Today I visited the The Lace Museum in Sunnyvale, CA located not that far from the Sunnyvale Public Library. The museum was located in a small strip mall in a rather unassuming building and the inside was no bigger than a private drugstore. But it contained a lot of interesting and educational displays about the fine craft of lace making and one of the four ladies working at a large table in the center of the room was kind enough to give me a tour of the place.
The museum is run by volunteers and relies mostly on donations, gifts shop sales, and the classes on lace making it offers. The ladies sitting at the table in the center of the room appeared to be working on their own lacing projects. My tour guide, Eleanore, explained to me that The Lace Museum was once located in Mountain View, about 5 miles away and the original museum was founded around 1981. Then they moved to Sunnyvale and it has been in the present location for 18 years. Eleanore herself has been practicing the craft for many years and has even travelled overseas on several occasions on behalf of her craft. She was very knowledgable about all of the items in the museum, and took occasional breaks from the tour to help the ladies on their projects.
The museum contained several small and large samples of beautiful lace items. Large pieces were hung on the walls, and smaller ones were in display cases. There were three glass display cases lining the wall on the right as you entered. There were two large cases with horizontal sliding doors that also contained many beautiful samples. Most of the lace in the museum was white, but a few samples were black or beige. Some of the lace came from overseas--Belgium and France seemed to have a reputation of having fine lace.
After my private tour, I browsed through the little gift shop. It offered books, bookmarks, lace pieces, kits, and other knick knacks. As museums go, this was a very specialized one catering to a small group of enthusiasts. The collection was well- organized, well-labeled, and interesting. Knowing very little about the art, I especially liked the educational displays.
The Lace Museum
52 South Murphy Avenue
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
408-730-4695
www.THELACEMUSEUM.ORG
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