A guest exhibition “From the needle to beauty” by the lace craftswoman Nikolina Ivanova from Shumen and a creative workshop by the tailor, the living human treasure Nikolinka Angelova from Getsovo, were the two events organized in the house museum “Ananie Yavashov” by the Regional History Museum on the occasion of the European cultural heritage days. Altan Hashimova, the chief expert in the Department of “Culture, Religious and Youth Activities” in Razgrad Municipality, was a guest at the opening.
The idea for the guest exhibition came from the head of the “New and Latest History” department at RHM-Razgrad, Prof. Rositsa Angelova PhD. “It’s nice when these holidays focus on one person. That’s why we decided to have the lace master Nikolina Ivanova as our guest. She is an educator, but years ago she touched the legacy of the German master designer Herbert Niebling, who worked in the middle of the 20th century. He came to the idea that all the beauty of leaves, of flowers, of everything beautiful around us can be turned into small schemes, into small signs, according to which even today the most famous masters around the world create artistic knitting with five hooks.
And the beautiful tablecloths here have been made by Nikolina in the last three years and she is creating her collection of exquisite knits. She creates beauty that pleases, that is passed down from generation to generation,” Prof. Angelova told about the story of the knitter and the author of the exhibition.
“For another year, the Municipality of Razgrad and the Regional History Museum in Razgrad are taking part in the European Heritage Days, dedicated this time to living heritage,” said Tanya Todorova, director of the museum, in her welcome.
“We decided to combine ethnography with the new story and I think it worked out well. I am extremely pleased that we are being visited by women artists with a trail behind them – the lace craftswoman Nikolina Ivanova and the “living human treasure” on the National Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage at UNESCO, Nikolinka Angelova, who is also a knitting master of the ethnographic group Kapantsi “, Tanya Todorova added.
“37 years ago I saw a scheme. I couldn’t figure out what it was, but I later realized it was a knitting pattern. On five hooks. It’s called art knitting. Little by little, I started collecting materials, I started searching after the Internet appeared”, said Nikolina Ivanova.
Nikolina has been working on one tablecloth for months. “It starts in the middle. A small chain is made with one hook. And it goes around. It is knitted only in one direction”, said the lace maker.
Based on the schemes she learned, she also developed her own knitting patterns as a combination of different elements. They are collected in an album that will probably be released soon.
And in front of those who came to the workshop, the master weaver Nikolinka Angelova told about the clothing of traps and the original trap embroidery. She handcrafts entire trap suits – both men’s and women’s. Samples of which are already in America and Germany, and dozens – in different parts of Bulgaria.
“For me, knitting is magic. And in rhymes I imagine it like this:
“When you thread the needle,
then the game begins.
Left-right, up-down
you poke with the needle
and you achieve beauty”,
with a very wide smile, the dressmaker recited her author’s poem.
The exhibitions of lace and trap embroidery can be viewed until the end of October.