Interior Design

Hawthorne & Heaney at the Savile Row: Theatre of Craft Marketplace

May 18, 2021 by Natasha Searls-Punter

To mark lockdown easing, last month saw a Marketplace pop up in the area usually used as a cafe in the Service, Savile Row. Reinventing the space whilst we still were not able to have indoor seating, the ‘Theatre of Craft’ was organised by The Pollen Estate and Alpha Kilo to bring together crafts people from the world of bespoke tailoring. We were delighted to be involved in the creative space where we could display some of our wares along with the likes of fabric merchants ‘Dugdale Bros and Co’, Dry cleaning and pressing extraordinaires ‘Savile Row Valet’ to name a few.

For our section we had live embroidery going on in the form of both hand and machine, here Victoria is demonstraing a hand embroidery kit from our sister company ‘London Embroidery School’ whilst the machine is running off a sample for interiors.

We also had a little display of our London Embroidery School kits amongst some of our favourite bespoke embroidery samples like these velvet pieces.

And of course we had a gold rail, because if you have the choice to have a gold rail or not to have a gold rail… you have the gold rail right?! You can also just see some of the beautiful silk hankies by Millie Bridget Henry and Ready to wear garments from Cad and the Dandy.

Always wonderful to be a part of such a creative community, especially in such an inspiring and historic area of London. If you would like to get us in for your own instore personalisation event, we are now taking bookings for the festive season 2021 so get in touch info@embroidery.london

Or if you want to do something a little more low key, why not try one of our London Embroidery School online classes and kits for yourself. Techniques and levels to suit you whatever stage you are at of your stitching journey.

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 the Designers Guild Exhibition at the Fashion and Textiles Museum

March 5, 2020 by Natasha Searls-Punter

The Designers Guild is a renowned design studio that has played a key role in the world of interiors. Established in 1970 by Tricia Guild OBE, the Designers Guild has since reinvented interior design within our homes. From furnishing fabrics,wallcovering and upholstery to bed and bath collections, it has grown from its humble beginnings in London to becoming an influential global successful brand.

Out of the Blue: Fifty Years of Designers Guild is the exhibition currently being held in celebration of its long history and influential power at the Fashion and Textiles Museum in London. It explores the creative approach of Designers Guild’s founder, Tricia Guild OBE, looking at her inspiration, design methodology and the techniques, processes and materials that go into each and every collection.

The museum first leads into a sitting space that showcases the beautiful wallpaper that was specially designed to celebrate the Out of the Blue exhibition in all its majestic beauty and detail. It is here that you can witness the evolution of the initial hand painted imagery into its finished high quality digitally printed wallpaper as well as a chance to sit down to flick through fabric samples and the accompanying exhibition book, ‘Out of the Blue: Fifty Years of Designers Guild’.

The early years

This leads onto the main exhibition space that gives us an insight to the unique collections that the studio has created over the years. This includes the Village Collection, created within the early years, rich with colours and a unique style, as well as a look into Tricia Guild’s love for floral designs that has played a key role throughout Designers Guild’s history through the Flower Power space.

Travellers’ Tales: Indian Summer Travellers’ Tales: Venetian

In contrast, the collections for Travellers’ tales brand shows the impact of different cultures within the Designers Guild’s collections. The Venetian collection draws inspiration from the elegant ornate designs of the Italian Renaissance and the Indian Summer collection is cleverly draped to invoke the feeling of summer and rich culture alongside its beautiful colours.

The Shape of Modernity

The Designers Guild has also looked towards Modernism through The Shape of Modernity which combines many products both current and in the past, often as a result of working in collaboration with many designers, resulting in a stunning space that is full of geometric patterns and ombre patterns that are digitally printed today at a large scale.

Silks Embroidery and crewel work

The upstairs exhibition space explores the design process that goes into each collection. With displays looking at silk and embroidery it looks at the fabrics, colours to techniques and the target audience. These aspects that are carefully considered and laid out alongside their finished products, giving us the insight into the inspiration and the carefully thought out properties of each object.

There is also a particular emphasis towards the importance of moodboards and hand painting techniques. With every collection, Tricia Guild always starts with mood boards that draw inspiration from numerous sources such as architecture and fashion. Using these moodboards the design studio experiment with hand painted imagery before getting developed and refined digitally. While the use of rotary screen printing used in the beginning has been replaced by digital printing in 2010, each design starts of life by being hand drawn before being developed into the highest quality products and designs.

Overall, this exhibition is a great celebration of the fifty years of Designers Guild with a fantastic insight into the history and the collections. A fantastic source of inspiration for those that are passionate about the home and interiors and I can’t wait to see what the next fifty years will bring.

