Japan and Belgium United Through Lace

Cultural and Information Centre
Of the Embassy of Japan

Kunstlaan 58, Avenue des Arts

1000 Brussel / Bruxelles

02/511,23,07

www.amb-jpn.be

Diane Claeys

Diane Claeys is born in Antwerp (Belgium) on December 5th, 1954. Lace has been a part of her family since generations. Diane's grandmother ran her own laceshop. Her mother was an embroiderer and a needlelace maker. She was also skilful in making wedding veils. The passion for lace grew naturally because of the enormous lace collection in Diane's family. This cultural heritage needed to be identified and dated. From the moment she started doing research in this field, she discovered so many fascinating links with history.
After Diane moved to Bruges, the lace centre of the world, her lace study intensified. Together with her family, she opened a shop with antique laces for collectors. Besides organizing a lace exhibition with 400 years of lace, she also started to run courses focusing on history and technique in a private study house. Diane works for several museums all over the world. For the moment, Diane Claeys is very active in the exchange of the lace culture between Belgium and japan.