Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on The Marketplace

December 28, 2020 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Hawthorne & Heaney Personalisation booth in action

2020 has been a wierd year, for the past few years we have got into a rhythm that by the time about October comes, we will be doing a lot of monogramming and personalisation events. However this year, that didnt happen.

Kirk Original Glasses against a backdrop of Millie Bridget Henry Hankies and Tyler & Tyler Accessories

We could not just sit idly by though and not have an event, so we created one for ourselves. Along with a whole host of fabulous creators, we joined togather in the Service on Savile Row to create The Marketplace.

The Workers club gloves, Back Yard Gym Cold Brew and Coffee Beans from the Fresh Coffee Company, Wool Scarf from Dugdale Bros. and Co, Handkerchief by Millie Bridget Henry in a Hawthorne & Heaney Personalised Bag

Cad and the Dandy, Baron bags, Dugdale Bros and Co.,the Fresh Coffee Company, Kirk Originals, The Workers Club, Tyler & Tyler, Department Two, Kibble Watches, Tsai x Tsai, Millie Bridget Henry, Gotrich & Co. , Gownsmith, Colhays and Hawthorne & Heaney created a bespoke and specialist style items one stop shop. Curated to bring together hankerchieves, small batch roasted coffee beans, dressing gowns, glasses frames and personalised bags to name but a few, the Marketplace was a treasure trove of beautiful, unusual, crafted gifts.

Cad & the Dandy jackets, Millie Bridget Henry Hankies, Kirk Original Glasses

Sadly with the rerestricting of London going into tier 4, the marketplace is now closedbut we had great (safe) fun whilst we could- which feels like the whole of 2020 summed up dont you think?

Coffee Beans from the Fresh Coffee Company, Wool Scarf from Dugdale Bros. and Co, Handkerchief by Millie Bridget Henry in a Hawthorne & Heaney Personalised Bag

So if you’re think about next year and want to hold an event, get in touch, we’d love to hear from you and are raring to get out there (socially distanced of course)

Hawthorne and Heaney Visits the Summer Exhibition At The Royal Academy of Arts

December 21, 2020 by Intern

On the 10th of December, I had the exciting opportunity to visit the Royal Academy of Arts Summer Exhibition 2020, located just down the road from Savile Row. Due to the current climate with unprecedented challenges and not wanting to miss its 252nd anniversary, the event was postponed to the winter months for the first ever time.

Coordinated by Jane and Louise Wilson, the exhibition supports the exchange of ideas and experiences from any background, shaping cultural conversation to art that we love, hate and smile to. The displays contain over 1,000 pieces of work displayed in 13 rooms ranging from paintings to sculptures to digital art.

Vincent’s Ear by Conrad Atkinson, Shrinking Violet by Ed Mays, Outdoor Minor by Simon Periton

Upon entering Gallery 1, I was surrounded by expressive paintings, textual line drawings put together by Isaac Julien. In the centre of the room stood an installation called Air Kid by Yinka Shonibare. The sculpture is one of 4 in a collection called ‘Earth Kids’, that fights for climate justice illustrating the difficulty of the natural world. Climate change is such a threatening crisis of our time, with sea levels rising, increased temperatures and extinction of many species. It’s important to make people understand the damage and negative effects their actions are having on the planet, a philosophical objective in Isaac Julien’s style of work to make us reflect and visualise.

Air Kid by Yinka Shonibare

One of the pieces that intrigued me the most was the Inter-Concreto sculpture designed by David Batchelor, located in the Large Weston Room. The layering of the coloured geometric grids and multidirectional positionings is similar to the abstract way I like to work when undertaking my own multimedia textiles projects. His work looks at how we analyse and react to colour and hues in this current digital age through hypnotic patterns and shapes. These sculptural installations are made with a variation of industrial material scraps as well as recycled or broken domestic items. In this day and age, I believe it is imperative to reuse and upcycle discarded and unwanted objects to reduce the amount of plastic and landfill constantly entering our oceans. Everything has the potential to be made into something with another form or purpose.

Inter-Concreto by David Batchelor

There was a common theme amongst some of the galleries that reflected the year we have all lived through, learnt and educated ourselves to a brand-new way of life during a pandemic. Gallery 4 curated by Sonya Boyce, portrayed this theme well with mass paintings, photographs and a video named ‘Twice’ by John Smith, who demonstrates how to wash your hands thoroughly whilst singing Happy Birthday through twice.

