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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 and Heaney studies virtual tour of Rei Kawakubo’s collection: Collecting Commes

May 13, 2021 by Intern

A global Pandemic would have thought to close a lot of opportunities to explore and continue with normal livelihood, however one could say it has opened a lot of opportunities for us to stay in touch with radical discoveries more through virtual experiences. The NGV exhibition, “Collecting Comme” features Rei Kawakubo’s contemporary fashion collection.

Cloak from the Blood & Roses collection, 2014 by Rei Kawakubo’s

Rei Kawakubo’s, features 65 garments from over 40 collections, she wanted to make clothes that didn’t exist before. Not only in her fashion, it’s the way clothes are made to reinvent a new style. She overturns conventional ideas of existing fashions and beauty, through this she disrupts normalized characteristics of the fashionable body.

Takamasa Takahashi, a Japanese fan of Rei’s work who collected her work since the 1970s, and put together most of the Collecting Comes, he was purchasing clothes for himself even though the garments were from a women’s collection he felt they could define his character. He would buy a pair of wide, quilted cotton pants, to him the collection held a baggy and genderless style. This notion of breaking typical rules of fashion entices many who seek to find their own fashion which is not the normalised feminine or masculine shapes and colour used in present fashion as we know today.

Installation view of Collecting Comes, 2020 by Rei Kawakubo’s

Transcending Gender collection, 1995 by Rei Kawakubo’s

However, in this exhibition Rei’s work upheld a higher strain on women’s wear, as we can see from this exhibition, the shapes are still androgynous, however the fabrics, colours and the garment making still holds very feminine features, making folds into a flower shape or using bold colours like vibrant reds although, they still hold neutral colour scheme and feature masculine shapes of blazers. Leaving a controversial question when looking at her clothes as you are not left with a certain idea of who will be wearing them.

Collecting Comes, 2020

One of my favourite from Rei’s collection is this plaid poncho garment, although this could be mistaken as skirt used as a scarf. This notion of using ‘deconstructed’ clothing form reinforces the contravention of a new reinvented way of making clothes. Rei is always overlooking normalized fashion and makes it her own with undefining meaning. The purpose through her fashion proposals, reframes predetermined concepts of attraction and rearticulating a new connection between body and dress.

Rei Kawakubo’s collection is very exciting and fresh, the geometric shapes and symmetry used disrupts usual characteristics of typical fashions of the body. Breaking the rules of gender fashion Rei Kawakubo’s collection leaves us refreshed with a new approach to fashion, given though the convenience of the virtual tours.

Words written Mohini Patel

Photo’s sourced from collecting comes ngv online exhibition https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/exhibition/collecting-comme/

Hawthorne and Heaney watch CHANEL: Journey of a Collection by Loic Prigent

March 22, 2021 by Sophie Reynolds

Whilst going down a loop hole that is YouTube, I came across this wonderful hour long video/documentary by Loic Prigent that was filmed in June and July 2020, after the lockdown in France. The house of CHANEL commissioned him three short black and white videos for their social platforms which gave him access to the making of its new Haute Couture collection. The video shows design process through to the final show, and even shows the highly secretive way in which they create the woven fabrics.

Clip from CHANEL: Journey of a Collection, YouTube

It is fascinating not only because it gives you insights into the production of their couture collection, but it also seems really raw and a genuine ‘fly on the wall’ view of what the atelier is like.

So feast your eyes on the beauty that is CHANEL!

Clip from CHANEL: Journey of a Collection, YouTube

Words written by Sophie Reynolds

Photo’s sourced from YouTube; CHANEL: Journey of a collection by Loic Prigent

Hawthorne and Heaney take a look at Messums London: MATERIAL:TEXTILE, Modern British Female Designers

March 8, 2021 by Sophie Reynolds

Messums London has presented us with an online exhibition: MATERIAL: TEXTILE, Modern British Female Designers, bringing together for the first time historically important textiles by female designers working in Britain. Offered as an online and virtual exhibition, along with a catalogue and podcast, it highlights the relevance of mid-century textiles and the vital role they played in the evolution of taste and culture.

Mussums London; MATERIAL: TEXTILE

Focus is on the bold vision and leading lights of 1950-1970’s textile design and introduces their work to new collectors.

The video they have released offers you a kind of virtual wonder around the gallery whilst the context of the exhibition is explained. It then goes more in depth into each textile artwork. Highly educational and some exceptional works that I have never come across before.

Carillion, 1970s

Mezzanine Yellow, 1958

Sweetcorn Green, 1958

Messums Productions also have a YouTube channel with more content on other virtual tours of exhibitions. So if you’re missing an Art Gallery visit, I would recommend a visit to their YouTube channel. Enjoy!

Words written by Sophie Reynolds

Images sourced from Mussums London

Hawthorne and Heaney explore the online exhibition by Amy Sherald: Hauser and Wirth

March 1, 2021 by Sophie Reynolds

The Hauser and Wirth, have released an online exhibition by the artist Amy Sherald; Womanist is to Feminist as Purple is to Lavender.

