Word: macrame
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Dates: during 1970-1979
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...summer in the Hamptons, patronize the priciest boutiques but also thriftshop, and know exactly where to find the best buys in catered canapés, scuba lessons, English butlers, conversational Italian, take-out lasagna, abortions, exterminators, '76 Beaujolais, yachts, docks, clocks, stocks, rocks, lox and woks. Also rijsttafel, macramé and dog psychologists who make house calls. With all this, plus extramarital affairs to save their marriages and therapeutic sex with their shrinks, New York's New Yorkers lead busy, busy lives...
Great Divider. A new boom is under way. It started in the counterculture, where the inexpensive ingredients and do-it-yourself potential had great appeal. But macramé has been co-opted, and is being taught in churches and schools all over the country. An Irvine, Calif., country club has just commissioned a $3,000 room divider by Libby Flatus, a leading practitioner. Reports Ernie Austin, who runs a small shop in Manhattan called Macramania: "My customers run from longhairs to squares of all colors, shapes and sizes." A major supplier of macramé material is Pacific Fiber and Rope...
...reasons for macramé's rejuvenation are clear enough: it is simple, cheap, attractive and practical. "It's easy to learn," says Eileen Bernard, a California macramé artist. "I can easily teach anyone the basics in just one or two hours." All that is really needed is enough string or twine of the desired color and degree of strength, some hefty pins and a soft board. The strands are pinned to the board at one end, then the loose ends are knotted together repeatedly in either clove hitches or square knots. Any reasonably adept amateur can quickly...
Nautical Knotter. To purists, the closeness of the knots is far less important than the idea of making it oneself, an urge that is not limited to macramé. Knitting, leatherwork and fancy needlework are all in vogue. Tandy Leather, a handicraft chain store with outlets all over the country, says its leather sales have risen 51% this year. But macramé, seven centuries old, is what's In. Salty Stanley Postek, who owns Nautique Arts in Manhattan, is one of the first to offer macramé kits. These start at $5 and range up to $12 and higher...
...kits and books arouse the scorn of some longtime enthusiasts. "macramé is a beautiful and old art form," says Mrs. Christa Mayer, curator of textiles at the Chicago Art Institute, "but it is being sadly cheapened by the how-to books." Although macramé's pragmatic virtues are stressed in its latest incarnation, it retains its artistic values. New York's Museum of American Folk Art has just opened an exhibition of the more splendid examples. Among the items on display: an Inca hat, delicate macramé lace from 17th century Genoa, and fur rugs macram...