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intern

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.”

Hawthorne & Heaney Presents Graduating Class of 2020 London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney Presents Graduating Class of 2020 London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney Presents Graduating Class of 2020 London Hand Embroidery

 

 

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.”

Hawthorne & Heaney Presents Graduating Class of 2020 London Hand Embroidery

Fading Waves

Hawthorne & Heaney Presents Graduating Class of 2020 London Hand Embroidery

 

 

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.”

Hawthorne & Heaney Presents Graduating Class of 2020 London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney Presents Graduating Class of 2020 London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney Presents Graduating Class of 2020 London Hand Embroidery

 

 

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 EmbroideryHawthorne & Heaney Presents Graduating Class of 2020 London Hand Embroidery

 

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.”

Hawthorne & Heaney Presents Graduating Class of 2020 London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney Presents Graduating Class of 2020 London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney Presents Graduating Class of 2020 London Hand EmbroideryHawthorne & Heaney Presents Graduating Class of 2020 London Hand Embroidery

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. 

Filed Under: Art, Embroidery, Embroidery, Fashion, London Tagged With: 2020, abi tominey smith, amy pickard, community, costume, costume design, embellishment, embroiderers, embroidery, grad, graduates, huddersfield, intern, jessica strain, kiah nicole fisher, laura hill, loughborough, nottingham trent, print, textiles, university

Hawthorne & Heaney on Florence Sargent’s Sampling Project

September 11, 2019 by Intern

by Abi Tominey-Smith

During her time here, our last intern Florence Sargent visited the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition 2019 for her research project, where she was briefed to create a sample based on the Summer Exhibition including 3D aspects. She became increasingly aware of how much reference there was to the animals of the world and nature throughout the art. This year the colours were bold and capturing and this was something Flo wanted to reflect when it came to sampling. 

At the exhibition, she began by taking photographs to capture her favourite pieces, most of which included animals with an unusual look or aspect to them – bright colours and interesting faces. This sense of the individual and different, she has taken through to her final samples.

Hawthorne & Heaney on Florence Sargent's Sampling Project London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on Florence Sargent's Sampling Project London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on Florence Sargent's Sampling Project London Hand Embroidery

Mach Brothers, EASY TIGER, 2019.

Christopher James, MACAW, 2019. 

Caroline Piggott, UK FISHING RIGHTS, 2019. 

After visiting the exhibition and writing a blog post about her time there, Flo began her development by creating lots of drawings. She has created some really beautiful and realistic work using only pencil and shading. 

Hawthorne & Heaney on Florence Sargent's Sampling Project London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney on Florence Sargent's Sampling Project London Hand Embroidery 

To develop further Flo began to turn her flat drawings into 3D artworks, using stitch alongside cutting and joining techniques with glue and tape. These gave her work more of a 3D focus and gave her some ideas as to how she could put together and join her final piece to include these 3D effects.  

Hawthorne & Heaney on Florence Sargent's Sampling Project London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney on Florence Sargent's Sampling Project London Hand Embroidery

Flo moved on by adding in more character, using bold colours combined with her 3D style, and experimenting with mediums such as paint, pen and pencils mixed together to give her work a bit more life.

Hawthorne & Heaney on Florence Sargent's Sampling Project London Hand EmbroideryHawthorne & Heaney on Florence Sargent's Sampling Project London Hand Embroidery  

Then when it came to actually beginning the sampling process, Flo decided to start with a simple line drawing plan, laying out all the techniques and shapes to be included when it came to creating. This really helped her final piece come together as a success.

You can see here, she has decided to combine 2 of the most popular animals seen at the RA, a fish and a bird combined, to create her own fantastic creature.  

Hawthorne & Heaney on Florence Sargent's Sampling Project London Hand Embroidery

Finally Flo took both the Goldwork Beginner and Tambour Beginner series of classes and learnt the basics of both practises. With some time blocked out for her during the weeks at Hawthorne & Heaney, she was able to practise and build on these skills to create her final pieces.   

Hawthorne & Heaney on Florence Sargent's Sampling Project London Hand Embroidery

Goldwork was the first class Flo took part in, so this was the first technique she became comfortable and practised in, and is how she became so skilled at putting together these samples in such a short amount of time. Alongside, she also tried her hand at a smaller tambour sample to practise these skills further. 

