Vila De Conde, Portugal

Photographer: Rui Farinha

Year of Submission: 2016 (Educators Edition) 

For more than four centuries, Vila do Conde has been one of Europe’s leading makers of bobbin lace, a textile created by twisting lengths of linen thread into intricate patterns. Today, the ways of making bobbin lace are being introduced to children through regular classes at the Bobbin Lace School in the town’s Bobbin Lace Museum. In the 20th century, machine-made lace led to a decline in Vila do Conde’s hand-made lace-making. From more than 500 lacemakers in the 1940s, the number fell to 100 elderly lace-makers by the late 1970s. More recently, the opening of a cra centre, the holding of an annual cra fair and a growth in tourism have all helped spur