embroidery

Hawthorne & Heaney for the Tiffany Gala

August 12, 2022 by Connie Mabbott

We recently had the pleasure of embroidering bespoke napkins for the August Tiffany Gala.

The event was organised by Alison Price Co. at the National Gallery in London’s Trafalgar Square, a beautiful setting for luxury cocktails and an evening meal.

Hawthorne & Heaney for the Tiffany Gala London Hand Embroidery — Tiffany Gala at the National Gallery | Photo by Alison Price Co.

We were commissioned to embroider the ‘Tiffany ‘ logo in aqua blue onto 180 napkins, which were used to adorn every dinner place at the event. Each was decorated with a Tiffany napkin, flowers, candles and extravagant tableware for a truly opulent event.

Ceremonial Embroidery

April 7, 2022 by Connie Mabbott

Embroidery is a popular addition for university, legal and military ceremonial dress for robes and uniforms. For small scale commissions from private enthusiasts to full sets of robes for well know heritage companies Hawthorne & Heaney have the privilege of working on ceremonial embroidery for projects all over the world.

Ceremonial Embroidery London Hand Embroidery — Gold cut work cuff embroidery

We pride ourselves on our ability to produce traditional cut work and purl embroidery at home and overseas with reliable lead times and faultless quality. Our experts have over 40 years experience in the ceremonial gold work industry making our product and service unparalleled.

In contrast to this we also run a digital embroidery workshop and are able to offer incredible results, with extremely short lead times. With lots of experimentation we have developed our own unique way to create the traditional hand embroidery and gold work effects using the digital process. These techniques and skills are what gives our small team the ability to produce stunning, large scale pieces within a very tight turn around.

If you wish to get in touch with us about embroidery for ceremonial dress, head to our contact page for our contact details and we will be delighted to help with your enquiry.

Hawthorne & Heaney Visits ‘Thierry Mugler: Couturissme’

April 1, 2022 by Intern

This exhibition ‘Thierry Mugler : Couturissime’ is on at the Musée des arts Decoratifs, Paris. A wonderful exhibition to go and see should you be in Paris.

The exhibition focuses around the work and life of Thierry Mugler (1948-2022). Known for his avant-garde techniques and use of interesting materials like faux fur, vinyl, latex, glass, PVC and chrome. His ‘fantasy-tinged architectural style and bold silhouettes have made their mark on the history of fashion’.

Exhbition Signage, Yasmin Le Bon, Palladium , London, 1997

The exhibition showcased over 140 pieces, almost all of which had never been seen outside his ‘industrial couture’ atelier. Also shown are videos, photos, music videos, accessories, stage costumes and sketches.

La Chimère Collection 1997-98, ‘La Tonkinoise’

Metamorophosis: Fantasy Bestiary

In 1997-98 two collections debuted by Mugler, Les Insects and La Chimère. These turned heads due to their fantastical and mythical depictions. Taking inspiration from Insects, reptiles, birds and butterflies. Les Atlantes, took inspiration from the sea, in all its mythical depths.

Les Insectes Collection 1997

Mugler was an innovator, and determined to use synthetic materials in his work opposed to real skins or fur. He created his own versions, the most famous of which are his embossed leather jumpsuits, pieced together to resemble crocodile skins.

Another example of this is the stunning plumage on his butterfly dress. A long velvet sheath with flared train adorned with peacock feathers.

La Chimère Collection 1997-98

Mugler embodied a key moment in French fashion history, when the ‘Jeunes Créatuers’ put Paris back in fashion competition with the rest of the world.

One of the most breath-taking and interesting pieces was his famous La Chimère gown. This piece was designed in collaboration with the famous corset designer ‘Mr Pearl and the artist ‘Jean-Jaques Urcun. It is said to be one of the most expensive couture creations in history.

