Many women in Lagos know the label on the best lace: made in Austria. The reason is one small region on the Rhine.
The embroidery valley
Vorarlberg, the westernmost province of Austria, sits on the Rhine opposite Switzerland. In the 19th century the region around Lake Constance became one of the world’s centres of machine embroidery, and the schiffli frame — one design, hundreds of needles, one pass — turned embroidery into an industry. Lustenau, a town on the border, filled with embroidery works.
From Lustenau to Lagos
From the 1960s, Lustenau embroiderers found a new market in West Africa, above all in Nigeria, where embroidered lace became the cloth of weddings, funerals and celebrations. Designs grew bolder for that market: heavier cord lace, bright colours, metallic thread, stones. For decades much of this lace reached Lagos through traders and exporters.
Why it still matters
- Machines and skill. Schiffli embroidery needs experienced punchers, stitchers and finishers.
- One bolt, one shade. A mill can cut a whole aso ebi party from one roll.
- Real embroidery. Thread on cloth, with a back side — not print.
OLORI
OLORI is the direct label of Stickerei Sükün, a family embroidery mill in Lustenau since 1999. Instead of going through exporters, the lace now goes straight from the frame to you, with a certificate stamped by the mill in every parcel. Read more about the mill.
