Our BA (Hons) in Hand Embroidery students continue their studies from home, with virtual learning and Tutorials with their RSN Tutors. We are extremely proud of how they have adapted to their ‘new’ surroundings, whether this has meant returning to their family home or remaining in the Hampton Court area with Zoom chats for support.

The RSN Degree is a three year BA (Hons) validated by the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) with national and international students using contemporary approaches to traditional hand embroidery techniques giving them a springboard to a creative career in haute-couture fashion, theatre and film costume, interiors and textile art, with some continuing their studies to Post Graduate level. The Degree team encourage students to submit applications for a number of competitions and sponsorship opportunities throughout the course.

One such competition is the annual Bradford Textiles Design Competition run by The Bradford Textile Society, which attracts almost 1,000 entries. Our 2^nd year Degree students enter every year and this year five of them were awarded. ‘The LAPA Charitable Trust Award’ category is an award for an embroidered textile design for fashion/accessories or interiors products, created using hand embroidery techniques.

Sabina Lima – Design for an acoustic embroidered panel for Leadenhall

Congratulations goes to Sabina Lima who was awarded 2^nd prize in this category for her entry ‘Morphogenesis’, as well as receiving a Commendation in ‘The Company of Merchants of the Staple of England Wool Award’ for the best design using wool (minimum 60%) chosen across all categories of the Bradford Design Competition. Sabina said: “For this competition, I created an acoustic embroidered panel for the office interior of the Leadenhall Building in the City of London. Inspired by nature, poetry and storytelling, this project came out from a poem ‘Ah! Sun-Flower’, found in the Book of Sons of Innocence and of Experience, written by William Blake. In a biological sense, ‘Morphogenesis’ means the ‘beginning of a shape’ but it is also a metaphor: it is the start of a process or development of a new product, and the idea of creating embroidered acoustic panels embraces this concept.”

Congratulations also goes to the four Commended students by LAPA: Felicity Billing, Hollie Philips, Daisy White and Millie Whitehead. Hollie’s piece, entitled ‘Specimen’ (pictured right), was inspired by medical jars and containers: “I started by creating a photo shoot in a glass cabinet that was highly inspired by Damien Hirst. I also took a trip to the Grant Museum of Zoology, University College London, to view their collection of specimens. From my initial samples, I created a photo shopped room layout as wall paper, changing a lot of the levels and added filters. This was completely different to the initial sample and informed the pattern and stitch design for my final piece.”

In January, Sabina Lima was awarded 2^nd prize in the ‘Stitchsmith Prize for Design’, which saw almost 300 entries, and her design will be produced in to a Stitchsmith London clutch! Sabina named her design ‘Concrete Jungle’: “Inspiration came from aerial views of big cities with a high density of buildings. It’s about time to start planting forests.” 3^rd years Breeshee Williams was Shortlisted for her floral design and Hisae Abe received a Special Mention.

Meanwhile, our 3^rd year Degree students apply annually for Madeira Student Sponsorship. For this, they must submit two pieces of work and a portfolio with information explaining their effective use of threads in their work. In March, five students received the fantastic news that they had been awarded money to buy threads and materials they will need to complete their Final Major Projects and to use in the future: Chelsea Burton, Emilie Donielaite, Rosie Millar, Isabella Thorpe and Jess Vale (‘Raised Work Skull’, pictured left).

Ultimately, a congratulations to every single student who is working so hard during their final term, in a very different situation to what we had envisaged back in September, and we wish you all the best of luck over the coming weeks!

Look out for our ‘Spotlight on RSN Degree 3^rd year Students’ over the coming months!

Learn more about the RSN Degree