‘La Chimère’ from La Chimère Collection 1997-98

A long sheath dress, and fitted corset, adorned in ‘scales’ embellished with feathers, horsehair and crystals. It was one of the pieces in this exhibition that took your breath away, whether it be by the dazzling crystals and embellishment or the ‘scaled’ effect.

Futuristic & Fembot Couture

Presented in 1989, the Hiver Buick collection paid homage to the American car designer Harley J. Earl, responsible for the 1959 Cadillac Eldorado’s famous tail fins.

The collection played on these ideas, featuring a metallic finish, ‘convertible’ sheath gowns, ‘radiator’ belts and ‘fender’ bustiers.

Tire Look Rubber Suit from Les Insectes Collection 1997 & A velvet suit with florescent Line embroidery from ‘Music-Hall’ Collection 1990-91

A later collaboration with Jean-Jacques Urcun and Jean-Pierre Delcros (an aircraft bodywork specialist) created mystical robotic-couture creatures.

Maschinenmensch from the 20th Anniversary collection 1995-6

One of Mugler’s all-time masterpieces was the ‘Maschinenmensch’ which was presented in 1995 at the 20th anniversary show. It plays homage to the character of ‘Futura’ from the dystopian novel Metropolis. The outfit took 6 months to make, and is reminiscent of a crabs shell in its construction. The body armours plastic internal framework enables the wearer to move.

The Mugler Lab

From experiences when he was young, Mugler often looked to the sky and his favourite star, shining bluer than the others. He took to thinking of this star as his guiding angel, following him though life.

This later formed part of the inspiration for his perfume line, which he wanted to smell ‘so delectable you want to eat it’

A Luminous dress from the Les Médases Collection 1999-2000

Staging Fashion

Fascinated by breath-taking architecture and the immensity of natural settings, Mugler went on to photograph his own muses and create his own campaign visuals. He took to extreme locations, inspired by their sheer beauty and power. Photographing muses such as Jerry Hall in locations like an iceberg in Greenland, the dunes of the Sahara or atop the eagles of the Chrysler building.

A silk chiffon cape gown adorned with crystals from the 10th Anniversary Collection, 1984-5 and an image from the iceberg photoshoot

Mugler considered costume essential in the construction and enhancement of an individual’s life, staging it to make it more beautiful and fun.

Belle de Jour & Belle de Nuit

Mugler’s ‘glamazon’, a stylish, urban and unconventional woman defied the early 70’s hippie movement style. Broad hats, architectural silhouettes and revealing cleavage defined his glamazon woman. He thought of ‘Elegance is guts, it’s nerve’.

Garments from the 20th anniversary collection. With a fitted velvet coat with snow look crystals and feather embellishments

Mugler adopted materials like latex and vinyl, often used in the underground scene and turned them into elegant classics in his collections. The Mugler Look made history.

A Tuxedo-style jacket with see through back adorned with crystals from the Ritz Collection 1992-93

Too Funky

In 1992 George Michae released the music video for his hit song ‘Too Funky’ music video. During this time, George Michael had fallen out with his record company and boycotted appearing in his own videos to spite them. For ‘Too Funky’ he chose to use footage of a Mugler show, couture outfits and the models.

Details from outfits which appeared in the Too Funky video

This wonderful video also allowed Mugler to reveal the contrast between glamour out on the runway and the chaos behind the scenes

Wrought Iron crinoline adorned with sequins and crystals from the Les Cows Boys Collection 1992

This exhibition truly made us fall in love with design and embroidery all over again, with the dazzling sequins and elegant forms of the designs.

Thank you to Museé des Arts Decoratifs for this beautiful exhibition.

https://madparis.fr/thierry-mugler-couturissime-en

Words and Images by Rosie Watkins

Hawthorne & Heaney for Jason Momoa

October 27, 2021 by Natasha Searls-Punter

In October we had the great pleasure of working on a very quick turn around job with our friends across the road at legendary tailors, Henry Poole. They were making a coupld of jackets for Hollywood actor Jason Momoa one of which was to be a velvet smoking jacket for the ‘Dune’ London premiere. No smoking jacket would be complete without some frogging style details on it and so Momoa chose our oak leaf cuff embroidery design to adorn his jacket.

