What is passementerie?
Passementerie is the art of creating ornate and elaborate braids, trimmings, fringes, ribbons, trims, tassels, rosettes, buttons and cordspinning for interior and fashion design. Passementerie can be handwoven, embroidered, knitted, knotted… the crafts involved are very wide-ranging.The term ‘passementerie’ is French, but the craft has been created in the UK since at least the 1200s; originally it was often referred to as lace or ‘narrow weaving’.The centre of production at one point was the City of London (as a coincidence my studio is in the City of London and I am the only passementerie ar tist in the City today). The Tudors were huge fans of passementerie. Henry VIII even employed two dedicated trimmings makers in the Great Wardrobe to produce the latest styles for the royal household.