Watching this has inspired me to set a new goal: improve my sewing skills enough to purchase lace from Cluny, and make myself an edwardian lingerie dress inspired piece. I really hope that they find people to continue the work, and it's such a shame that the UK government doesn't subsidize and support these dying arts.

If I lived in England I’d be begging for them to teach me to be the punch card operator. What a wonderful skill that contributes to something so beautiful and unique.

The way he uses that punch card machine makes me think of an organist. His hands and feet all going at the same time yet all acting independently. The skill it takes is nothing short of amazing. Hopefully he can train someone before it's too late.

It’s so good that this documentary is here on KZfaq now. It is high time that something happens. It’s British heritage and may not be lost. (Having said this I think it’s also world heritage). The tears in the eyes of the elderly gentleman at the end really got me😢

Anyone that make a craft like this lace is an artist and needs to be supported!

In a situation like this to preserve the art form, the Gov can intervene by allocating funds for internship to students local or foreign whoever is interested to pursue. People need to participate in local issues, elections, stand up for those who don't have a voice or power. Sadly people spend their time on things that carry no value. Thanks for sharing this wonderful art form.

*THEY NEED HELP MARKETING* because other industries producing quality traditional cloth etc are doing very well, tailors are very busy. People are starting to appreciate quality traditionally made cloth and trimmings - I just snapped up 112 meters of Hand Woven Harris Tweed at auction and I know every single mm of it will sell in my suit commissions before the mass-produced modern stuff.

Lace making should be historically protected industry. I love making christening dresses using real lace. When the day comes and only nylon or polyester lace is available I will no longer make the gowns.

My mother's family is from Nottingham, and my grandfather used to seek out orders for the lace company he worked for. I only visited his workplace once, and all I remember is the noise & smell. I wish now I had paid much more attention. I do however still have some pieces of the lace which my grandmother left me. Thank you for this video, you have brought back a memory I had completely forgotten about.

It would be very sad if no-one made leavers lace; it’s such an exquisite embellishment.

I do some bobbin lacemaking and we often hear about how machines killed off the traditional bobbin lace trade. But watching this video was like watching a nature program when you suddenly feel sorry for the predator because they are now being hunted down by something even bigger! The “new” technology eventually becomes a traditional form in its own right and now that is also endangered. It’s sad.

I spent one week study types of lace and din´t understand a lot of things. It´s amazing to see these machines working! About a lack of workers, sometimes is not the hard work, is the work environment. With 24 I´m trying to work in the automotive field and din´t hired me because I´m a woman. And in book binding field, I started as apprendice, soon I learn by myself make to work a very vintage paper sewing machine, I wish to be there all of my life (with very poor salary) but my boss emplyed a boy "because a woman can not be a master binder" says. This is sad. Young people wish to work, but old folks dind´t care about nothing. Anyway, I´m crying to found a vintage place like this to work.

OKay so I tried to go buy some because that's my first go to whenever I see these types of videos. First of all they need to have a functional website, it's pretty buggy. Second of all they need to sell lace by the meter online. Thirdly they need to hire a person to learn over from the cardboard punch guy. For a business to thrive you need to be adaptable and focus on sucession planing and make your product accessible to the masses. No point whining. They live in England for g's sake, not in some war ravaged city with bad internet and import/export restrictions, if they put the effort to make it accessible they can do it.

what makes me sad is that this is still machine work, this is so easy compared to the handmade things we already lost, can you imagine what we are losing here? we already lost handmade patterns and now we are losing machine patterns ...

Hopefully this film will draw in the right persons to train for that card punching bit. That's pretty essential.

The TV channel NHK World Japan has made many similar programs stressing the importance of passing these kinds of ancient skills along to a younger generation before they are lost forever. Pottery, clothing dyes, traditional food preservation - from pickles to making soy sauce - all are fascinating and many are at risk of being gone forever. Hoping the government or school system in the UK can step in to set up a teaching program for these lace makers.

I am surprised they have not thought of making a master out of Stainless steel as it can be lightweight enough when thinner and still strong enough to last longer than cardboard. But a machine can be created to punch the cardboard using the master key. Because lace is so expensive today, I have been learning to make my own lace for a dress that I designed. Only because I wish to only use cotton and not nylon or polyesters. Both of those fibers create so much static on me, I’m tired of getting zapped when reaching out to get something off the shelves in the supermarkets. It’s why I have been converting my clothes from any nylon or polyesters to linen, wool, cotton and a few other fabrics just like linen. Polyester clothes make you hot, sticky and sweaty and then it smells yuck, over time that smell just never gets washed out anymore so the garment had to be binned, it’s unless as rags as it does not soak up messes so your not able to recycle it as easy, sure you could make a rug out of it but I’m not sure how well it would turn out or last. The worst fabric ever invented was polyester, it’s flammable but worst still it melts so your clothes end up melting onto you if caught in a fire. That happened to a friend back in the 90’s her back, legs and arms were so badly damaged she was in critical care for over a year with so many skin grafts being done using the skin from the front of her legs and arms. No it’s time for the world to turn back the clock and start using natural fibers for clothing.

