Martina Vidal: the atelier where the Burano lace tradition becomes a living experience.

Atelier Martina Vidal has been carrying on the Burano lace tradition for four generations now. Founded as a small family-run workshop from an idea of Martina Vidal, the brand now makes luxury lace for the home and person, and has a sumptuous showroom on the island of Burano in the Venetian lagoon.
The collections are the result of passion, experience and creativity, and are strictly Made in Italy, and handmade with quality fabrics.
In addition to the shop and the adjoining Lace Museum, Martina Vidal has set up the Venice Secret Garden: a place for relaxation and pleasure, a garden from which to admire the beauty of the island while enjoying the typical “Buranelli” biscuits. Thanks to the continuous commitment to teaching and disseminating this art, over the years the atelier has become a place where lace is not just a technique to be preserved, but a contemporary experience to be lived in person.

 
What is your story and how did you get into lace-making?
I was born on the island of Burano in Venice, and learnt the technique of needle lace as a child, as it used to be in the past, watching my mother, grandmother and aunts making lace at home. My mother was a lace maker who attended the Burano lace school, which opened in 1872 and closed in 1970. In the 1990s, at the age of almost 18 and with the help of my family, I opened a small lace workshop.

For your work, how important was the bond with the territory and the island of Burano?
When I opened the Vidal family’s first shop, which I called “Artigianato del Merletto da Martina” (Lace craftsmanship by Martina), I fulfilled a dream. The name followed the tradition of the shops in Burano: small businesses, almost entirely run by women, where the name represented a style, a way of making the products. Today, my work, which focuses on the production and sale of household linen, is still very much linked to the values of craftsmanship and well-made, and the desire to create original, high quality collections.

How has the business evolved over four generations?
In the past, lace-making was carried out inside the home and within the family, to help the island’s economy, which was based solely on fishing.
From a small craft workshop, we have become an atelier, where guests and customers can experience the hospitality of Burano, they can see the skilled hands of a lace-maker at work, touch the finest fabrics and order customised embroidery and lace. This is an atelier where lace becomes a contemporary experience to be lived in person.

How is the workshop and production organised to date? How many people assist you?
Today, we produce exclusive, made-to-measure collections for the kitchen, bedroom and bathroom, as well as accessories and clothing. Over the years we have carried out a meticoulous research and a strict selection of our suppliers, checking the quality of the raw material, but also the processing methodology and its environmental and social sustainability.
For the production of the typical Burano lace,which is conceived, designed and produced entirely in Atelier Martina Vidal, three collaborators are involved, and two of them are master lacemakers.

Do you carry out any initiatives to promote this important tradition?
Since 2014, we have been organising lace courses and workshops in the atelier. The courses require several days of learning and are usually organised for one or three people at the most, while a workshop can be held in three or four hours, in a single day, and is also intended for groups of several people. In order to promote this tradition, we have also participated in many craft fairs and exhibitions.

“Homo Faber”, an important event dedicated to high craftsmanship to be held from 1st to 30th of September on the Island of San Giorgio (Venice), is approaching. Fondazione Cologni will curate “In Città” , a collateral initiative that will open the doors of Venice’s craft workshops to the public. Will you be organising anything special for this occasion?
Thus year in May, we presented a new experience in the atelier, designed to get the public interested in the art of needle lace, and to offer guests and customers of the atelier an interactive and engaging experience.
“RI-VIVI BURANO” consists of an immersive virtual reality experience through Meta Quest 3 visors and free navigation via teleport method. This experience allows one to virtually travel through the rooms of the past, present and future of the Island of Burano and the Atelier Vidal, and thus to understand the technique of lace-making and its tools, through gamification.
On the occasion of “Homo Faber In Città”, the Atelier Martina Vidal will offer a lace demonstration with its master lace-makers, an explanation of the history and contemporary workmanship, and a virtual journey with “RI-VIVI BURANO” to imagine together the future of lace-making.

Have you ever thought of dedicating yourself to teaching the technique to young people?
Once upon a time, this craft was handed down from mother to daughter and was purely performed within the walls of the home. The girls of Burano did not have many options in the field of work; they knew that the choice to become lacemakers was necessary. Today, it is fundamental that the profession of lacemaker is a choice guided by will, passion and a broader vision.
With the new experience RI-VIVI BURANO we want to start a much more complex project, which will lead to the creation of a globally accessible digital platform with lessons, tutorials and teaching resources. We believe that this new experience will enable us to meet and interact with new audiences, to get even the youngest people interested in the art of lace-making and to encourage a generational shift in the sector.

What would you say to someone who wants to approach this profession?
I would tell them that lace requires passion and dedication, but also a lot of creativity and originality. While the technique has remained unchanged, and it still requires a lot of commitment and time for learning it, today it is possible to combine this tradition with innovation. It is possibile, indeed, to produce a more contemporary version of lace, different from the sumptuous one of the past, and make it even in small dimensions, as an accessory or a detail, which gives beauty and uniqueness to a garment or an object.
This way, lace becomes more usable and accessible even in the making process.

Martina Vidal
Via San Mauro, 309 – Burano (Venice)
Ph. +39 041 735523
info@martinavidal.com
www.martinavidal.com