Eva Ševčíková
Anna Potúčková from Brezová pod Bradlom as a young girl was taught the art of bobbin lace by her aunt. Although she did not wear costumes, the image of girls and women dressed in festive costumes that she met in the church never disappeared from her memory and she always liked the subtle tulle lace from her hometown. But the life had led her its own path and she returned to lace knitting in the retirement age, when the local lace was forgotten. She actively started to pay close attention to lacemaking and managed to restore almost forgotten lace of her home region and show the world its unique beauty.
Fine tulle lace is the most striking adornment on such simple traditional women´s clothing in “Kopanice area” of the Myjava Upland. In manufacturing, there is another bobbin technology being used. Lace makers work with devices that are indispensable in the bobbin. Lace was knitted with white threads, which once used to be very subtle, as can be seen in old laced costumes. Therewithal they were steady and therefore could be boiled, washed, starched and ironed. Today it is better to replace these threads with thin silk fibres.
Anna Potúčková began to record and draw the lace patterns with regional names in the graphic form. She created a unique swatch book, inserted either the original cuttings of lace or reproduction into it. Each pattern has its name. Anna Potúčková is seeking a use of previously only costume laces for other uses, experimenting with themes, a set of jags, manufacturing of clothing accessories, utility and decorative objects. The Brezová lace thus has appeared on the tablecloths and blankets, but also blouses, sweaters and blankets for babies.
As an active lace maker, presenting her own particular regional tradition, regularly participates in lace making events.
Anna Potúčková´s personal commitment in an effort to preserve the traditions of lace led in 1998 to the founding of the Club Brezovská knitted lace, where she began to familiarize other successors with the mystery of the lace knitting art. Vigorous “Brezovanka´s” activities, of course, did not escape the bobbin lace making or further professional community attention but moreover she received several awards. In 2012 she became the title holder “Master of Folk Art Production” for maintaining and developing of the original tulle bobbin lace production.