Working with the coat makers means that we can do the embroidery before the jacket is constructed which gives it that super lux finish that one comes to expect of Savile Row quality garments. The burgandy colour of the velvet brough a fun edge to this particular jacket, reflecting the wearer’s dynamic personality. What’s more is that Momoa and his team filmed the whole process of the making of the jackets, which included a visit to our studio to see the cuff embroidery in action and learn a little more about the process behind the craft.

Thanks to Daniel McDonald from Henry Poole for bringing us in on this project and Damien Bray for the film, as well of course as the man himself, Jason Momoa for wearing it so well. Be sure to check out the film in full at the top of the blog, its well worth the watch!

Hawthorne & Heaney Explores London Craft Week

October 13, 2021 by Intern

Last week was full of London Craft Week events, workshops and open houses. A few of which we had the delight to attend including an open house and embroidery demonstration at Erdem, an exhibition of embroidery artist Rosalind Wyatt’s work and a talk and demonstration by the Heritage Craft Association on the red list of endangered crafts.

We also have enjoyed participating ourselves with twice daily live stitching on display in The Service on Savile Row – thank you to everyone who came to see us!

TOAST & Rosalind Wyatt

We started the week with a trip to lifestyle brand TOAST’s London store where they were running a series of workshops and an exhibition of Textile Artist Rosalind Wyatt’s work titled ‘Stories through Stitches’

Rosalind Wyatt is a mixed-media and embroidery artist, most recognised for her embroidered letters and calligraphy. Some of these beautiful pieces were on show in store!

She considers handwriting a significant part of culture and people’s lives. Where calligraphy and cloth meet in her work signifies the emotion held in the textiles, emotions found in handwritten letters

She writes with her needle onto garments people have worn, encapsulating their emotions into their clothes.

TOAST was also running a live workshop where participants leant the art of mixed-media textiles. The workshop aimed to promote a more thoughtful way of life, sustaining traditional textiles techniques and craftsmanship.

Erdem Open House and Demonstration

We were then lucky enough to attend Erdem’s open house to see some of their embroidery in process.

The demonstration featured a neckline for one of their dresses, being embellished in large crystals and beads on a frame, the dress itself was also on display in store to allow viewers to see the final outcome.

Erdem is a womenswear brand, based out of central London. Their collections are often finished with hand and machine embroidery – it was wonderful to see some of these samples too which were on show alongside the demonstration.

Heritage Crafts Association Endangered Crafts

To end our London Craft Week adventures, we finally had the pleasure of attending the Heritage Crafts Association event held at Fortnum and Mason. Fortnum and Mason are known for their long-associated traditions with craft and quality – the perfect venue to hold this event!

Exhibiting their work was ‘Paula Carnell’ a Bee Skep Maker, ‘Coates English Willow’ who are a company of Basketwork Furniture Makers and ‘Ernest Wright’ who is a traditional Scissor Maker. These crafts are all at risk with Scissor Making and Basketwork Furniture Making being Critically Endangered.

Basketwork Furniture making is a recognisable craft, however is critically endangered as only one company which supports the craft is left. P.H Coate & Son was founded in 1819, and although the business has a new apprentice this wonderful craft is at risk!

The straw baskets used in Beekeeping, known as Bee Skeps are beautiful objects in and of themselves. The straw is twisted and bound in a continuous coil of lipwork with lapping (lapping can be made from bramble, willow and hazel). Whilst highly practical the craft started to wane after the First World War as Skep making is a highly time-consuming craft compared to its value.

The final endangered craft on display was scissor making. One of the last remaining companies to produce this craft is Ernest Wright. The scissors are very high quality and long lasting – a durable crafted item.

We hope you have enjoyed London Craft Week as much as we have, thank you to all of the wonderful events that we attended!

