Italia Invita 2007.
The aims of the Associazione Culturale Italia Invita – founded in 2001, were to provide artists and artisans, active in the field of embroidery, and lace with the opportunities to meet, to enable reappraisal of their activities and to spread this knowledge throughout Italy and abroad.

With delegates coming from Spain, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Slovenia, Israel, the UK, Japan, New Zealand, Canada and the USA one witnessed these aims being more than fulfilled in heartwarming interaction and sharing of skills and experience.

The work displayed in the regionally based individual stands continues to be technically of the highest and, as a national presentation, really has no equal.

Workshops this year were within the stands rather than as pre and post conference events. Exhibitors received their quota of pre booked 'students' throughout the three days and in most cases they accommodated about six people at a 2 hr session. The atmosphere was wonderful.

A particular feature of the 2007 show was a display of 70 cushions – one from each stand – produced individually by a supreme specialist of the selected technique. A very beautiful colour catalogue* features each of these in a full page spread. This magnificent project could have been viewed as a stand-alone show.

Huge public interest was also shown in the results of a competition. This was open to anyone living in Italy, of any nationality, invited to produce a 20cm square of either embroidery or lace. The pieces could be a traditional use of the chosen technique or a creative interpretation of it . The one hundred and sixty little squares selected yielded a huge gamut of style and skill with some being very special and covetable.

The show is a valuable resource, growing in size each year, resulting in a great commitment for the organizers. One can only hope that additional support can be found for future years.



*Merletti e Ricami Italiani Italian Lace and Embroidery printed in both Italian and English at Euros 16 + postage charges. Please write to paolapaglierani@italiainvita.it to order.
For information on other publications, view Italia Invita Publications.