Idrija Lace Festival

Eva Petrič
1 day ago
2 min read

From a thousand buds of hope, a bird of hope for peace emerged in Idrija.

My thanks to all the hundreds of lace makers from 11 countries who shared their roses of hope with me and entrusted me to create a new collective work - Bird of Hope for the much-needed peace in many parts of the world right now...

Bird of Hope for Peace in Idrija, waiting to deparrt on its mission to bring hope for peace where it is needed.

THANKS to all who came to the opening presentation of “Bird of Hope for Peace” last Thursday, a day before the 43rd Festival of Idrija Lace opened again this year.

“Bird of Hope for Peace” is a collective work made out of 1,000 lace roses, created by lacemakers from around the world as part of the international open call “Roses of Hope,” which took place from 2023 to 2024.

Each rose carries a personal message of hope, now transformed into a shared symbol - into the "Bird of Hope for Peace".

As a symbolic action, I brought the roses to the site of the Ljubelj concentration camp, which was during WWII part of the Mauthausen concentration camp. There, a "circle of Hope that cannot be broken" was formed from which the "Bird of Hope for Peace" was born.

This piece embodies not only the hopes of so many lacemakers worldwide, but also echoes the memory of those who suffered at the Ljubelj (Loibl) Pass concentration camp, a satellite of the Mauthausen concentration camp. Both mark 80 years of liberation this year.

I hope that "Bird of Hope for Peace" serves as a reminder that peace is not guaranteed and that we must never lose hope in order to achieve it, and as a tribute to all those who suffered during the Second World War, and a reminder that their pain was not in vain, and that peace is still worth hoping for.

After the festival, Bird of Hope for Peace will remain in Idrija and continue to inspire and remind us that if we want to achieve peace, we must never lose our hope for peace.

Heartfelt thanks to all the lacemakers whose beautiful creations made this project possible; to the Idrija Tourist Institute, especially Valerija Božič, who never lost faith in this vision ...

to Maja Svetlik for translating my idea into a pattern for lacemakers to follow; to the Idrija Lace School and its head, Mrs. Metka Fortuna for their support ...