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Elizabeth A.Sackler Center for Feminist Art

Barbara Uttman

b. 1514, Saxony, Germany; d. 1575, Germany

The correct spelling of this name is BARBARA UTTMANN.

The wife of a wealthy patrician in Annaberg, Germany, Barbara Uttmann established the lacemaking industry in her city around 1560, thus providing steady employment for women. According to her tombstone, Uttmann invented bobbin lacemaking in 1561.