Surely one of Britain's Living History museums would be interested in acquiring your business, repairing machines, learning the skills, exhibiting them to the public, & meanwhile making a product to sell. While there may be ways to streamline & modernize the process & to preserve the tools (scan & computerize the punch cards), one of those places should be ideal for preserving the skills of the early days. I hope you find someplace with an interest & that the gentleman who does the punch cards can find someone who is so fascinated with the rocess that a little dirt isn't a deterrent. I for one, do adore lace & I have miles of it (OK, maybe yards?), old & new, handmade & machine. If I were rich, I should love to be buried in a lace shroud with lace shawls given to all the mourners---now THAT would be a party!

I was surprised when they said Cluny lace is only $50/metre, for such rarified fine fabric I was expecting more.

I had heard of cluny lace from my grandmother. It's a total shame that the UK doesn't totally support this company. It is a part of the British history.

I crochet lace so I have some inkling of what goes into these pieces. It is a beautiful art and a shame it is dying out. When I make something to give to someone (I never sell my work) they know just how much time and love has gone into the piece. Now I am at the stage of teaching my 12 year old granddaughter to crochet.

Beautiful product, but folks.... This is learned helplessness. Digitize the cards and the patterns that "no-one can make ever again" and make the punchcards out of something more durable than cardboard for pete's sake! UHMW plastic comes to mind immediately. Scan the patterns that have the numbers written in and OCR/sequence them, and then make a machine that punches the patterns. This is not hard; a good high school robotics team could knock it out in a school year. Their product is beautiful, but it's still a business, and businesses need to modernize (and market!) in order to survive.

My Dad's job was a lost art, too. He was a Printing teacher. By the time he retired, it was only a couple of years until it was obsolete. Now, printing is all.done by computers. It was a beautiful art form that was practical, too. I can still smell the printer's ink, hear the clank of the machine, and see his nails embedded with black ink. It is sad this beautiful art form of lacing making is dying..I can relate that's for sure. 😢

It's a great shame apprenticeships can't be offered and get more people trained. The cards need to be scanned so they can be reproduced if need be. Government should helping support this British treasure for the future.

This makes me sad to see the extinction of an art form. Is this progress?😢

They’re not trying to survive. They need a modern apprenticeship scheme so that the job is a bit more varied for the individual worker, look to capture a different market than the one they seem so proud of (Royal wedding dresses and couture houses) and like someone else said, get a decent website, produce stock items and sell worldwide to the public, for instance to the many women who make their own wedding dresses. I went to have a look and maybe buy a couple of metres - surprise surprise, I couldn’t.

"England's last surviving lace-maker isn't paying people enough to want to make lace." There. I fixed it.

It's kind of odd hearing "the skills are gone", when there is at least one other company out there, manufacturing lace with seemingly the same technology. There is a Business Insider Video with basically the same content but about a French company (kzfaq.info/get/bejne/r5uli5RlmM7cY2w.html) and they seem to be able to create new patterns just fine...

My wedding dress was made of this lace! It’s beyond gorgeous. Simple, elegant, and timeless!

So beautiful, intricate, and technical. For something that took so long to develop and perfect to disappear is so sad. 'Tis the way fo the world though. EVERYTHING is only temporary.

Wow. Amazing. The chap who punches. What a skill!

It’s a beautiful art. I hate to hear that we’re losing this beautiful lace industry.

Sad to see this old industry go. But please bear in mind, those of you offering advice: it’s not just replacing the cards, or finding apprentices with good aptitude to learn the skills and prepared to work for a small wage, or finding engineers who can repair the aging machines, or finding new markets for the product…. It’s All Of These At The Same Time!! These people aren’t defeatist or stupid, they are just being realistic. I’m sure the 1000s of patterns they have will be recorded in some way.

My early ancestors were from Devon Colyton and Honiton I have a collection of old laces I just love it ! I think my gene's have memory of lace making

Please don’t let this fabulous art die out.

Fascinating my father-in-law and grandfather in law worked in silk Mills here in America. My grandfather in law was the one who was in head of all the patterns and he would walk the catwalk watch to make sure they were doing it right.

Twenty years ago in Canada, I had the good fortune to purchase two tablecloths of heavy cotton Cluny lace at a local thrift shop. One lace cloth was given as a gift, the other still graces my table.

