Venice Carnival 2010 - Luxury Authentic Venetian Masks.

With the annual Venice Carnival all set to get underway again this Saturday (it runs from 6 February to 16 February this year), we thought we'd join in the festivities here in Nottingham by showcasing some of our brand-new Luxury Authentic Venetian Mask designs.

Luxury Authentic Venetian Masks

Venetian Masks have always been a central feature of the Carnival of Venice, of course, ever since the inaugural festival, believed to have been in 1296.  They were traditionally worn by the Venetians between Boxing Day and the climax of the Carnival on Shrove Tuesday, the last day before lent.   Rich and poor could celebrate together under the veil of their masks, which helped to release inhibitions and protect anonymity during the Carnival period.

Typical Venetian "street" scene...

Mask-makers (masherari) enjoyed a special position in Venetian society, with a statute of their own dated 10 April 1436.

By the seventeenth century, the Grand Tourists had got wind of the debauchery that went on during the Carnival, and they descended on Venice in their tens of thousands each year to join in the fun!

Ever popular Dr Parnassus Venetian Mask...

The party was halted when the Venetian Republic fell to the Austrians at the end of the 18^th century, however, and they promptly banned the Carnival.  There was an attempt to revive it after reunification in 1866, but it was again banned when Mussolini came to power and the wearing of masks was forbidden under fascist law.

It wasn't until 1979 that the Carnival was revived once more, by a group of young Venetians interested in the tradition and cultural history of their city.  Today, it attracts up to a million visitors to Venice every year.

Sam and I on one of our "buying trips" to Venice...

The art of mask-making has also been revived.  The papier-mache Venetian mask bases we use for our Luxury Authentic Venetian Mask range are all made in Venice, using traditional techniques and methods dating back hundreds of years.

We've given them a twist and added extra gorgeousness, drawing on our own history and traditions, such as the Nottingham Lace used on the Black and Ivory Cameo Lace Venetian Mask here.

Black and Ivory Cameo Lace Venetian Mask...

Our male Venetian masks come in a range of colours too - many of them unique to us....

Male Venetian Masks....

So, if you're off to a Venetian or Masquerade Ball in the next few days, or even off to Venice for the Carnival itself, have a wonderful time.  And if you're not, well, there's always pancakes.....

Martin Peach.

www.SamanthaPeachMasks.com

Nottingham Lace and Us

Our home city of Nottingham has long been synonymous with the production of high quality lace, but finding a manufacturer and supplier in the city for our new range of luxury lace masks proved to be much more difficult than you would first imagine.

At its peak the lace industry in Nottingham employed 14000 women and 6000 men.  This is where the old myth that there are more eligible women than men in Nottingham originates from.  The numbers became even more lop-sided when the First World War broke out in 1914, but (...and listen carefully lads), I can confirm that this is no longer the case today.  

Ladies hard at it back in the day...

Today, the grand Victorian factories and warehouses of the Lace Market district have largely been recycled as swanky new apartments and trendy bars (filled with boys looking for twice their number of eligible girls), whilst the actual production of genuine Nottingham lace has all but disappeared.

Lace Market, Nottingham today...

Luckily, there is one company in the city still manufacturing high quality Nottingham Schiffli embroidered lace, and by COMPLETE coincidence they happen to be based on the very same street as the one Samantha and I live on and, until very recently, ran our company from!

Fewkes have manufactured lace from the same site for 99 years - 2010 is their centenary - and are now the last remaining lace embroiders in the whole of the United Kingdom.  Their clients include Harrods, the Royal Family (their lace was used on the royal wedding dresses of both Princesses Diana and Fergie), and now us!

Traditional manufacturing processes still going strong today....

Expect a whole range of new luxury designs using genuine embroidered Nottingham lace soon but, for a taster, please take a look at our Mysterious Lady Venetian Mask , the perfect marriage of Venice and Nottingham we think.

Nottingham's lace heritage is literally all around us - our studio is also housed in a converted Victorian former lace factory.  Built in the 1880s, it was state of the art when it opened, designed for making up garments from circular fabrics.  The factory operated in a vertical method: fabric was sent to the top floor and then descended from floor to floor by way of chutes, to be cut, sewn, steamed and packaged, eventually arriving at the Packing room on the ground floor.

An air-raid shelter going up outside our studio in 1939...

We reside on the second floor, surrounded by an eclectic bunch of people including vintage fabric lovers and recent Vogue stars Spinsters Emporium, a gospel church, recording studio, ska band, gym and even a cheerleading dance school, (amongst others......), and we do, indeed, love it!

Martin Peach.

www.samanthapeach.com