A Chat with Elena Kanagy-Loux: The Woman Reviving a Love Affair with Lace

Live from New York

This is the third of our new monthly speaker series featuring conversations that inspire curiosity, creativity and connection.

April's featured monthly speaker is Elena Kanagy-Loux – a renowned lacemaker, historian, founder of Brooklyn Lace Guild, Collections specialist at The MET and the woman who made one of Ruth Bader Ginsburg lace collars. She is also the creator of LaceTok, bringing what some may mistakenly view as a lost or dying art to a whole new generation via her wildly popular TikTok videos.

Join us on Tuesday, April 13th @ 1PM EST for a zoom conversation about her love affair with this fascinating and meditative art.

Who's this for – anyone curious about lace, vintage fashion or developing their unique aesthetic, creatives working towards lacemaking skills, and those interested in learning the revival of endangered arts. VAWAA is a welcoming space for everyone, so join us anyway. 

What to expect

• Elena's journey studying lacemaking in Slovenia and seven different lace schools across Italy, Belgium, France, Spain, and Eastern Europe.
• How lace was historically made and how she makes it.
• Short demo of the novel, tactile and meditative art of lacemaking.
• Her unique fashion approach and how lace and other vintage elements play a role in it.
• Why painstaking traditional crafts are the perfect antidote to the digital world.
• Using social media to overcome misconceptions about lace and crafts.

This is a free event, but in light of recent horrific events in Atlanta, all donations will go to Elena's chosen charity - the Asian American Arts Alliance - an organization dedicated to strengthening Asian American artists and cultural groups through resource sharing, promotion, and community building.

If you are not in EST time zone, be sure to convert the time.

How to join

We'll be hosting this VAWAA Online on Zoom. We'll send link and details to join via email 1 day and again 30 mins before it begins.

About Elena

Elena Kanagy-Loux is a descendent of the Amish and grew up between the US and Japan, where she was immersed in both traditional Mennonite craft and the DIY fashion scene in Tokyo's Harajuku neighborhood. After receiving her BFA in Textile Design from FIT, she won a grant which funded a four-month trip to study lacemaking across Europe in 2015. Upon returning to NYC, she co-founded the Brooklyn Lace Guild, an organization devoted to the preservation of lacemaking, and began teaching bobbin lace classes at the Textile Arts Center. In 2018 she completed her MA in Costume Studies at NYU where she based her thesis on interviews with lacemakers that she conducted on her European travels. Currently she is the Collections Specialist at the Antonio Ratti Textile Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.