| Therese Mirani | |
| Birth Date: | 2 December 1824 |
| Birth Place: | Prague, Bohemia, (now Czech Republic |
| Death Place: | Vienna, Austrian Empire, Austria-Hungary |
| Occupation: | Embroider, teacher, writer |
| Known For: | Director of the Imperial and Royal School for Art Embroidery |
| Awards: | Imperial and Royal Warrant of Appointment |
| Honours: | Zivil-Verdienstkreuz (Civil Service Cross) |
Therese Mirani (2 December 1824 – 24 May 1901) was an embroiderer and teacher, who was director of the Imperial and Royal School for Art Embroidery of the Ministry of Commerce in Vienna. She invented a new type of lacework, points imperial, and a new technique of embroidery, broderie dentelle, which was collected by Empress Elisabeth of Austria. She was awarded an Imperial and Royal Warrant of Appointment.
Mirani was born on 2 December 1824 in Prague, Bohemia.[1] Her father was the writer Johann Heinrich Mirani (1802–73).[2] Interested in both the technique, theory and history of embroidery from a young age, Mirani related in later life that she always wanted to be self-employed and described herself as a "voluntary spinster".[3]
In 1863, she began to supply the royal court and, in 1865, she was awarded with an Imperial and Royal Warrant of Appointment.[2] She invented a new embroidery technique called broderie dentelle and a new type of lace known as points imperial.[2] Empress Elisabeth was a collector of Mirani's broderie dentelle works, and commissioned an altar-cloth using the technique for the church of St Stephen.[4] She was also a fashion advisor to the New Free Press,[2] and wrote on home decoration for Wiener Mode.[5]
In 1867, a sample of Mirani's white embroidery work was exhibited at the Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie.[6] [7] In the same year, she was awarded a medal at the World Exhibition in Paris and was the first woman on the Austrian jury.[2]
In 1874, she helped to found the Imperial and Royal School for Art Embroidery of the Ministry of Commerce in Vienna, and was one of its first teachers.[8] After the death of the director Emilie Bach (1840–1890), she became director.[9] The school was designed to enable women to produce high-quality Hausindustrie goods, and to provide opportunities for working class women.[10]
Upon her retirement in 1899, she was awarded the Civil Service Cross (de).[11] She died on 24 May 1901 in Vienna.[12]
Historian Rebecca Houze has described how Mirani "helped shape the direction of design reform in Vienna".[13] Design historian Jeremy Aynsley described both Mirani and Emilie Bach as "overlooked figures" in the history of Arts and Crafts schools and the development of the subject in Austria.[14]