Through her monumental portraits of African American subjects, Amy Sherald explores alternate narratives of blackness through the exclusion of color from the notion of race. The Baltimore-based artist is best known for her stylized, figurative paintings of vibrantly dressed individuals rendered in grayscale skin tones against flat, highly-saturated backgrounds that evoke a sense of timeless identity. “I’m painting the paintings that I want to see in museums,” she said. “And I’m hopefully presenting them in a way that’s universal enough that they become representative of something different than just a black body on a canvas.” Sherald was the first woman to win the Smithsonian’s Outwin Boochever Portrait Competition grand prize with her 2016 entry Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance). Former First Lady Michelle Obama tapped Sherald to paint her official portrait for the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., which was unveiled in early 2018 alongside Kehinde Wiley’s likeness of President Barack Obama. (Artsy.net)

Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama. Oil on linen. 2018

‘Womanist is to Feminist as Purple is to Lavender’ comprises of five small scale (11x7inch) portraits by Amy Sherald that she painted over the course of the pandemic. This series is a prelude to Amy Sherald’s first solo exhibition in New York, which will open at Hauser & Wirth in February 2021. and present new full-scale paintings. Using the medium of gouache at her kitchen table, a material that she hasn’t used sine childhood.

In these paintings, Sherald reveals expressions of Black life that have been historically absent in Black imagery. She paints simple acts of leisure that are not the luxuries of privilege or passive pursuits, but are essentially elements of wellness that remind us of the restorative power of joy.

“These are less portraits of women than of a state of centeredness, relaxation, and security.” (Sherald 2020)

Untitled. Gouache. 2020

The women that she depicts in her portraits are from an archive of images that Sherald has collected over the past decades. She scrolled through them to find some inspiration in the photographs that she hadn’t painted from previously.

I’m not sure that as a black woman you can be a feminist. They are the same, but different, as Walker writes. As purple is to lavender. A Womanist works to ensure the well-being of men, women, and all of humanity. It’s not singular and I like that. (Walker, 2020)

Untitled. Gouache. 2020

Words written by Sophie Reynolds

Photo’s sourced from Hauser and Wirth and National Portrait Gallery

Hawthorne and Heaney Explores the Online V&A Museum Exhibition – Schiaparelli and Surrealism

February 17, 2021 by Intern

With London being placed into tier 4 and the closure of all things deemed as non-essential, I decided to explore some of the virtual exhibitions available online and came across the Schiaparelli and Surrealism collection displayed at the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Elsa Schiaparelli was an Italian fashion designer who challenged the concepts of dressing, playing with silhouettes and traditional tailoring. She was heavily influenced by the Surrealism movement and the Surrealist artists of the time such as Salvador Dali, Jean Cocteau, Man Ray and Bebe Barnard.

Surrealism is an avant-garde movement introduced in the 20th century that was heavily influenced out of the Dada movement. Its focus was to release the imagination of our unconscious mind, by juxtaposing images and ideas. With the freedom of the movement and the collaboration with artists and photographers, she stretched her creative boundaries, creating unique fashion statements.

Evening Coat- 1937 Elsa Schiaparelli and Jean Cocteau

This dark blue silk jersey evening coat was a collaboration with Jean Cocteau, who drew the facial features positioned on the centre back of the coat. Cocteau was obsessed with the effect of double imagery, as did many of the other surrealist artists. Looking closely at the artwork on the back at a first glance, you wouldn’t spot the vase shape containing pretty pink gradient ribbon roses. Instead, the focus would be on the facial forms. The beautiful gold embroidery detailing helps to distinguish both of the shapes as well as adding the glamour and luxury to the tailored coat.

Tear Dress – 1938 Elsa Schiaparelli

I’m sure you will find this dress stunning and intriguing too with the use of colour and print replicating rips and tears to mimic torn flesh. An idea that appeared on women in Dali’s paintings. The veil has the same effect also, however, includes an appliqued fuchsia chiffon underneath the cream fabric. A good contrast to the abstract print. It makes the viewer look into the work and use their imagination to understand the reasoning behind the idea and the design.

Skeletal Dress- 1938 Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali

Skeleton dress was the most significant garment creation in the collection made with black crêpe sheath and a raised skeletal form using the trupunto technique. The technique involves adding wadding into the back of the fabric after stitching a shape, forming a raised platform on top of the surface. Adding in hooks to link the bones together such as the leg connecting to the pelvis, added a style included in jewellery. The design itself, was sketched by Dali.

Velvet High Heel Hat 1937-38 Elsa Schiaparelli and Salvador Dali

One of my favourite pieces of this collection, was the velvet high heel hat, part of the Autumn/Winter 1937-1938 collection. I liked the way the hat has been thoughtfully positioned on top of the head with the bottom of the shoe face upwards. The idea came from a photo of Salvador Dali with a shoe belonging to his wife, placed on his shoulder. This influenced other ideas to come, placing unusual found objects on the head in three-dimensional structures. One of her other hat creations consisted of a lamb chop meticulously placed above the head to match the design featured on the summer jacket of 1938.

It has been a great way to view and revisit some of the fantastic artwork available online. Google Arts and culture have a vast selection of exhibits that are free and not just from the UK, but also some located all around the world. Worth checking it out.

