Welcome to my website!

My name is Ágnes Herczeg. I was born in Hungary and I still live here in a small town next to the river Danube.

I graduated from the University of Fine Arts in Budapest as a textile restorer. I am interested in the embroidery techniques by which the textiles in museums were made; I have tried many of these during the years. Closest to my heart are lace techniques, I have devoted most of
my time to studying needle lace and pillow lace.

I started working with lace works in 2013. I mainly use natural threads of plant origin like linen, hemp, cotton, jute, raphia etc. While preparing a lace work, I usually make use of threads of different origin and thickness and I also apply several techniques. I mainly use needle lace technique, which I frequently combine with pillow lace and braiding work.

Preparing needle lace is a time-consuming and delicate work, which requires a high degree of attention. I like preparing laces with very thin threads, for which I used to apply madeira viscose threads, but currently I prefer working with pure silk thread. The contour of the needle lace works is made of thin wires, which enables a suitable stiffness. The pattern and density of the stitches within the contours determines the graphics of the given work, which is a process based completely on improvisation. It is like drawing with the help of stitches. The lace work is dyed afterwards, which might be the most exciting phase of all as this is the part when my work becomes a picture.

The frame of the pictures is made of small branches, bark, coconut shell or any other material of my liking. This “frame” constitutes a compositional part of the picture.

I lay high emphasis on planning as I have to provide not solely visual content for the picture but also elaborate its structural elements and the order of work phases as well; which may sometimes be as complicated as solving a riddle.

It is very important for me to be able to continually learn during my work and perfectionise my techniques, as well as to try new materials.