Lully Koltzow (Mork) was born in 1887 in Kristiania, Norway. Her grandfather was Peder Cappelen Thurmann (1839-1919), a well known Norwegian painter and teacher at the Royal Drawing and Art School in Kristiania. She learned to do Venetian needlelace about 1911 on her honeymoon in Venice, Italy. Her patterns were sold in a store and at least one was published in a Norwegian lady’s magazine.
One day while visiting relatives in Brooklyn, New York, she walked past Sara Hadley’s shop and went inside. Lully said she knew how to work needle lace like that in the window and design patterns. Sara hired her on the spot. Sara Hadley was the editor of The Lace Maker magazine. The magazine is hard to find today and I have not been able to research it to see if any of Lully’s designs were used in the magazine but I suspect some were.
Lully was also interested in bunads, traditional costumes in Norway. In 1947 the Østfold Bondekvinnelag (Bond Wives) commissioned the Løkendrakt (Østfold onion bunad). It was designed by architect Halfdan Arneberg who also did research in ancient folk art. The embroidery was worked by Lully. The costume was first presented in 1949. The original costume is at Halden Minders Museum, Fredriksten Festning (Fortress), Halden, Norway.
Lully in Ostfold onion bunad
Later Lully taught at the White House in San Franciso.
