The almost 100 works produced for the first edition of the Needle and bobbin lace competition. Lace for Venice will be put on show in a special exhibition at the museum in Burano.

The use solely of needles for making lace is typical of Burano; the original lace of the island stands out for the great complexity of the patterns and techniques employed, for the use of very slender threads (of cotton, silk, gold or silver gilt) and long work processes, for which study and experience lasting decades were necessary.

Bobbin lace is faster to make and technically less demanding; within the lagoon of Venice, this form of production became typical of Pellestrina. The idea promoted by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia appears alongside other activities whose aims are to maintain a lively executive or artistic interest in a medium that presents an original face with regard to contemporary models too.

What emerges from these initiatives is a new role for lace which, as autonomous work,abandons its role in clothing and furnishing in favour of a fresh expressiveness.