We would like to share more of our Third Year Degree students’ Major Projects, which will be on display at Graduate Fashion Week and New Designers in London this month!
Missed last month’s Third Year students’ Major Projects? See them here.
Amy Turner
Morbidly curious, jarringly beautiful, fantastical and theatrical.
The hand embroidery of Amy Turner captures the fragility of health and exploration of the grotesque through her use of beautiful and delicate materials. Amy takes inspiration from history; it has proved to be a key influence for most of her work.
‘Pestilence’ explores disease and the physical effects it has on the human body. Amy’s collection shows gradual decay.
Cecily Winter
Using ideas of memory and narrative, Cecily Winter aims for her work to evoke an emotional response in the viewer. She combines her hand embroidery skills with up-cycled garments to create personal pieces inspired by familial themes.
‘Forget me not’, her recent body of work, is a celebration in memory of her late grandma and grandfather. A pair of garments representing these two important family members, are hand embroidered with motifs and found objects that reflect her memories.
Christina Chung
Christina Chung uses the experiences of her training in both hand embroidery and landscape architecture as constant inspiration. By exploring the uniqueness and commonality of both fields, her works includes three-dimensional and structural designs with the use of both traditional and innovative embroidery techniques and materials.
‘The Botanic City’ explores how landscape architecture can provide a sustainable living environment and promote biodiversity within the city; provide a balance of nature and the modern world. This collection demonstrates the collaboration of textiles and architecture though different elements of the city, which are interpreted in structural and detailed embroidery designs.
Connie Williams
Connie Williams is a hand embroidery artist based in London whose work explores how experiences of life can be captured emotively through needlework. By delving into themes such as Surrealism and Impressionism, Connie aims to create timeless haute-couture designs that resonate with people at a deeply emotional level, regardless of age or background.
‘Dreams in Nature’ is Connie’s latest collection and is an ode to some of the core memories she has with her closest family members. The collection explores how sourcing materials found in nature, and embroidering them in intricately traditional techniques can present everyday experiences in a fantasy-like manner.
Isabella Rabasse
Isabella Rabasse is a hand embroidery practitioner based in London. Her main inspiration comes from nature, particularly florals and organic structures. Using a variety of different embellishments, including beads, sequins and unusual found objects she translates natural imagery into hand embroidery.
‘Geodes,’ explores these fascinating natural forms transforming their textures and shapes into hand embroidered designs for menswear. Isabella firmly believes that decorative embroidery for men should equal the status and beauty of that in womenswear.
Megan Ellis
The world can often feel overwhelming due to constant interactions with people and objects that make up daily life. Megan Ellis uses a contemporary and naïve twist on hand embroidery to help her process and translate these and all their complexities into self-expressive artworks.
‘The Everyday’ is a collection based on personal experiences that encourage the viewer to think and talk about how they interact with the world around them.
Megan Neville
Combining her hand embroidery skills with colour, texture and the use of unconventional materials, Megan Neville creates work about uneasy topics in her life such as type one diabetes. Her aim is to bring awareness of these to a greater audience.
‘Ordinary Oddness’ is a collection of accessible bags designed for those with diabetes to carry equipment. They are fun, colourful and celebrate the everydayness of the condition.
Millie Darnell-Hayes
Taking inspiration from organic forms and textures, Millie Darnell-Hayes uses hand embroidery to identify specific details and stories inspired by nature and wild spaces. A childhood surrounded by art and nature motivated her to combine the two, which are explored through costume, led by her passion for performance.
Combining her passions, her latest work is ‘Mischievous Deceptions – Reimagining Shakespeare’s Puck’. Puck’s costume references contemporary fashion, embellished with her interpretation of details found in woodlands through stitch.
Molly Murfin
Embroidery artist and nature enthusiast, Molly Murfin takes her inspiration from the patterns found in her surrounding environment. Landscapes, natural forms, and colours inspire her artistic interpretations of the everyday world. Her work is playful and experimental as she redesigns the traditional techniques of embroidery.
‘Reflections’ is a collection of fashion pieces inspired by floral patterns seen through a kaleidoscope. Fabric manipulation and raised work techniques are used to create these symmetrical designs, which bring balance to an unbalanced world.
Rebecca Rowan
Rebecca Rowan’s hand embroidery is driven by her insatiable curiosity and love of research. Colour and sculptural qualities are vitally important to convey narrative and expression.
‘Pure Opulence’ is a personal response to when Rebecca allowed herself the precious commodity of time during her experience at the Royal School of Needlework.
The use of midnight blue enhances the richness of her work and showcases its sculptural qualities. Inspiration is drawn from 18th century decorative design detail, Fabergé eggs and Rebecca’s love of flora.
Rosie Sykes
Drawing with thread is at the heart of Rosie Sykes’ hand embroidery practice and her work is rooted in drawing and illustration. She is compelled by narrative; creating a web that ties together all aspects of her current process of devising a story and character for each project.
‘Camera Obscura’ depicts the extended life of a woman, whose degraded mental capacity is depicted through hand embroidered imagery of vintage cameras, telling a story of immortality, madness, and obsession. Captivated by narrative, Rosie depicts this story using vintage garments and artifacts, enhancing them through hand embroidered motifs.
Sophia Radovic-Sclater
Cultural identity holds immense significance for Sophia Radovic-Sclater, prompting her to infuse her collections with elements of her own identity. Drawing inspiration from her Spanish heritage and the environments that shaped her upbringing, Sophia reflects on how these influences have shaped her as a practitioner.
‘Mon Soleil Nostalgia’ is a series of three embroidered fans inspired by nostalgic memories of family parties and dressed up glamour growing up in Andalucian culture. Sophia delves into themes of diversity, cultural identity, and appreciation in her visual storytelling, yet the core essence of this narrative revolves around the cherished nostalgia of bygone memories.
Sophie Dinning
Sophie Dinning uses hand embroidery to create work utilising skilled techniques but with confident colour choices and an experimental approach particularly in three-dimensional embellishment. Her pieces are contemporary but showcasing an acute attention to detail.
‘Apricity’ (a word used to describe that feeling of the warmth of the Sun in Winter), is a collection of textile jewellery pieces based on the concept of lockets, taking visual inspiration from wrought iron and autumnal imagery. The pieces are hand embroidered, primarily using goldwork and raised work techniques.
Interested in seeing the beautiful students’ work in person? Come along to Graduate Fashion Week and New Designers in June to see the Major Projects in details, and to chat to our Degree Students about their work.