Twice by John Smith

The Earth is full of violence by Biggs & Collings, Bringing the past to new horizonsby Athena Anastasiou

Every year there is a room that presents small architectural projects and ideas including works from student designers. The inspiration this year was taken from the constructivists in Eva Jiřičná work, displaying bold colours, large plinths, drawings and miniature models.
Inside Gallery 6, Drawing together by Niall McLaughlin

The exhibition was ticket-based priced at £20 and definitely worth the visit if you are in the area. It is a great way of promoting artists as well as supporting the creative arts industry in these difficult times. It is also available to view online for those who are unable to attend in person.

(Exhibition visits were undertaken within contempary covid guidelines)

Words and images by Jessica Westley

Hawthorne & Heaney for Judge Nugee

November 16, 2020 by Natasha Searls-Punter

A year ago, if you had said that we would all be wearing face masks as an everyday thing, most people would have thought it madness. However, that being the world we now live in, face masks have reached all the people of every industry. A short while ago, we were approached by a very thoughtful lady, Rose Nugee, who wanted to commission an extravagant mask for a special occasion.

Her father, the now Judge Nugee, was having his judges swearing in which the judges wear their wigs and ceremonial robes but in these times of covid, they also need to wear a mask. Rose asked us to design and make a mask to compliment the ornate details of the robes which feature the chancellor’s lace and robe ornaments, and this is what we came up with.

The mask features 3 shades of gold thread stitched on black silk, with 2 internal layers and a black silk lining also (all washable). We added a little momogram to the side as well to personalise it even further (and so no one could possibly mistake that it was theirs other than Judge Nugee)

It was lovely of them both to share these photos from the big day with us, with them both looking so proud.

Photo courtesy of Rose Nugee

The Lord Chief Justice, ‘Ian Burnett’ even mentioned the mask in his speach during the swearing: ”Might I also congratulate him, or I think moreappropriately his daughter, on the splendid face mask he is wearing.”

Photo courtesy of Rose Nugee

We were delighted with how the piece came out and it was a really lovely project to have worked on.

If you have a project you think we might be able to help you with, please get in touch by emailing our team on info@embroidery.london

Hawthorne & Heaney Visits The House of Bandits Exhibition

October 30, 2020 by Intern

On the 16th of October I got the opportunity to visit the House of Bandits exhibition, which is based at Rembrandt House in London, just down the road from Savile Row. This exhibition is part of the Sarabande foundation created by the late Alexander McQueen to support the new and upcoming visionary talent of today. Offering both studio space and scholarships the foundation has helped many inspiring artists to date.

One of the artists in particular who I went to go see was Esna Su. She creates handcrafted pieces which explore ‘the subtle issues of identity and memory and how these are shaken in the context of political instability’. Within her work she uses the traditional Turkish techniques of weaving, twinning and crochet. As a fellow weaver myself I can understand the complexity and detail that goes into her woven pieces.

Below you can see the process that Esna Su goes through to create some of her final creations. When it comes to knitting, Su uses strips of vegetable leather and knits them together. She lets the designs take shape in their own way as once the leather is dry the organic shapes are exposed. In her own words ‘’through irregular and hollow shapes, she exposes the burden of displacement but also sketches an aspiration towards protection and preservation’’.

“It’s a big part of my life being at Sarabande and I’ll always remember my time with a big smile. I would never have been brave enough to do this without the support of Sarabande.”

Along with Esna Su’s work was another Turkish artist called Berke Yazicioglu who showcased his woven wall hanging which had a particular inspirational point of view. The following designs shown below are woven representations of Igor Stravinsky Rite of Spring. Listening to this piece he used the sound colour theory by different sounds, notes and instruments meaning different textile aspects. For example, the beat inspired the framework, the instruments represent a specific colour and the notes equal to a certain colour tone.

This exhibition is free. And for specific artists you can buy tickets. This is a great exhibition to help support fellow designs and is one to check out.

Words and Images by Isabelle Humm

Hawthorne & Heaney on Savile Row: Our New Showroom

October 19, 2020 by Natasha Searls-Punter

From 19/10/2020 the Hawthorne & Heaney team will be residents in The Service, a new lifestyle destination comprising a coffee shop, exhibition, retail and showroom space, now open at 32 Savile Row.

