This year marks a quarter of a century since Helen McCook arrived at the RSN to facing her apprenticeship as a complete non stitcher. Helen says that discovering the RSN was a little like falling down the rabbit hole into wonderland, in this case, a stitchy wonderland!

Since graduating Helen has pursued many and varied avenues within the textile industry, including working for one of the ‘big three’ international auction houses and running embroidery studios while continuously working for RSN as both a tutor, assessor and professional studio embroiderer. She has also lead a varied and exciting life as a freelance artist, embroiderer and tutor.