Florence Bet George is a 90-year-old Assyrian artist, needlework master, and cultural preservationist whose lacework has become a living archive of Assyrian resilience and sacred creativity. Born in Urmia, Iran and raised in a lineage of women who survived the Assyrian genocide, Florence began practicing lace making at age 12—a tradition known by some as Assyrian or Armenian needle lace. Unlike crochet, this intricate art is created with a single needle and thread, in a laborious and irreversible knotting process sometimes referred to as needle tatting.
Her lacework has been exhibited in galleries and cultural festivals across the U.S. and is held in the permanent collection of the Connecticut Museum of Culture & History (formerly Connecticut Historical Society). Her pieces are devotional and deeply intentional—infused with prayers, ancestral memory, and political courage. Each knot becomes an act of spiritual endurance, offering evidence of how art-making serves as a healing modality and a method of surviving generational trauma. Now at 90, Florence continues to create. Her hands remember what history tries to erase.
“My lace is not just art—it is how I have survived. I began making lace at the French missionary school for girls in Urmia, Iran. I was taught by women who came before me—many of whom survived the Assyrian genocide. Each knot I tie is intentional and irreversible, unlike crochet which can be undone. These threads carry prayers: for my family, for peace, for the generations who will come after.
I do not work with patterns. The designs come to me through my fingers, through memory, through spirit. Over the decades, I have made lace as a way of preserving our culture and keeping our story alive. It is a slow and sacred act, one that has carried me through loss, war, migration, and aging. I am 90 years old, and I am still making lace. It is my devotion.”
Medium: Hand-stitched Needle Lace on Cloth (Framed)
Material: Cotton embroidery yarn, DMC brand
Sizes: Range from approx. 6” to 24” in diameter
Titles (Temporary): Lace Mandala #1 through Lace Mandala #3
Facebook: facebook.com/florence.betishue
Instagram:@nanaplares
