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ribbon

Hawthorne & Heaney on Ribbons

April 3, 2019 by Natasha Searls-Punter

When you think about personalisation, people usually associate it with garments, but it doesn’t have to be restricted to them. We recently did a project with a tablescape designer extrordinare Fiona Leahy  for the Aerin èclat de vert perfume launch dinner in  De Crillon in Paris.

Hawthorne & Heaney on Ribbons London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on Ribbons London Hand Embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney on Ribbons London Hand EmbroideryStunning right?!?!

(All above Images courtesy of Fiona Leahy Designs)

Hawthorne & Heaney on Ribbons London Hand Embroidery

Filed Under: Embroidery, Fashion, Interior Design Tagged With: embroidery, fiona leahy, Initials, interior design, machine embroidery, names, personal, personalisation, ribbon, stitching, tablescape

Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams

December 21, 2017 by Natasha Searls-Punter

View this post on Instagram

Runway through the years #Dior #runway #couture

A post shared by Tasha Searls-Punter (@tashasearlspunter) on Dec 21, 2017 at 3:44am PST

Every now and then, there is an exhibition that we feel we just have to see, and usually one holds out until it (hopefully) comes to London. However the risk of missing out on ‘Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams’ at Musee Des Arts Decoratifs was one that was too great and we felt compelled to go. So last month, Natasha made the trip to Paris to see the much hyped display.Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery

The exhibition begins with some history about Christian Dior’s family and his life before setting up the house as an art gallery owner and fashion illustrator. A brief introduction to the facets of the house it followed by the first main gallery. In this room, each section is divided by colour, each cabinate displaying a pallette with a variety of dresses, 12” minatures and accessories.

Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams

As an embroiderer, one of the most outstanding aspects of this exhibition was the level of detail you could see in the gowns and the emphasis that was placed on showing off the incredible textures. These were reflected in the papercut flowers and foliage that hung from the ceiling in a few of the rooms which were inspired by the fragrances that make up Dior’s famous perfumes.

Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
dior 1
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams

Some of the textiles could be descibed as quite tradtional beading, whilst others would be considered to be more experimental, playing with feathers and layering but all were undeniably beautiful.

Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams

They also had an in house embroiderer demonstrating some tambour beading onto a panel of one of the gown and chatting with the public about what she was doing. The piece was framed up in a large slate frame, with one end complete and, the other drafted on. The drafts and drawings for the piece were hanging to one side of her with a partically completed gown on display behind her. The finished gown was part of the final gallery to put the whole process into context.

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Tambour beading demonstration #Dior #tambour #embroidery

A post shared by Tasha Searls-Punter (@tashasearlspunter) on Dec 21, 2017 at 3:28am PST

Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams

The white gallery was reminiscent of the layout of the Savage Beauty exhibition at the V&A museum in London where you were dwarfed by the pieces, however here the emphasis was placed purely on the cut of the garments. Each one is the toile of a gown we had already seen in the body of the exhibition to explain the development of each piece and the alterations process it has been through to get to the final design.

Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery

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Floor to ceiling toiles #dior #paris #dressmaking

A post shared by Tasha Searls-Punter (@tashasearlspunter) on Nov 10, 2017 at 2:41pm PST

Final last gallery was all the real show stopping gowns, the space itself adds to the gravity of the items on display. They enhanced the experience with moving light displays across the walls which gave the impression of gold snow, unashamedly playing up to the couture fairytale.

Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams
Hawthorne & Heaney visit Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams London Hand Embroidery
Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams

View this post on Instagram

Dior: designer of dreams was magical! #paris #fashionexhibition #dior

A post shared by Tasha Searls-Punter (@tashasearlspunter) on Nov 9, 2017 at 10:45am PST

It would be fair to say this exhibition was excellent, going around it all took at least 2 and a half hours going through it all but one could have stayed much longer. The amount of pieces on display and the generous space that was given to each one made it a very leisurely experience. I really enjoyed the way they played with scale in the lay out, starting off the with minatures gallery, then allowing you to get up close with the real sized pieces and then emmersing you in the white and final galleries.

If you would like to read another perspective on the exhibition, have a read of Tina Isaac-Goizé’s thoughts for Vogue here.

‘Christian Dior: Designer of Dreams’ is on show at Musee Des Arts Decoratifs in Paris until 7th Jan 2018 so catch it while you have the chance!

Filed Under: Embroidery, Fashion Tagged With: beading, couture, Designer, designer of dreams, dior, display, dresses, embroidery, exhibition, feathers, gallery, house of dior, layering, musee des arts decoratifs, paris, ribbon, tambour, textiles

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