Hawthorne & Heaney on Florence Sargent's Sampling Project London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on Florence Sargent's Sampling Project London Hand Embroidery

 

Overall I think Flo has really captured the fun, bright, wildlife inspired themes seen in this years Royal Academy exhibition. You can see the progression through her work and that she has really taken the time to think and plan out what she aimed to archive. This has resulted in these stunning final pieces, full of life and many embroidery skills!

Image Credits: 

  • https://www.countryandtownhouse.co.uk/culture/review-royal-academy-summer-exhibition-2019/
  • https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/exhibition/summer-exhibition-2019
  • Own photographs of Flos work, at Hawthorne & Heaney.

Filed Under: Embroidery, London Tagged With: embrdoiery, florence sargent, goldwork, hand embroidery, hand stitching, intern, internship, sampling

Hawthorne & Heaney inspired by the Making Memory Exhibition

April 21, 2019 by Intern

At the start of last month, we posted a blog by our intern Kiah from her visit to the David Adjaye’s Making Memory Exhibition. Taking inspiration from this, she produced a series of drawings from the elements she found inspiring.Hawthorne & Heaney inspired by the Making Memory Exhibition London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney inspired by the Making Memory Exhibition London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney inspired by the Making Memory Exhibition London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney inspired by the Making Memory Exhibition London Hand EmbroideryWith her drawing style being quite graphic, she favoured the staircase elements of Adjaye’s designs, bringing in the play fo the light and shadows on the stairs as you can see from the drawings above.

These were then translated into a repeating CAD embroidery design which she embellished with a variety of techniques that she has been practising from the classes  taken at the London Embroidery school

Hawthorne & Heaney inspired by the Making Memory Exhibition London Hand EmbroideryThese can be seen in the addition of the sequins at the top and bottom:

Hawthorne & Heaney inspired by the Making Memory Exhibition London Hand Embroidery

There is also the clever use of some very neat satin stitches in stranded cotton

Hawthorne & Heaney inspired by the Making Memory Exhibition London Hand EmbroideryAnd the more specialist raised cutwork bullion squares to finish it off

Hawthorne & Heaney inspired by the Making Memory Exhibition London Hand EmbroideryWe also asked Kiah to show us how she imaged her textiles being used within an interiors context, so she produced these lovely visualisations of her work as used in a hotel or luxury office space.

Hawthorne & Heaney inspired by the Making Memory Exhibition London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney inspired by the Making Memory Exhibition London Hand Embroidery

Filed Under: Embroidery, Interior Design, London Tagged With: cad, embroidery, hand embroidery, hotel, interior design, interiors, interiorscape, intern, luxury, offices, visualisation, wall designs

Hawthorne & Heaney: Internship Opportunity Available

September 18, 2018 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Hawthorne & Heaney: Internship Opportunity Available London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney is currently looking for an embroidery intern to join us for an immediate start.

We are looking for a current undergraduate fashion/textiles/costume student to join us in the studio for a 3 month internship. Duties will include machine and hand sewing, general administration, maintenance of the social media sites, research, assisting with embroidery preparation for both the staff and for the School and errands. Time is also set aside from duties to develop your own embroidery skills during your internship. Applicants must be hard working, versatile, enthusiastic, professional, responsible and able work well in a small team. Attention to detail is a must along with patience as nothing in embroidery is particularly quick.

Specific Needs

  • Sewing skills are essential, and a proficiency in both hand and machine sewing would be ideal.
  • Computer knowledge of both MAC and PC, ideally with an understanding of adobe programs and G drive
  • Trend aware
  • Looking to gain experience in a live studio in the embroidery sector
  • Must be a current undergraduate student of a fashion/textiles related course
  • Able to travel into London every day

This internship is unpaid and should be taken in addition to a current undergraduate course, we are therefore unable to accept non students for this position. Hours are full time, Monday- friday 9-5pm.

If you would be interested in furthering your studies please fill out the attached form.

Hawthorne & Heaney: Internship Opportunity Available London Hand EmbroideryElsie Wong (Former Intern) with her sample work

Filed Under: Embroidery, London Tagged With: embroidery, experience, Hawthorne and Heaney, industry, intern, internship, job, learning, London, London Embroidery School, opportunity, Studio, work experience

Hawthorne & Heaney: Intern Projects

August 30, 2018 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Hawthorne & Heaney: Intern Projects London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney has been very fortunate to have a series of wonderful students who come to the studio as interns to learn about the industry and experience a working studio. But what do they actually do while they are with us I hear you ask?