It makes me very sad too. I hope they can survive.

The tories during austerity massively cut funding to the Arts Council and the Crafts Council. They made a conscious decision to let our heritage die. These skills need to be preserved; they are living history.

They desperately need young apprentices, and an organist to run that card punch machine! I would love to make a hobby project out of figuring out how to make new patterns, It looks like something I used to do as a kid. someone in the 1700's figured this out I think we can do it again!

Fashion students need to be made aware of products this wonderful country makes

We must find a way to preserve this significant art form

Those punch cards are literally one's and zero's...that part is perfect for computerisation

I somehow think that they are gatekeeping the knowledge because it is their business.

Does it have to be cardboard? Can you 3d print thin plastic versions of the cards?

Omg i bought a lot of their lace for my wedding dress!!! I'm so happy I supported them. I highly recommend their lace, its amazing, its beautiful and so nice to touch

My grandmother worked in the Nottingham lace industry in the first half of the last century. She was a bobbin setter? a very skilled job. Nottingham lace was renowned all over the world.

I'm a proud owner of the piece of leavers lace. I hope the company would survive 🙏 Art and crafts are national treasure and should be protected at all costs 🙏

i live near the heart of the 'lace market' area - weird seeing it on WSJ

I hope ppl step up to take this over so this art. I can’t imagine my life without Cluny Lace. My grandmother was half English and half French. I learned to sew with it.

After all lace doesn't do no harm its an important finishing for our daily lives so there is always a way... The machin is legally beautiful so it's a blessed creation.. Don't cry 🍀

I feel like, they could give reviving pattern making a shot. I'm sure if you were to digitalise all existing patterns and then use a combination of training a model on it and having a very crafty person check them, they would be able to make new ones. I'm sure with the right marketing, fashion brands would go crazy for custom high quality lace, unique to their brand. Worst case, even the punching can be done by a machine, if noone is willing to learn the skill. It is mainly punching copies of existing cards. Finding a more durable material that works on the existing machines as cards would also help

Life keeps changing and so many personal achievements are forever gone and irreatreavable . I hope that someone somewhere that has money cares enough to not let this precious way of lacemaking vanish into history. It is a cornerstone of human achievement that cannot be understood just with words. It takes seeing the lace and all of the details in making the lace to understand how and why it played such a huge part in history. Even handmade lace is very rare. I can’t even find any books about it in our vast collection of libraries here in Cuyahoga county, U.S. And I struggle to try to make it. I have grown old and have tried all my adult life to learn how to Tat. Another form of lace making. So it is here in my last years that I find online videos to teach. We are losing this precious art.

Fantastic feature!

This is amazing, so much skill and knowledge mustn’t be lost!

Oh my goodness! I have bought and used their lace! It is indeed the most beautiful and exquisite lace I have ever worked with.

I would love to learn how to make lace! And carry on with this beautiful tradition. Lace is so delicate and beautiful. I can’t imagine a world without it!

I wonder if there's a long documentary about this and without background music , with just people narrating and the beautiful sound of these majestic machines?

If school kids learned to make bobbin lace ribbons and fishnets by hand, they would appreciate and keep alive those machines when they grow up. And gladly pay the very fair prices.

My paternal grandfather's ancestors on his mother's side were involved in the lace trade in Nottingham in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. My great-grandmother's aunt was a 'lace mender' at 16 according to the 1880 census, and her younger brother, at 10 years old, was a 'threader'. It's hard to imagine him climbing through those machines when he should have been in school. It does seem that some type of government subsidy could be provided for hiring apprentices. The company should consider having the pattern books scanned and archived electronically for the future.

Thank you so much for this amazing video! It makes me really appreciate lace in a new way!!! Now I wish I knew where some of my old lace is so I can incorporate it into more of my clothes!! We need these beautiful workers to keep producing this wonderful product!!! Sooo magnificent! Thank you again!!!

well then since im not doing anything , how can i apply to work here and learn so the dreams continue on till dust.

This is just up the road from where I live. Absolutely stunning works of art.

Seriously, start by digitizing your archive. You could cut out those cardboard templates in minutes. The machines are another matter!

I've always dreamed of a lace wedding dress - I will drive from London if I have too 🥹 Hopefully there are still here when the time comes 🙏🏿❤️

Lace is so delicate and beautiful. I hope this craft/artistry does not end.

I hope this video helps people gain an interest is this style of lace making, even only as a hobby. I hope these videos help to revive dying arts before it is too late.

If there was demand, modern machines could be made to produce the same quality lace.

