El Congreso Internacional de Encaje en Tenerife en octubre de 2025
The Cabildo de Tenerife, through the Insular Crafts Company, will organize the First International Lace Congress at the Casa Prebendado Pacheco in Tegueste, from October 22 to 25, 2025, as well as in other locations in the city of La Laguna, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The initiative has the collaboration of the Tegueste City Council, La Laguna, and CICOP, among other entities, as indicated by the Cabildo de Tenerife in a statement.
The congress was presented on Thursday at the Cabildo, with the presence of the Minister of Education and Employment, Efraín Medina; the Mayor of Tegueste, Ana Mena; the Councilor for Promotion and Local Development of the La Laguna City Council, Domingo Galván; the manager of the Insular Crafts Company, Ricardo Cologan, and the current president of the CICOP Foundation, Francisco Aznar Vallejo.
Minister Efraín Medina explained that the event aims to "create a space" to share the most recent studies on the history of lace, in which Tenerife plays a very important role in the world. Likewise, Medina emphasized that work is ongoing for the declaration of the Tenerife Rosette as a Cultural Heritage of Interest (BIC).
For her part, Ana Mena expressed her pride in hosting the congress and having it also take place in Tegueste. "When the Minister, Efraín Medina, gave us the opportunity to participate and learn about the variety of artisan examples that will be seen, we were amazed," she pointed out.
Domingo Galván thanked the Cabildo for "the opportunity" to participate in the congress, especially for the "value" that the citizens of La Laguna give to artisan works and trades.
Francisco Aznar Vallejo highlighted initiatives like the lace congress to bring the values of artisan trades closer and promote them. "We have been promoting heritage for 50 years, which is nothing more than everything from yesterday that makes up today," he said.
The Cabildo de Tenerife recalls when the first lace embellishments adorned religious spaces and enhanced rituals, later becoming part of ecclesiastical vestments and, subsequently, traditional clothing and footwear.
Currently, they continue, lace can be found in the world of fashion and accessories. In European countries like Croatia, three types of lace are intangible protected heritage by UNESCO: those of Lepoglava, Pag, and Hvar, experiences that will serve as "examples" in the sessions on the development of their current commercialization.
RESEARCH LINES
For the presentations and communications, the research objectives will be followed, where scholars on the subject share their projects or research, maintaining the proposed lines. Among them, history, uses and functions, and typologies will be highlighted.
These sessions will bring together experts and enthusiasts from different countries to share experiences and projects in maintaining the tradition of making the various types of lace that have brought fame to the people who make them and who are internationally recognized master craftsmen.
Although all types of lace are made in Spain, the suns and frisado of Valladolid stand out for their unique characteristics. In the case of the Canary Islands, a special section will be dedicated to the rosette and Canarian cutwork.
The rosette, according to experts, derives from drawn thread work or cutwork, both in its execution and in the stitches and motifs developed, with direct antecedents in the suns or wheels arranged individually or tangentially along a strip or edging, with a special development in Salamanca, Cáceres, Catalonia, and the Canary Islands.
The sessions will feature needle lace from various countries in America and other types of needle lace from Europe—Spain, Croatia, Italy, Portugal, or the United Kingdom—and techniques from different lace styles. Likewise, not only will lace itself be addressed, but also its presentation, conservation, and innovation through specialists in the field.