More information about endangered crafts can be found on Heritage Crafts Association’s website

https://heritagecrafts.org.uk/redlist/

Words by and Images: Rosie Watkins

Hawthorne & Heaney for London Craft Week 2021

October 5, 2021 by Natasha Searls-Punter

London Craft Week is alive and kicking this week in London after a skipped year becuase of Covid and delayed from it’s usualy May slot. However, if you are in London between now and the 10th October, there are lots of events, open doors and workshop on to get involved with. We are very excited to have our own little addition to the events, with live embroidery stitching taking place by a member of the Hawthorne & Heaney team each week day. They will be working on a range of hand embroidered pieces such as Broderie Anglaise, with one of our goldwork samples also on display.

We can be found upstairs from our home, at 32 Savile Row. Fast becoming the place to take a minute to yourself or grab a spot of lunch on Savile Row, The Service. The coffee is fantastic and the surroundings make you feel like you’re in your own movie when you are so surrounded by style. As they have ever changing tailoring and art inspired displays, it’s really fun to be working in amongst it all so we look forward to perhaps seeing a few of you over the next few days.

Follow the link for a look around on our Instagram https://www.instagram.com/p/CUmmBAyFA43/

In Discussion with Lisa Grainger for Walpole

August 12, 2021 by Natasha Searls-Punter

It’s always a surprise and a delight when a writer for the Times Magazine calls, so you can imagine our feelings when Lisa Grainger got in touch for a chat in preparation for her latest column for Walpole: The Value of Craftsmanship. The piece came out on their website today so follow the link to read all about it.

We feel very passionatly about the importance of craftsmanship and maintaing these precious skills so it is with much gratitude that we thanks to Walpole and Lisa for the opportunity to be featured.

The Past and Present of Korean Embroidery- Sookmyung Women’s University Museum

August 6, 2021 by Intern

This online exhibition has allowed us to have an insight into the past of Korea’s embroidery. Allowing us to understand the transformation it has made throughout time, and see the stunning collection provided by Sookmyung Women’s University Museum to give us visual aid to appreciate the beautiful, intricate work. The exhibition takes us on a journey of traditional embroidery, incorporating traditional symbols, colours, designs and elegant details. Allows us to understand the divide in the Joseon period, of the rich and less fortunate just through the difference in embroidery. Resulting in an end point of modern and contemporary embroidery, and how Western culture has impacted this development.

Due to the Covid 19 pandemic, online exhibitions have become very popular, and this is allowing other cultures to be shared at such speed and ease. Allowing us to understand other people’s cultures and be enlightened by their traditions and norms. Online exhibitions are an amazing way to share information easily, however there could be a dispute about the experience of an in-person exhibition and the pictures shown within an online exhibition. You cannot physically see the intricate work, however at exhibitions it is rare you can get a real close look due to space restrictions, to preserve the work as much as possible. Therefore as long as the pictures of the work are high resolution it is a brilliant way to showcase the exhibition. Also, embroidery is so intricate and detailed it is a beneficial way to view the work.

Traditional Embroidery: Hyungbae-

Starting off with the traditional embroidery theexhibition shows us Hyunbae which is also known as an Insignia, this is when a larger piece of embroidery is situated on the chest or back panels of clothing. This allows other people to be aware of the person’s hierarchy. For example, Civil officers usually have a bird on their design and a military officer is designated a four-legged animal. Like the two pictures shown here. This became an established way to categorise individuals after the reign of King Yeongjo. This has now developed to form a part of Korea’s national identity. All these were created in the Joseon period, which was five centuries long.

This is a beautiful example of the crane, as it shows the couched golden thread and amazing detail that has gone into these exquisite pieces. With small details of red seed stitch.

Husu-

Traditional Korean embroidery was usually worn at high class events, such as this piece below. The Husu official robe is a piece of material that is worn from the waist down, and incorporates many different designs, within the Korean culture they have different symbols to represent different things. It was a way of expressing themselves in such a controlling period of authority. The more saturated the colours, a better representation of money.

