazan Region. Nowhere else did craftswomen weave colored bobbin lace like this. They used thick threads in vibrant colors – red, blue, yellow, green – to create expressive and cheerful patterns, often with poetic names like ‘little peacocks’, ‘balalaikas’ or ‘little bells’.

Mikhailov lace is made using the "numerical" method, meaning the width of the piece is determined by the number of bobbin pairs. This method requires immense skill and memory, as the patterns are created by counting threads without a pre-drawn pattern.

Originally, this lace was used to decorate dresses, towels and tablecloths. It was valued for its durability and longevity, able to withstand washing and wear.

This folk craft became widely known in the second half of the 19th century, when the lace began to be actively sold at fairs, both within Russia and abroad.

The lace was made by craftswomen working from home, who then sold their products to merchants. On the eve of World War I, there were about 10,000 lacemakers in Mikhailov and the surrounding villages.

In the late 1920s, they united into the ‘Trudzhenitsa’ (‘Female Laborer’) urban artel and began a centralized production. A factory with the same name still operates in Mikhailov today.

Over the many years, the production technology has remained largely unchanged, with the only difference being that lace is now created using patterns rather than purely from memory. Remarkably, they even use the same old bobbins.