WELCOME

The Kantcentrum originates in the Apostoline Sisters’ lace school. The nuns founded the Kantcentrum bzw (not-for-profit organisation) in 1970 in order to give new impetus to lace teaching. Two years later the not-for-profit organisation restarted the lace school. Meantime the sisters had disappeared from the organisation. In 2014 the Kantcentrum moved from the historic convent buildings on the Adornes estate into the Apostolines’ former lace school (on the same estate). The Kantcentrum now delivers lace courses, runs its own publishing house for books and lace patterns and organises lace workshops. It has published its own lace magazine in 4 languages since 1978 and organises lace teacher training. The Kantcentrum has evolved into a centre of excellence for lace in its widest sense which has a worldwide reputation.

Make lace yourself digitally

Interactivity is an important feature of the lace museum. In the second room the visitor has an interactive introduction to the techniques and aesthetics on the one hand and the lace industry in Bruges and its contemporary resonance on the other. There are touch screens which inform the visitor about the differences between hand-made laces, both bobbin and needle lace, and machine lace.

The technique of bobbin lacemaking is based on the movements “cross” and “twist”, combined in the basic stitches: “whole stitch”, “half stitch” and “whole stitch with twist”. These too can be experienced using a touch screen. You can also leaf through a sample book.