Words and photos by Jenny Li

Out of the Blue: Fifty Years of Designers Guild

14 February – 14 June 2020

Fashion and Textile Museum,

83 Bermondsey Street, London, SE1 3XF

Opening Hours:

Tuesday – Saturday, 11am – 6pm

Thursdays until 8pm

Sundays until 5pm

Ticket Pricing: £9.90 Adults / £8.80 concessions / £7 Students / Free entry for under 12s

Hawthorne & Heaney for Luke Edward Hall

February 27, 2020 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Hands up, who wants to live in a space like this?Luke Edward Hall

If you are anything like us then you haven’t got enough hands to express that completely. This shot is from the cottage of Luke Edward Hall, artist and designer who curated this space in his destinctive style. Hall graduated from Central Saint Martins in 2012, setting up his studio in 2015 and has not stopped since.

Luke Edward HallHawthorne & Heaney

His historically influenced, slightly eccentric flair has sucessfully been adapted to many different outcomes, having collaborated with the likes of Lanvin, Burberry, Berry Bros. and Rudd on wine labels, slippers with Stubbs and Wootton, ceramics with Richard Ginori and home accessories with The Rug Company.

Luke Edward Hall

Since 2018 we have had the pleasure of working on the occasional piece for him, using our skills to bring his style to an embroidered textile outcome. Once upholstered they make for really striking center pieces.

Luke Edward Hall Luke Edward Hall

We work very closely with the original artwork to maintain the immediacy of Hall’s illustrations, to emulate their charm in stitches. Thinking carefully about the way that would have been drawn initially, the order of the strokes and the charater of the drawing medium used.

Hawthorne & Heaney

Hall’s choice of colour is always spot on and is one of the main features that gives his works such a destinctive style.

Hawthorne & Heaney

To find out more about Luke Edward Hall, check out his website or his unsurprisingly beautifully curated instagram account.

Hawthorne & Heaney in Collaboration with James Burke

February 17, 2020 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Over the last couple of weeks we have been working on a special project with visual artist and founder of Acrylicize, James Burke. Working with his multidisiplinary style he was creating a new piece in preparation for the ‘Superstar Showcase’. Burke’s work examines the relationship between us and the digital world, drawing upon our need for approval in form of the 5 stars. This new piece reimagines some of Burke’s earlier pieces on a similar theme.

The Constant Need For Approval, 2018
280 x 53cm, Acrylic, LEDs, powder coated aluminium

Burke also likes to challenge the way that we consume art, bringing pieces out of the gallery and into the rest fo the world. He champions art in work places and common space for wider consumption which is one of the objectives of his studio, Acrylicize. This playful, open minded attitude is what makes this new piece a great fit for the upcoming showcase.

Superstar Showcase is being held by Creative debuts X Adidas Originals. For this event they have gathered 25 artists, of which Burke is one to create a piece which incorporate or is inspired by Adidas’s classic Superstar trainers. This is where we come in, as we provided the embroidered elements of the stars created out to the Superstar’s laces.

Constellation, 2020

Adidas Superstars & laces on canvas

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On display now, 'Constellation' 2020 by James Burke featuring embroidery from us @jamesburke__artist @creativedebuts @adidasoriginals . . . #conceptualart #visualarts #embroidery
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We experimented with using the laces directly and taking a feel for them through the embroidery, but settled on using the laces as directly as possible. The stars are made up by weaving the laces back and forth on themselves to form the legs of the star whilst replicating the fastening process as we are used to seeing it on trainers. The piece has loose laces which join each of the stars to the next in as if formed from one giant lace with the trainers themselves clinging on to what is left of the laces at the end.

With all embroidery pieces, there is always a lot of sampling and preparation before working on the piece itself. This helps is to work out how it is best to approach the piece and achieve a consistent finish. Here are a few behind the scene, making of the piece which might shed a little light on the process.

To see more of James Burke’s work, check out where else you can see his pieces on his instagram. Also see the 24 other amazing pieces by debut artists in the Superstar Showcase on now at Adidas LDN, Oxford Street.

Hawthorne & Heaney for Modular by Mensah

November 27, 2019 by Natasha Searls-Punter

Kusheda Mensah with her Furtiture (labels just seen)

Image: @modularbymensah @olivialrhodes ⠀⠀

We just love it when we get to see a great project all come together, event better when we have been priviliged enough to be a part of it. One such project was earlier this year when we are approached by Kusheda Mensah from Modular by Mensah to produce some embroidered labels for her latest project, in conjuction with Adidas.

Embroidered labels

Having graduated from LCC, British born Ghanaian designer Mensah produces pieces in her signature playful but functional style. Seeks to bring people together and promoting better social behaviours, her furniture has values as well as purpose. This collection with Adidas also demonstrates the kinds of beautiful furniture that can be made sustainable and recycled materials.

Revive 1 0754
@kvadrattextiles ⠀⠀
Image: @modularbymensah @olivialrhodes

”Inspired by playfulness, these modular shapes seek to redefine the idea of sustainable social well-being. Made from recycled foam and post-consumer recycled PET fabrics.”

@modularbymensah x @adidas ⠀⠀
Caught waste, 2019
Image: @modularbymensah @olivialrhodes

The very small text and sheer fabrics provided some technical challenges for the embroidery but with some creative thinking, they came out very smart.

