LONDON CRAFT WEEK: EMBROIDERY 9 May – 15 May 2022

A skilled handful of the UK’s finest embroiderers are opening their studio doors or partnering with galleries across the capital to exhibit their work and offer workshops, to reveal a glimpse into their craft. 

Lora Avedian and Smythson of Bond Street Collaboration
To celebrate leather craftsmanship, multi-disciplinary textile artist and Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust scholar, Lora Avedian, has been invited by luxury goods and stationery retailer, Smythson, to breathe new life into surplus materials through a series of bespoke artworks. For this collaboration, Avedian has used a combination of hand-cut leathers with traditional hand and machine embroidery techniques whilst embracing Smythson’s values of sustainability. Avedian will be in store at Smythson’s on Wednesday 11 May 2022, from midday to 18:00 BST. The evening workshop has, sadly, already sold out.

Images: inspired by antique textiles and folk costume Lora Avedian is known for using traditional sewing techniques and vintage materials to create modern artefacts.

Hand & Lock
Royal Warrant holders, Hand & Lock, have been creating embroideries for luxury fashion houses, Savile Row tailors, the Military and European royalty since 1767. Visit the newly refurbished studio – for a guided tour, drop-in visit or workshop – to experience the embroiderers at their large embroidery frames or Victorian Singer sewing machines, working on client commissions and to see demonstrations of tambour beading and goldwork. The staff will be on hand to share stories behind the famous Royal and celebrity projects they have worked on and precious pieces from Hand & Lock’s 250-year-old archive will be on display alongside contemporary award-winning embroidered garments and works of art from the 2019 Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery. On Tuesday 10 May 2022, Hand & Lock will be holding a goldwork taster class working with gold metal bullions. To book tickets for the workshop or guided tours click here.




Images: Britain’s oldest embroidery studio Hand & Lock are committed to inspiring the next generation of embroiderers and have established the Hand & Lock School for Embroidery which operates workshops and classes around the world and The Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery.

The Royal School of Needlework and The Courtauld Institute of Art 
The Royal School of Needlework (RSN) and The Courtauld Institute of Art have partnered to offer a Canvaswork hand embroidery class inspired by a Floral Back Chair produced by the Omega workshops and on view in the museum’s Bloomsbury Room. The day-long workshop will use a range of Appleton Tapestry wools to create a bookmark, designed by RSN tutor Sarah Smith, in traditional Bloomsbury colours. The design, like the original, is worked in Tent Stitch and participants will learn how to start and finish threads, work from a chart and be shown how to make up their finished project into a bookmark. A visit to the Bloomsbury Room during the day to see the chair is encouraged. The workshop will be held on Friday 13 May. To book a ticket click here. 

Abigail Carter is currently undertaking a Future Tutors Programme the Royal School of Needlework and will be demonstrating fine whitework embroidery using a range of techniques to create a piece based on the 'lamassu', or winged bull, of Mesopotamian culture on Thursday 12 May at 10:30 - 15:30 BST at Artefact: meet the makers show at Chelsea Harbour.

Images: the Canvaswork bookmark for the workshop was inspired by a floral seatback chair in the Bloomsbury Room at The Courtauld and was designed by Sarah Smith, a Royal School of Needlework tutor. The chair design is attributed to Roger Fry.

The William Morris Society 
The William Morris Society have invited goldwork embroiderer Becky Hogg to run a two-hour taster session in the Coach House at Kelmscott House where you can learn how to embroider with a variety of metal and silk threads in rows, loops and zig zags to create texture and pattern. Hogg has specially created two stunning embroideries inspired by the William Morris’s 1883 Strawberry Thief design created after observing thrushes stealing strawberries from under the netting in his garden at his Oxfordshire home, Kelmscott Manor. Participants will also be able to see embroideries and textiles from The William Morris Society’s collection, and will have the opportunity to purchase a Becky Hogg embroidery kit to take home and work on at leisure. To book your ticket click here.




Images: Becky Hogg has created two stunning embroideries inspired by William Morris’s Strawberry Thief: a simple strawberry which can be turned into a brooch or hanging ornament, and an embroidery of a thieving thrush with a strawberry in its beak. Becky Hogg’s embroidery kits will be on sale at the William Morris society and are also available on her website beckyhogg.com.

Check our blog again tomorrow for more updates on the London Craft Week.