Some designs like the golden crane became a very popular design throughout history later on, however, to begin with it was just for the highest-ranking individuals. It was one of the most popular designs to filter through to the Western Culture influence. This is a beautiful example of the crane embroidered onto a Husu, using the direction of stitch to show the detail in the feathers and a stunning combination of stitch techniques.

Court embroidery (Gungsu)-

Within the royal court, there is the extended royal household, and embroidery was used as a pass time. Subang was their embroidery department and specialised in the production of their high-class embroidery. In the mid to late Joseon period, dragons were heavily used as authoritarian symbols. This is an example of one of the pieces made, a woman’s court robe.

Gifts of embroidery were extremely popular in the royal court, the wedding of Queen Sunwon, an embroidered chest was gifted to her, incorporating ten traditional signals, which are also known as symbols of longevity. These symbols incorporated lotus flowers and mandarin duck designs, wishing the new married couple happiness and to bear many children.

Practical Embroidery-

This type of embroidery was created by the general public, calling this embroidery Minsu. Making it easy to differentiate between Gungsu and the royal court embroidery. The women use to create designs for their husband and children, incorporating symbols which would hopefully make their dreams and desires come true. A lot of the designs incorporated the ten symbols of longevity. These designs were put on many different objects, like the pillow cases above, using silk shading to create the wonderful ombre effect in the delicate flowers. During the time of the mid-Joseon the rules were extremely restricting therefore embroidery was a type of escape, and the only free way to express themselves through design and colour.

Baby’s Embroidered Hat-

There are alot of hidden symbols in traditional Korean embroidery. This design I thought was wonderful, vibrant, full of life and intricate. As well as a good example of practical embroidery.

The meaning behind this design was that a lotus flower can grow in mud and dirt but always remain clean, therefore as a child grows do not let the outside world affect or influence you in a negative way.

Here are some more examples below, buttons, chopstick holders and glasses cases.

Embroidered Folded Screens-

These folding screens were multipurpose. They were used to block wind, conceal spaces and used for decorative reasons. The embroidery on them made them look more luxurious, using the ten traditional symbols of longevity, birds and flowers, symbols of life and fortune. These were normally used by the upper-class families, or gifted to the upper-class families or the royal court. The traditional gold thread on black woven silk symbolises noble dignity. Like the example above.

One example was created by a group of males, from Anju, they embroidered a folding screen, which was in celebration of the King at the time. Which is the picture above. The picture below are some close up images of the folding screen, of parts I thought were particularly beautiful. As time progressed in 1945 upper class women across the globe had these decorative folding screens for changing and concealing themselves.

Modern and Contemporary Embroidery-

The period of enlightenment really impacted many areas of the world including the western influence, changing traditional embroidery. Education was at a turning point, girls’ schools were becoming more common, and embroidery was a skill that was being taught throughout many institutions. A particular girl’s school was established in 1938, Sookmyung Women’s School as well as the Department of Handicrafts to provide an embroidery education. This enabled skills that had been passed through families, and new skills learnt in the schools to merge and create new and exciting outcomes.

This piece of work embroidery with Landscapes created by Yu Han-gyeong in the 1940s. It shows how the Western culture influenced traditional embroidery, because there is an element of dye in this piece. Which would never have been traditionally used. Then added detail with the embroidered trees and house.

This was designed by activist Nam Gung-eok.

It takes the shape of the Korean peninsula through the branches and the roses. The thirteen roses represent the thirteen
provinces of Joseon. On this map embroidered on hemp cloth, there is a text that reads, “In commemoration of the liberation of Joseon.”

I also feel like the picture below is a good way to end this blog as it is a modern day version of the symbols of longevity! Korea has been on an amazing journey with its embroidery, and I hope you can appreciate it through this blog.

Thank you to Sookmyung Women’s University Museum for providing the gorgeous embroidery.

Words By Victoria Jones