Monumental Lacework Mural Highlights Cultural Heritage of a Romanian City’s Fabric

Monumental Lacework Mural Highlights Cultural Heritage of a Romanian City’s Fabric A building in Ploiești, Romania, has had a giant piece of lace affixed to its side—at least, that’s what it looks like. Polish street artist NeSpoon has worked her signature magic, painting a monumental mural that depicts ornamental lace. With incredible attention to detail—especially at such a large scale—and subtle drop shadows, it creates the […] READ: Monumental Lacework Mural Highlights Cultural Heritage of a Romanian City’s Fabric

Art Sep 4, 2025 0 2 Add to Reading List

Monumental Lacework Mural Highlights Cultural Heritage of a Romanian City’s Fabric

Lace Mural by Nespoon

A building in Ploiești, Romania, has had a giant piece of lace affixed to its side—at least, that’s what it looks like. Polish street artist NeSpoon has worked her signature magic, painting a monumental mural that depicts ornamental lace. With incredible attention to detail—especially at such a large scale—and subtle drop shadows, it creates the illusion of real lace that’s been crafted to stretch five stories high.

NeSpoon painted the mural for the fourth edition of the Artown NOW festival in Ploiești. “[It’s] an industrial city famous for its oil refining industry,” the artist tells My Modern Met. “There are three refineries there, and you can actually feel the characteristic sulfur-like smell in the air.” During the 1980s and 1990s, lace was especially big in Romania. “[It] was regarded as a symbol of cultural heritage and good taste. It could be found in almost every home, often placed on top of the television, with a glass fish standing on it—a curious custom from Communist times, symbolizing prosperity and wealth.”

The Polish street artist has long found inspiration in lacework. Attracted to the intricacies of this craft, she has explored its many creative possibilities, from creating stencils with lace to building entire installations with it. Some of her most daring projects are soaring hyperrealistic murals, such as this one she’s recently unveiled that took five days to complete. And as she’s done in other murals, NeSpoon used a piece of lace design local to the culture to inform her painting.

“The wall project was inspired both by lace and by the unique shape of the wall itself, while the color palette became a logical orange counterpoint to the dominant browns of the surroundings,” she explains. “During the work, many people came by to show me similar lace designs, confirming the authenticity of this tradition.”

With this, the “Capital of Black Gold” joins over 100 cities where NeSpoon’s work has been exhibited—or painted on. The success of her work speaks to the universality of the appreciation for lacework, even if each region of the world has its own creative approach to it.

Lace can have many meanings that depend on your own associations with it. “Lace, to me, symbolizes love, harmony, peace, happiness, and a connection to memories of the good old days, the family home, calm and comfort,” shares the artist. Her goal with her latest addition is for the people of Ploiești to feel similarly when they encounter her work. “What I hope people will take away from this mural is a sense of serenity and happiness—that they smile when they see it, and that they feel reassured that everything will be fine.”