Lace in Translation

For Lace in Translation, the European designers Tord Boontje and Demakersvan and the North American sculptor Cal Lane were commissioned to create site-specific installations recasting traditional notions of lace and its making. These three internationally renowned figures deployed unexpected materials and technologies that range from a hand-woven raffia curtain and laser-cut fabrics, to lace filigree cut into a steel oil tank and burned into grass, to a chain-link fence woven in a Quaker Lace design. --Matilda McQuaid's essay discusses expanded definitions of lace in contemporary art and design, and the essay by Nancy Packer summarizes the history of the Quaker Lace Company of Philadelphia and the impact of its archives and collection on the work in Lace in Translation. Statements by the artists and designers discuss their relationships to lace and their creative processes..