On this 11th edition of ‘Mill-Campus ta’ Ghawdex,’ the Gozo University Group’s radio programme, listeners call hear about the local tradition of lace making during an interview with Consiglia Azzopardi, together with Ryan Mercieca.

Dr Consiglia Azzopardi was born in Gharb in 1946. She learnt Maltese bobbin-lace as a child, at home from relatives, and from the neighbourhood where the crafts were widely practiced on doorsteps, in alleys and in sheltered street corners.

‘Bizzilla’ – as it is known in Maltese – became her favourite hobby until she graduated as a Primary school Teacher and then started to teach lace-making courses run during the summer holidays.

Teaching lace-making at the Girls’ Trade School, and later at the Gozo School of Arts, brought Consiglia into contact with lace-makers from the different villages in Gozo and Malta, who produced ‘pricking patterns’ from all over the Island.

Since 1995, she has been teaching Maltese lace at the University of Malta Gozo Campus. During this time she instigated a Certificate and a Diploma course under the auspices of the University. This created an opportunity to start collecting material and information, before it was too late, at a time when the lace industry was declining rapidly.

Meanwhile, a study of the history of Maltese Lace was undertaken. At the University of Malta, she read for an M.Phil degree with the theme ‘Antique Maltese lace of the Time of the Knights 1530 – 1798,’ and later for a Ph.D. researched ‘Maltese Lace of the 19th and 20th Centuries.’

Mill-Campus ta’Ghawdex is aired every Friday at 8.30pm with a repetition the following Saturday from 12.30pm onwards on Campus FM 103.7 FM.

The link for the radio programme, which is broadcast in Maltese, is available here.

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