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| Laces for sale at the market in Recife, Pernambuco. |
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| Laces for sale at the market in Recife, Pernambuco. |
Lace-making arrived in Brazil with the first Portuguese women who came from Portugal and the islands of Madeira and Azores. Their husbands or fathers were fishermen and they settled on the coast in northeastern Brazil and on the island of Santa Catarina in the south. Most lace-makers (rendeiras in Portuguese) are still the wives of fishermen, justifying the popular saying that "where there is a fishing net there is lace." In fact, in the filΘ laces characteristic of Alagoas in northeastern Brazil, it is usually the fishermen who make the nets that the women will fill with geometrical or floral designs. The most famous of all Brazilian laces is the "renaissance" or "Irish" lace made in the coastal village of Pesqueira in Pernambuco.
Renaissance lace from Pernambuco
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| Renaissance lace tablecloth, Recife, Pernambuco. | Detail of the lace tablecloth. |
FilΘ lace from Alagoas
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| FilΘ lace tablecloths for sale at a lacemaker's home in Macei≤, Alagoas. | A closer look at tablecloths. |
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| FilΘ lace shawl from Alagoas. | Close-up of filΘ lace. |
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| Detail of filΘ lace shawl above. | Detail of white filΘ lace shawl, Macei≤, Alagoas. |
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Lacemaker's pillow with bobbin lace doily, island of Santa Catarina. |
