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Kathrine makes them
and Bent collects them
by Gitte Villesen
Kathrine was 79
when I shot this film in ‘95. She has been knitting lace since
she was eight years old, and continues to this day, knitting 3-4
hours every evening. Bent was 66. He’s been collecting lace
since 1957. It was 20 years ago that he met Kathrine, and since
then he’s bought most of his lace from her. Lace is functional
handcraft, but as Bent’s collection is very valuable and is
only displayed in various exhibitions, the collection is kept in
a safety deposit box. The largest piece Bent has commisioned from
Kathrine is a table-cloth with matching napkins. This piece demanded
years of persuasion from Bent before Kathrine agreed to begin the
work. All in all, the commission took seven years. Five for the
tablecloth, two for the napkins. Bent is a retired first officer
and ships’ pilot. He has sailed over most of the world, and
it was during his travels that he began to be interested in traditional
womens handcraft. His interest started with Persian rugs, but Persian
rugs are bulky, and take up great deal of space. Because of this
Bent began to deliberate as to whether there was something similar
from Denmark which he could collect. There followed a period of
collecting sofa pillows, but this was very difficult as they’d
often been in a home for so long that their owners couldn’t
bring themselves to part with them. He focused his attention on
lace when he learned that lace was still being produced, making
it possible to buy outright. His interest in lace peaked when he
met Kathrine, who’s method adhered to the old traditional style.
Kathrine is a widow, and lives together with her son and his daughter.
When Kathrine was a child, it was normal for women to sew lace,
and it provided extra income. I already knew Bent. He is Uncle to
my Cousins; as such, I had met him a few times before. When I was
15 or 16 years old we sat next to each other at a family get-together,
where we spent our time together discussing sexual politics. At
the end of the evening, Bent wagered two bottles of red wine that
when I became 25, contrary to my-according to Bent- radical views,
I would be a housewife, happily married and with two children. It
could very well be that I was interested in doing something creative,
but I would choose to work freelance, so that I would have enough
time to be home with my children. Four years ago, when I was 28,
I mentioned to my cousin that he should say hello for me to Bent,
and to tell him that he had lost our little wager on all three counts.
I was invited up to visit Bent, and got my wine - a good wine. Bent
called me a few months later. He and my cousin had been to an exhibition
where he’d seen my video “Willy as DJ”
(wherein Willy, an elderly man, presents his record collection).
Bent wanted to know if I was interested in filming his lace collection,
where most of the pieces had been made by the same woman - Kathrine.
He was interested in having the collection, and Kathrines working
process documented. I tried to explain to Bent that though it was
true that my work resembled documentary film, that was in fact not
what I did. But, Bent said that he had seen what I do, and was of
the opinion that it would work. After some deliberation, I decided
that it was alright, and said “ok”. Kathrine was my greatest
worry, in that she had no knowledge of my work at all. The first
day we spent our time talking about the collection, lace festivals,
lace traditions, about a Belgian collector who had hundreds of pieces,
and about Kathrines’ husband; then she demonstrated her lace
technique. That night, Bent and I stayed at the Høyer Inn,
where Bent always stays when he visits Kathrine. The next morning
we drove to the bank to fetch the collection from the safety deposit
box. When we arrived at Kathrines’ home, they displayed the
collection while I filmed. After we finished, Bent invited Kathrine,
her son, her grandson, my parents and myself to dinner at the inn.
A short time after I finished shooting, in the fall of ‘95,
I tried to edit the film, but it didn’t work out just then.
Bent became impatient, and with money sponsored by a funding organisation,
he hired a more traditional film crew to make a film which was shown
this year at the lace festival. Gitte Villesen, June 98.
This work is a video
with a preface of 5 minutes, and a 10 minute story. The preface
is a short collage of the first day with Kathrine, while the other
part documents Bent and Kathrine’s presentation of the lace
collection. Besides the video, there is acollage of texts and photographs.
The text is the story behind the meeting with Bent and Kathrine
(which is reprinted above). The pictures are stills, some from the
video and some from the footage that didn’t make it into the
final version. Pictures of Kathrine’s business card and a postcard
advertising the inn where we spent the night are also included.
Bent and Kathrine have both received a copy of the video, for which
they posess the professional lace related presentation rights. It
turned out that the two of them were satisfied with the video, and
plan on having it shown at this years lace festival. Recently, I
was sent a very delicate lace scarf as a gift from Kathrine and
Bent.
Originally published
in: Wiener Secession Catalogue, Gitte Villesen, 1999ISBN 3-901926-08-9
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