Embroidered label

We can’t wait to see what this exciting designer does next!

Embroidered label

Hawthorne & Heaney visits Bridget Riley at the Hayward

November 20, 2019 by Natasha Searls-Punter

On Thursday we were lucky enough to visit the eagerly anticipated exhibition of Bridget Riley’s most comprehensive body of work (spanning an incredible 70 years), on display at the Haywood Gallery.

It was quite a unique experience in the way that the concept behind the paintings made you really think about the theory behind colour, art is about looking; and this exhibition really brings that to your attention. It was also unique in the physical way that the paintings made your eyes and brain hurt – (but in a good way of course!)

The following images are from my favorite series of works:

Stripes and Diagonals. “At the core of colour is a paradox. It is simultaneously one thing and several things – you can never see colour by itself, it is always affected by other colours.” (Bridget Riley, 2009).

Bridget Riley, Chant 2, 1967

Finding that colour is unstable and tangible, Riley used stripes and to bring about powerful colour interactions – pairing or grouping colours along horizontal or vertical stripes, mixing and creating an illusion of hues.

This was one of my favorite series as the work is simple, in the form of perfect clean lines of pigment, but the mixture of colours really make your eyes work and see colours that aren’t there. It isn’t until you go close up to the painting that you can really see what colours the paintings really possess.

Curves “When colours are twisted along the rise and fall of a curve their juxtapositions change continually” (Bridget Riley, 2009).

This series really made my head go in a spin – I think that even from the photos that I took, you can see the illusion of the waves moving and swirling. It is amazing to think that the paint is static, yet with the application of line and colour, there is so much movement.

Bridget Riley, Drift 2, 1966

Studies “The working process is one of discovery and it is worth remembering that the word discovery implies an uncovering of that which is hidden.” (Bridgit Riley, 2019). – I love this quote – it complies the meaning of creative experimentation perfectly.
I found this part of the exhibition fascinating as it showed us the ideas and some of the mathematical and theoretical workings behind the pieces. They were in themselves, very much pieces of art – intricately applied and thought out. It also made you really appreciate just how much thought and time goes into creating the final pieces of work.

Riley produces full-scale preparatory drawings, from which studio assistants under her assistance complete the final work. This gives her the time to solely work on the theory and studies behind the paintings.

Black-and-White “The basis of my paintings is this: that in each of them a particular situation is stated. Certain elements within that situation remain constant. Others precipitate the destruction of themselves by themselves.”(Bridget Riley, 1965).

Bridget Riley, Fall, 1963

Bridget Riley, Blaze 1, 1962

Even with the absolute basic level – simply black and white paint, the illusion is arguably even stronger. Maybe it’s the contrast or the simplicity that draws it back in but it was an amazing way to end the exhibition.

Overall I was really impressed by the exhibition, I thought it was well laid out and portrayed a real story. The surroundings didn’t take away from the paintings but added something to them – they really made you focus in on the work and allowed space for reflection.

“The eye roams and the brain roams with it. You think you get it, and then you don’t”.

(Guardian, 2019)

The exhibition is on until 26th Jan 2020 and I highly recommend a visit if you get the chance.

Hawthorne & Heaney visits ‘Wonderful Things’ at the V & A Museum

November 6, 2019 by Natasha Searls-Punter

‘Tim Walker: Wonderful Things’ is the new exhibition on at the V& A Museum this winter. Looking at the works of fashion photographer, Tim Walker; expect to be amazed and delighted by the fantastical worlds he creates for his photographs and the stunning presentation of them by world leading design museum, The Victoria and Albert Museum.

Chances are, you have probably come across Tim Walker’s work before, whether you knew it or not. He has been working for publications such as Vogue from the the start of his career and over the last 30 or so years, he has come to produce a great number of works. The first room is a celebration of this as many well know pieces are displayed here so you can bounce from one catagory to the next with pangs of recognition.

The Dress-Lamp Tree, Tim Walker, 2002, England

After you are introduced to Walker and given some context about the exhibition, that’s when things get really interesting. For this exhibiton, Walker has produced several series of new works, inspired by the items in the V&A’s own collections as inspiration.

It is always lovely to see a maker’s process, so the addition of sketchbooks to the exhibition is a welcome insight into their minds.

Along with the props, the sets that Walker builds are rich and diverse, providing much interest in themselves alone even without a moving subject in them.

In typical Walker style, there are oversized props which give a fantastical element to both the photos and the exhibition.

I particularly enjoyed the section inspired by a 400 year old embroidery box and chamberlain’s key. Partially because, as an embroiderer, I am pleased to see any uses of embroidery that raise its profile and highlight it’s beauty but also for the resulting series.

The exhibition acts as a masterclass in spring boarding inspiration from existing artworks and creating entirely new pieces from them. If you would like to see all the pieces in person, get down to the museum to experience their true magnitude.

”Tim Walker: Wonderful Things” will be on at the Victoria and Albert Museum until the 8th March 2020. Tickets from £15.00, free for members.