Hawthorne & Heaney are an embroidery firm who have a rich history of working on bespoke projects with Savile Row tailors alongside contracts for the Royal Household, Military, Film, Art, Theatre, PR and many other high profile private clients.

Although modern times and rising rents have seen the character of its future threatened, local landlords The Pollen Estate are seeing the value in ‘The Row’ as a character destination and are supporting innovative new and heritage brands to secure a position in this venerable location. The Hawthorne & Heaney front of house team will be offering bespoke embroidery services, on site, 10-4pm Monday – Friday by appointment and will be continuing large scale and confidential works in their new additional South London location.

“We are looking forward to contributing to the long standing tradition of hand made craft on The Row and we are excited about being in the midst of some of our most important clients again. This is a wonderful opportunity to reconnect with our roots and contribute to the community that was the biggest supporter in our early years.” says Claire Blok, the company founder. “The opportunity could not be missed, with a need for more space in these challenging times we are over the moon with the support we have received from the team behind The Service, Dugdale Bros. and the Pollen Estate in making our new showroom possible.”

There is also the exciting addition of a same day monogram service for the run up to Christmas, making ‘bespoke on The Row’ more accessible than ever.

Hawthorne & Heaney Presents Graduating Class of 2020

July 22, 2020 by Natasha Searls-Punter

This year thus far, it can definitely be said to have been an unusual one at the least but some things must remain and the show go on. This year’s textile graduates may not have had their usual physical showcase of their works but they have worked very hard and will be graduating none the less.

We at Hawthorne and Heaney are very proud to have these young people choose to spend some of their industry experience time with us, and after working with them in the studio for some months it is wonderful to see how their work has grown and progressed since we saw it last. Therefore it is out pleasure to bring you this year’s graduates from the Hawthorne and Heaney intern community:

Kiah Nicole Fisher– Loughborough University- Textiles: Innovation and Design

Luminescence: ”This project is based on the scientific theory of the existence of other dimensional/parallel universes and visualising the journey one might take to enter another dimension. Parallel universes have been a scientific theory studied by many physicists and mathematicians throughout the centuries, including Plato who’s Cave allegory seems to imply that our three dimensional world is but a projection of an even higher dimensional reality. I was initially inspired by the story of Alice in Wonderland, when Alice falls into the rabbit hole. Mathematician and writer Lewis Carroll was able to visualise the idea of connecting multiple universes through the possibility of wormholes within this children’s book.

Taking inspiration from science fiction movies and series that attempted to visualise inter-dimensional travel through hyperspace with flashing lights, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, I mainly used photography to create original imagery that attempted to capture light in different states such as refraction, emission, and much more.

With this imagery, I was able to create a print design collection for a menswear/unisex utilitarian style collection. This collection would be an accessible fashion collection for those inner nerds who have a love for science fiction but don’t necessarily want to indulge in the fantasy of costume. This collection allows people to express their passion for science fiction, while making it fashionable and wearable.”

Laura Hill– Loughborough University- Textiles: Innovation and Design

Conscious Coastlines: ”Uses organic cotton, organic linen, recycled fibres, and yarn leftover from previous projects that would otherwise go to waste.
All synthetic dyes used contain no animal ingredients and were chosen based on their minimal levels of toxicity to the environment.

My final major project explores the creation of a “conscious” collection of textiles for the everyday interior environment and the everyday consumer. The theme is inspired by the natural beauty of all elements British coastlines. In the context of the project, “conscious” means that no animal products have been used in any stage of production, and so it can be regarded as a vegan collection. “Conscious” also refers to the choices to use more sustainable fibres and less toxic dyes.

Within my work I am a fast learner, observant, and methodical in my process. My strengths include a good understanding and use of colour, and the way in which I successfully translate a design from drawing to fabric. In my future career I aim to promote cruelty-free and sustainable practises within the textiles industry, and hope to work for a company whose values on these topics align with my own.”