Words written Jessica Westley

Photo’s sourced from Google Arts and Culture- V&A online exhibition

(This was written before the national lockdown)

Hawthorne & Heaney: Lord Justice Nugee Covid Style Icon

February 4, 2021 by Natasha Searls-Punter

It would seem that our recent project for Lord Justice Nugee has caught the imagination of the public as we find ourselves in a flurry of interest in the project and piece. We have found ourselves published and quoted in a variety of sources such as ‘The Times Diary’ , Scottish Legal News and ‘Legal Cheek’.

This was a really fun and inventive project for us to work on and we are delighted that some many people seem to appreciate the work that went into it. If you fancy seeing more about the making of this project you can watch a video about its creation on our sister companies youtube channel.

If you would like to get in touch with us about your own, similar project, let us know and we can see what we can make for you too- info@embroidery.london

Hawthorne and Heaney takes a look at Uniqlo, Tate Lates: Night in

February 1, 2021 by Sophie Reynolds

During 2020, Uniqlo Tate Lates: Night In, brought a free online programme filled with artist talks, workshops, DJ sets, film and more. To keep us entertained this winter, Tate have re-realised three of the workshops that we can take part in at home.

These include creating your own mural at home with Lakwena, creating a zeen with the RIOT SOUP collective, and painting with Ashton Attzs.

00:16 Create Statement Artworks with Lakwena

Example of a mural by Lakwena

Lakwena is London-based artist who creates murals that reference elements of popular culture and using art as a form of meditation.

Her work, primarily text-based, employs a combination of words, pattern and acid-bright colour to subtly subvert prevailing mythologies. Her use of text and image re-appropriates the powerful and monumental visual language and lyrical mythologising of commercial advertising billboards and is informed by decoration both aesthetically and conceptually.

Interested in the role of the artist as mythmaker, Lakwena explores how this translates into contemporary popular culture. Concerned with the significance of how and who we decorate, and what this reflects about our values and beliefs, Lakwena positions kaleidoscopic colours, bold pattern and adornment as powerful signifiers to redefine and reassign value and glory. (Jealousgallery.co.uk)

In lockdown she has been painting her home with the aim of creating a space of meditation and relaxation. But also to create a feeling of protection, empowerment and healing.

Paintings created in her home during lockdown

Because we may not be able to, or perhaps don’t have the confidence, to paint straight onto our walls, Lakwena shows a technique whereby she paints magnetic paint onto the walls of her children’s bedroom and creates cardboard stencil lettering and shapes to then adhere to the walls. Creating instantly visually impacting decoration that is full of creativity and unqiue to you.

Screenshot of Tate Lates project

09:58 DIY Zines with RIOT SOUP Collective

Riot Soup Collective

RIOT SOUP is an art collective for women of colour, running monthly socials, curating exhibitions and hosting workshops. The 12 strong group is made up of Black African, Caribbean, South East Asian and Middle Eastern women artists, after their founder Asma Istwani failed to find a creative group that encompassed her needs as both a woman artist and person of colour.

She needed a space to create and grow as an artist but one where her experience and difference as a second generation Middle Eastern woman would be noticed, heard and valued as opposed to something that had to be diluted or cast aside in order to fit in. This fact, as well as the desire to see more women artists of colour represented in the visual art scene spurred a call out on various online sites to see if others would join her in the quest to create a community of like minded women and seize control of the narrative surrounding WOC, all the while seeing to their need of visibility within the artworld. (shado-mag.com/)

Screenshot of Tate Lates project

Founder Asma, a collage artist, and her sister Salma, a painter and collage artist, run through a workshop on tips for making your own Zeen using basic tools and papers to create something both visually stimulating and unique to them.

Tips include how to use negative space, colour blocking, adding/layering with drawings and paint, using type, and so on.

The video is starting point with all the inspiration you need to go off and create your own take on a zeen.

19:49 Nurturing Black Joy: Painting with Ashton Attzs

The last workshop is by Ashton Attzs, an illustrator and painter who creates bold, and colourful imagery. Her aim is to establish a balance between being political and joyful. Attzs is a London based painter and poet who wants to share her passion for painting, not only as a visual means of joy but for a cathartic practice. They take great great interest in capturing aspects of quotidian life as well as a personal exploration of queer and POC idenitity.

Stay in YA lane, Ashton Attzs

The workshop is aimed to reach out and give people that need support, more joy and a little pick me up in these hard times, dedicates her work to queer, black people. “Regardless of who you are, there is joy to be had in this workshop” (Ashton Attzs).

She goes through the progress of what materials you need to make a painting of your own, with the inspiration being not what the painting depicts as the focus but who you can share it with and the connections that may follow.

Screenshot of Tate Lates project

The video is not only full of great tips and techniques that you can use to create your own artwork. But even if you do not end up painting yourself, even just watching the video I found meditative and relaxing.

If you need any inspiration for some fun and creative projects, Tate Late is a great place to start!

Words written by Sophie Reynolds

Images sourced from Google Images and Tate Lates: Night in