Hawthorne & Heaney: Intern Projects London Hand Embroidery

 

What they work on day to day is very changeable but for our longer term interns we like them to have a project of their own ongoing whilst they are with us. The gorgeous images you see here are from our most recent intern, Elsie Wong who was working on some floral motifs for us along side her other duties.

Hawthorne & Heaney: Intern Projects London Hand Embroidery

She draws on her Singaporean heritage and Central Saint Martins experience to bring her clean yet delicate style to these pieces. 

Hawthorne & Heaney: Intern Projects London Hand Embroidery

She then went on to translate one of the pieces into embroidery using one of the techniques learnt in her classes at the London Embroidery School, specifically Limerick Lace. 

Hawthorne & Heaney: Intern Projects London Hand Embroidery

Here is is presenting her final piece to us demonstrating the design process from design, to draft, to embroidery.  I’m sure you will agree, great job Elsie! What do you think?

Hawthorne & Heaney: Intern Projects London Hand EmbroideryIf this has taken your fancy and you would like to join us as an intern, please see the internships blog or jobs section of the website for application as we are currently looking for someone to join us for an immediate start.

Filed Under: Embroidery, Fashion Tagged With: design, elsie wong, embroidery, floral, flower, hand embroidery, intern, internship, lace, learning, limerick lace, London, motif

Hawthorne & Heaney, Short Internship Available

August 13, 2018 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Hawthorne & Heaney, Short Internship Available London Hand EmbroiderySample by Charlotte Pearson

Hawthorne & Heaney is currently looking for an embroidery intern to join us for a few weeks in August 2018. Usually we only take internships of 3 months or more but we have a short period when we are looking for a little extra help between the 20th August and 7th Sept.

 Duties will include machine and hand sewing, general administration, maintenance of the social media sites, research, assisting with embroidery preparation for both the staff and for the School and errands. Applicants must be hard working, versatile, enthusiastic, professional, responsible and able work well in a small team. Attention to detail is a must along with patience as nothing in embroidery is particularly quick.

Specific Needs

  • Sewing skills are essential, and a proficiency in both hand and machine sewing would be ideal.
  • Computer knowledge of both MAC and PC, ideally with an understanding of adobe programs and G drive
  • Trend aware
  • Looking to gain experience in a live studio in the embroidery sector
  • Must be a current undergraduate student of a fashion/textiles related course
  • Able to travel into London every day

This internship is unpaid and should be taken in addition to a current undergraduate course, we are therefore unable to accept non students for this position. Hours are full time, Monday- friday 9-5pm.

If you would be interested in furthering your studies please fill out the attached form.

Hawthorne & Heaney, Short Internship Available London Hand EmbroideryElsie Wong (Former Intern) with her sample work

Filed Under: Embroidery, London Tagged With: application, bespoke embroidery, fashion, Hawthorne & Heaney, intern, internship, learning, work experience

Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project

February 9, 2017 by Natasha Searls-Punter

In the studio we like to continue to challenge ourselves and push to create something new with our skills, so at the end of last year, we set ourselves a bit of a challenge to create a dress to wear to the BTBA Festival Dinner in February.

Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand EmbroideryHawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand Embroidery

Like with all create processes, it started with some sketching and sampling to decide what style we were going to go for.

Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand Embroidery Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand EmbroideryHawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand Embroidery

We look at both hand embroidery and machine embroidery options, and given the time scale, decided it was best to go for a machine embroidery design which combined a few of our favourite techniques.Using an exisitng pattern, we tweeted the patternt to better fit the design and the body on which it would fit by toiling with the help of our intern Jessica.

Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand Embroidery

Once we were happy with the pattern, we construced the skirt and began applying the embroidery to the flat skirt and top panels.

Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand Embroidery

Along side the main production we also produced some technical samples to deal and test some of the more tricky aspect of this piece, for example, doing a test to insert a sip to see how close to the embroidery we could go because of the stifness of the backing supporting the fabric and the height of the padding under the stitches.

Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand Embroidery

Once all the embroidery was finished, it all went back to Jessica to make it up.

Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand Embroidery

 

Hawthorne & Heaney on our Dress Making Project London Hand Embroidery

Design/Embroidery by Natasha Searls-Punter and Pattern Cutting/Toiling by Jessica Eykel at the Hawthorne & Heaney Studio

Filed Under: Embroidery, Fashion, London Tagged With: BTBA, cad, Collaboration, construction, dress, dressmaking, embellishment, embroidery, Hawthorne & Heaney, intern, jessica, machine embroidery, pattern cutting, sampling, stitching, studio project, teamwork, toiling

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