Fading Waves

Amy Pickard– Huddersfield University- Costume with Textiles

”This year, I chose the construction with textiles pathway, specialising in embroidery. For my Final Major Project, I selected ‘Awakened’, a modern-day YA vampyre novel by P.C. & Kristin Cast. I’ve created the costume for Queen Sgiach, a powerful feminist and Scottish vampyre Warrior, who resides on the Isle of Skye. This directly inspired the colours, textures and motifs in her portrayal. Creating for a simulcast theatre performance allowed for detailed textiles, goldwork and beading, alongside bold digital embroidery to be explored throughout the project. Sustainability has been the key ethos surrounding my project/ practice this year. I sourced second-hand fabrics and accessories, used surplus or handmade embellishments, e.g. homemade sequins, and minimised waste when creating my costume and textiles collection. Similarly, I used only viscose instead of traditional polyester threads. For these, Madeira UK granted me a student sponsorship. Through this project, I have progressed my passion for embroidery and construction, predominantly corsetry. I also explored my interests with the following companies through a placement year: Oxfam Online Shop; The Alhambra Theatre; Hawthorne and Heaney; Hand & Lock. Additionally, I started my own business to fund my London placements; I am developing this further after graduation.”

Jessica Strain– Loughborough University- Textiles: Innovation and Design

Nature Reclaiming Spaces: ”Jessica’s graduate collection Nature Reclaiming Spaces, focuses on fusing the best of what modern machinery has to offer with specialist hand led embroidery and lacemaking techniques. Passion for manual processes can be seen throughout Jessica’s work; double exposure film photography, shuttle tatting and limerick lace were driving processes for this project.

Sustainability is at the heart of Jessica’s design process; she experimented with natural dyeing at home and spent hundreds of hours embroidering her pieces by hand. This intensive and considered approach to design is something she will take forward in her career. She aspires to continue creating work in a studio environment, honing her embroidery skills through future projects.”

Hawthorne & Heaney Presents Graduating Class of 2020 London Hand Embroidery

Abigail Tominey- Smith – Nottingham Trent University- Textiles

The Feel Good Feminine: ”Bringing together beautiful feminine florals and powerful text to represent strong women of the 21st century. Powerful words to showcase powerful women, to contrast with, and highlight their femininity. Created to inspire positive well-being and to improve the mental health of women through promotion of empowering words. Adding an additional level of meaning and a personal aspect to each design, producing a garment with emotional durability. Designing a luxurious and individual collection for a high-end bespoke womenswear market, personalised with text. Incorporating a calm and delicate colour palette on a range of sophisticated fabrics with mix of digital and hand embellished elements.”

I’m sure that has left you feeling quite inspired by these designers, we can’t wait to see what comes next for them as they embark on their careers.

Hawthorne & Heaney on Bespoke Tablescapes

April 29, 2020 by Natasha Searls-Punter

With a new home comes fresh ideas, we created this table linen set especially for the owners new house designing the monogram based on the house’s name. Though the design itself is quite simple, the raised tonal stitching gives the napkins an understated impact, which is taken a step further in the table cloth with the added transparent element.Particulally at the moment, with so many of us spending so much more time at home, whether we are working or not,home decor has become more important to us than ever. We thought you might find this set a moment of inspiration. It’s not just for home owners though, in recent years there has been a big rise in renters interest in soft furnishings. With so many people renting for longer than previous generations, soft furnishings have seen an increase in popularity as people look for ways to make their place feel more homey.

Hawthorne & Heaney Visits Tutankhamun at the Saatchi

April 7, 2020 by Natasha Searls-Punter

The Saatchi Gallery is currently home to the artefacts of Ancient Egypt as they play host to the travelling exhibition ‘Tutankhamum: Treasures of the Golden Pharaoh‘. We went to visit while the opportunity presents’s itself and because who doesn’t love gold on gold, on gold?!

The exhibition features over 150 artefacts from Tutankhamum’s tomb, ranging from large to very small, like this amulet above which can only have been about 3-4cm high.

The pieces on show really make you appreciate the craftsmanship of the makers in ancient egypt. These pieces are here for us to enjoy because they have been preserved so well, but they are beautiful because they were made beautifully in the first place.

It has very hard to try to wrap your head around how old all these things are. Looking at items in a museum from the Victorian era for example, look old and when you try and think about the people who might have owned them, they feel so far removed from us. But those items are not even babies by comparison to the pieces you see at this exhibition.

The pieces themselves are well displayed and fairly succinctly explained in the accompanying descriptions through the main body of the downstairs of the exhibition. Upstairs is more about how the excavation was made in the 1920’s, discussing the process and pitfalls they endured.

At £28 per ticket, this is a bit of a pricey exhibition to visit and while there lots to see, that is a lot for a exhibition. That being said if you are looking for an opportunity to see something different, this might very well be the place for you to go.