To celebrate all the wonderful work that our Third Year Degree students have accomplished over the last three years, we would like to share with you some information, and a glimpse of their Major Projects, which will be on display at Graduate Fashion Week and New Designers in London in June.
Amelia Merrick
Amelia Merrick’s hand embroidery uses many illustrative qualities, which result in bold and impactful patterns. The stitches and techniques used for each piece are informed through in-depth research.
Her couture fashion collection, ‘Fragmented’, is influenced by the beauty and chaos of broken pottery, combined with the reviving and enhancing Japanese Kintsugi technique.
Cathy MacDonald
Cathy MacDonald’s embroidery work focusses on the creation of calm and serene pieces that are inspired by architecture. She takes the forms, shapes and textures of buildings and interprets them into understated, but luxurious art works for public and domestic interior spaces.
Her current work, ‘Calm Relief’ is an embroidered wall hanging inspired by the carvings of natural forms often found on 1930’s architecture.
Denisa Manoila
Hand embroiderer Denisa Manoila is driven by her belief in female empowerment and passion for elegance. Her Romanian heritage is embedded within her designs.
‘Reflections of Vanity’, her current collection of body adornment pieces, explores such ideals through a luxurious composition of geometric mirror fragments surrounded by delicate silk shading and needle lace elements.
Elissa Handbury-Madin
Elissa Handbury-Madin’s practice is centred around historical interest and antiques. Her embroidery often includes narrative that links to history whether it be social or family history.
Her current body of work, ‘The Knot Unites’, is inspired by one of her ancestors, Rupert Sims (1793-1856), who was a boxer in the Staffordshire Moorlands.
Elizabeth Connolly
Elizabeth Connolly’s hand embroidery uses recycled, plant based and renewable materials, including spinning her own threads.
‘Warwickshire Tales’ explores the use of natural threads and fibres influenced by the folklore and stories within her home county of Warwickshire.
Fleur Webb
For as long as mixed media hand embroidery artist Fleur Webb can remember, her practice has had underlying elements of beauty, femininity and vulgarity. She delves into the contemporary and controversial with keen interest often conducting social commentary through her stitching.
The ‘Midnight Zone’, her most recent collection, reflects these ideals through exploring the unknown, fear and beauty of the deep-sea.
Grace Richardson
Highlighting the reoccurring theme of humanity and the passing of time, Grace Richardson uses contemporary hand embroidery to interpret her own personal experiences. Human connection is an essential element of her practice, and her pieces aim to showcase the beauty of everyday life.
‘Vessels of Resurgence’ is a series of woven willow sculptures that celebrate the perseverance of life even after death and loss.
Ibtisam Echchafiki
Ibtisam Echchafiki’s creative direction is heavily inspired by her culture as a Moroccan living in London. She expresses her identity through abstract hand embroidery designs, which are embedded with meaning, memory and personal narrative.
Her collection ‘Mofitti’ is inspired by these two identities, taking the Mosaic tiles from Morocco and Graffiti from London.
Imogen Campbell
Whilst music takes precedence in Imogen Campbell’s practice, hand embroidery is the means of expression. Imogen directs her emotions through a multi-sensory creative process caused by listening to music into drawings and embroidered art works as a method of non-verbal communication.
Her ‘Ground-Breaking Debut Album’ textile art pieces and guitar strap collection translate music into illustrative, rhythmic and colourful hand embroidery.
Isabelle Rose Langton-Davies
Isabelle Rose Langton-Davies is a Welsh artist with a strong desire to explore her sense of place and, by extension, her sense of self throughout her hand embroidery.
‘Daughters of Flora’ is a collection that tells the story of the Witches of Wales through the lens of herbology, which evoke the memory of the Welsh women who came before her.
Kim Cotton
Using hand embroidery to challenge opinions and stimulate discussion, Kim Cotton creates art with purposefully integrated messages.
‘The Invisible Woman’ is inspired by society’s lack of recognition and support for female personnel in the modern UK Armed Forces and female veterans.
Maddie Smith
Maddie Smith is passionate about bringing hand embroidery to current society and for it to be recognised and respected as a contemporary craft.
‘Trance’ is a collection of club wear, inspired by her love for music, dance, raves and the culture surrounding it, exploring lighting, visual effects, music and dance through traditional hand embroidery techniques.
Marceli Klimek
Marceli Klimek deconstructs cultural symbols and media through hand embroidery. Always researching alternative ways of conceptualising meaning within embroidery, he values the diverse experiences the craft has the potential to provide through interaction with music, cinema, and psychology.
‘Cuh Opilamonnia Rs’ is an exploration of interpersonal relationships through embroidery. Through this new piece, Marceli aims to demonstrate embroidery as a fine art, as well as its potential purpose within craft and society.
Interested in seeing the beautiful graduate work in person? Come along to Graduate Fashion Week and New Designers in June to see the Major Projects up close, and to chat to our Degree Graduate Students about their work.
