'Igne Oyasi' - traditional Turkish needle lace

A typical length of pre-stitched oya lace which will be added to a headscarf, home linens or made into jewelry.

Every country has it's own unique craft steeped in tradition and Turkey is no exception, apart from the fact that it has so many and all of which have been influenced by many different civilizations over the centuries.

I have always been fascinated by Oya Lace, and was even more influenced by the attentions it attracted of my expat friends Rose and Tara.

Rose, as an artist and designer, used vintage pieces of crochet and oya lace in a myriad of ways to create modern items and Tara is very good at sniffing out Oya lace wherever she goes - she loves it!

Artist, designer & writer Rose Deniz blogs about beautiful things in Love, Rose.

Igne Oyasi bracelet by Turkish jewelry artisan Birsen Sonmez and available through Citara's.

There's so much history, stories and techniques involved in Oya Lace so you might be interested in finding out more. Read my article about it all on valleyfiberlife.com