About the factory

Having originated in Staroye Rakhino village of the Krestetsky Uyezd (County) of the Novgorod Gubernia (Governorate), this style of embroidery with unusual patterns shapes itself into a craft. On the way between Saint Petersburg and Moscow, well-off travelers used to stay in Kresttsy settlement, where they eagerly bought linen towels, tablecloths, bedspreads, curtains... Trying to add special charm to their work, local embroiderers decorated clothes and household items with embroidery.

Tablecloths and curtains with drawn thread embroidery are for the first time exhibited in Moscow.

Sample items decorated with krestetsky guipures were presented at the 1st Demonstrative Exhibition of Russia’s Arts and Crafts in Saint Petersburg. Hand embroiderer’s works were awarded the First Gold Medal at an international exhibition in Turin. The products of Novgorod embroidery cooperative associations get worldwide recognition.

Craftsmen consolidated to form Krestetsky Artisan Credit Society.

The Artistic Embroidery Supply and Sales Cooperative Society headed by P.I. Arhireyev is formed in the Kresttsy settlement.

29 January 1929 is considered to be the factory’s birthday.

KRESTETSKAYA STROCHKA museum is founded to exhibit the best works by craftsmen of the past. The oldest item in the museum exhibition – The Sacred Tree of Life dates back to 1861.

Krestetsky Industrial Union is founded to join together 2500 handicraftsmen. Collective workshops are established, as well as instructor training courses for teaching needlework.

Experimental workshop is set up, where new techniques, stitches and their combinations are developed.

Foreign firms get interested in the products by the cooperative association. The Spiro Company (Great Britain) becomes the first and the main buyer. Table and bed linen is supplied to France, Belgium, Holland, Sweden.

The first two-storey building of the new factory is being constructed.

Around 5 000 people work in the Artistic Embroidery Cooperative Society. When the Great Patriotic War began, the factory stops working for some months. The museum’s exhibits are transported away from the region. 286 exhibits are kept in the Sverdlovsk Picture Gallery. A new period begins for the development of needlework crafts that has somewhat slowed down during the tough wartime.

First attempts to make krestetsky stitches by using a machine. A two-storey brick building is constructed for the mechanized shop. Hand embroidery shop and experimental workshop continue to operate, developing the best traditions of guipure embroidery.

The Artistic Embroidery Cooperative Society was rebranded as factory.

A period when new versions of traditional krestetsky stitches and their combinations were being developed. An opportunity emerges to significantly broaden the product range and create complicated thematic compositions.

The factory’s linen wares are annually displayed at Soviet and international exhibitions getting numerous awards and diplomas. Items are created that soon come to be recognized as Russia’s heritage and find their way into the collections of the country’s best museums.

The factory is awarded the title of High Quality Production Enterprise.

The state-owned enterprise is transformed into a joint-stock company.

Krestetsky embroiderers make costumes for the participants of Miss Novgorod and Miss Russia competitions.

The Kresttsy settlement in Krestetsky District of Novgorod Region is recognized as a habitat of folk arts and crafts for making needlework linen wares with traditional krestetsky embroidery.

Change of owner. The factory re-emerged as a large industrial enterprise and set to regain its former prestige in Russia and abroad.

The factory keeps increasing its production volumes and broadening the product range; a line of women’s and children’s clothes is being developed, with Krestetsky stitches used for decoration. The factory’s top managers are actively restoring the museum of this legendary craft, and organise tourist visits and workshops for children and adults.