St. Gallen embroidery refers to embroidery products from the city and the region of St. Gallen, Switzerland. The region was once the largest and most important export area for embroidery. Around 1910 the embroidery production was the largest export branch of the Swiss economy with 18 percent of the overall export value. More than 50 percent of the world production came from St. Gallen. With the advent of the First World War, the demand for the luxury dropped suddenly and significantly and so a lot of people were unemployed, which resulted in the biggest economic crisis in the region. Today, the embroidery industry has somewhat recovered, but it will probably never again reach its former size. Nevertheless, the St. Galler Spitzen (as the embroidery is also called) are still very popular as a raw material for expensive haute couture creations in Paris and count among the most famous textiles in the world. Michelle Obama decided to wear St. Gallen embroidery at the inauguration ceremony of her husband on January 20, 2009.
Read more about St. Gallen Embroidery: Working Conditions, Embroidery Today, Sources
Famous quotes containing the word embroidery:
“It is, indeed, at home that every man must be known by those who would make a just estimate either of his virtue or felicity; for smiles and embroidery are alike occasional, and the mind is often dressed for show in painted honour, and fictitious benevolence.”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)