I would literally move to England just to learn this skill in the hopes of keeping it from dying out. Suggestion: Reach out to engineers, die makers, mechanics and generally super smart people about making replacement parts, diagrams, blueprints and technical data sheets regarding repair. Perhaps even a new machine could potentially be built.

The cruelty free machine orgnaicly preformed with 100%percent egyption cotton vibes love it 💞

This was very interesting. Surely there are young people out there with an artistic bent and a love of craft, in the best sense of the word, to learn and continue lacemaking. You need to find them. All the best, cheers from Canada

I’ve tried to encourage mothers and fathers to teach skills that would be very beneficial in financially difficult times. I insisted my daughters learn sewing and needlework. I wasn’t a popular mom at the time, but now the girls thoroughly enjoy knowing skills most of their friends admire.

Simply beautiful. It is an art in itself.

This is amazing. And so sad to see the decline, manufacturing in GB is so undervalued. But Ian - what a star!

Oh,my gosh, so beautiful. I remember my grandma and grandgrandmother doing hand made lace,no power in the house,we use lamps.

Keep heart ,a extraordinary material you create is loved by all who see it,even though they dont know what they are just witnessing.fingers crossed some young blood can jump in and save you

And the amount of people living from benefits in the UK is crazy. The government should force them all to get a job in these dying industries.

Amazing

I wish I could learn lacemaking, I am in absolute awe of the last surviving pieces of the industry. I am also a silversmith and a jeweller by the learned vocation, I really wish I could be a part of such a skilltrade

There are all sorts of crafty lady in the United States who would love to learn this!

There’s absolutely college students out there who’d want to create software for their dissertation to digitize the paper patterns so they aren’t lost to time. You could also absolutely create a CNC style machine to create the punch cards. And I KNOW there are nerdy enough fiber loving folks out there who could decipher the language of the old patterns (basically figure out what all the symbols mean again) so that new patterns could be created. The savior for this vintage mechanized but not fully industrialized art is to introduce computers. If a CNC machine can do the messy job of punching the cards, then you need a CNC operator who won’t be nearly as messy and won’t develop arthritic or repetitive motion injuries. If someone can design software to digitize the old patterns then the CNC machine will have file types to read AND there will be a method to create to patterns which can then be done anywhere, by anyone with the knowledge to use the software. You would still need people. People to thread the machines, design patterns, babysit & program & maintain not just the industrial machines but the computerized ones too. They REALLY need to get involved with a university or multiple universities with textile programs AND computer science programs. THE ANSWER LIES WITH THE YOUTH!

Great, beautiful work, design ...

This is a national treasure. This culture must have financial backing to include apprenticeships, workers and the factory. The idiot waste of money within the public service on a host of issues and then you see this national treasure struggling. When are we going to treasure vital industry that is unique to our country.

With millions of global lacemakers in int'l organizations/biz. I'm stunned you didn't solicit CVs/applicants/refs to them! IOLI, BLEN, RSN, literally millions more!

Absolutely fascinating. I've always wanted to know how this was done. I'm a bobbin lace maker so it's a passion with in me. I hope someone comes along to save this

I still have and use a .10 cent steel crochet hook the was my mothers from the 1970’s. Taught myself to use it at 13 years old. It’s lasted longer than my marriage, traveled with me half way across the country and back and made me many garments. Until I cannot see the thread it will be with me always. I’m sorry but all things come to an end.

I love handmade products. (for heaven's sake, not only do I knit, I spin yarn with a hand spindle) And of course this sort of lace requires human hands at virtually every step. But as for replacing the cards, producing new parts for the machines - I can't help but think that 3-D printers could solve these problems. And I can't help but think that AI assistance could recover the skill for creating new patterns.

We love lace, especially traditionally made lace.

They absoluteky need to make tutorial videos on their jobs. Then we can have an example of how they did their individual jobs which may help bring back this lacemaking style in the future!!!!

I lived in Ipswich MA which had a large base of women making lace at home. It must have been very complicated and tedious. This video was fascinating to me.

Wow! I would love to learn in this place! So sad that the art is slowly dieing away. 😢

We are sad aswell old is gold you did what you could but there is hope if you try solutions will pass by like a beautiful golden breeze

Time to innovate new ways to create woven lace.

Blessed are the lacemakers.

Just received 2 yards of Cluny lace from Mood Fabric. It’s beautiful and I will order what I can find.

Bring in the Time Team! Maybe they can do a special on skills that might be lost.

If I was younger I would volunteer to learn this.

I wish you to find a way to attract new workers and buyers to keep going on, your factory it's a wow , a real heritage.

I'd love to understand more about why new designs cannot be made?

Gee, who would have thought putting punishing regulations on domestic production while allowing foreign imports that don't have the extra overhead and can severely undercut the domestic producers would cause issues?!