Instagram: @daisy_collingridge
Born and raised in London, Daisy May Collingridge is a textile artist whose practice has strongly revolved around fabric manipulation and sculpture, where she developed her very unique style. The former student of Central St. Martins and Loughborough universities is currently a member of the 62 Group of Textile Artists, founded over 50 years ago to support embroidery as a form of art.
Daisy creates wearable human-like figures with fabric, an art she believes sits between theatre and sculpture. Her work is most famous for its pastel tones, the use of cotton and jersey fabrics and a technique the artist named ‘the art of squishy’, which consists of layering wadding beneath the fabric to produce round shapes. Burt, Lippy and Nigella are some of the names she attributed to her creations.
Instagram: @thatembroiderygirl
Georgina Bellamy is a London-based professional embroidery artist whose talent for goldwork is as inventive as it is technically adept. She discovered this technique amid her London College of Fashion degree and became determined to learn all about it. Georgina has worked with many designers, exhibited her embroidery across the UK and Europe and even been a mentor in the Hand & Lock Prize for embroidery.
Her astonishing three-dimensional embroidery is usually inspired by nature, mostly in animals, and features beautiful goldwork. She thoroughly considers the features of the animals she recreates, such as skin type, before choosing what technique to use. However, it is the eyes the artist likes to focus on, as she believes they are the most crucial part of her sculptures.
Instagram: @ianberry.art
While textile artist Ian Berry might not use embroidery in his work, that does not make it less inspiring for Hand & Lock. Born and raised in Huddersfield, UK, Berry has been recycling denim in his artwork for over a decade. This type of fabric is known for being one of the most damaging to the environment and thus it is admirable to see art given a new life.
Melancholic urban scenarios are the artist’s preferred theme. Some of his most famous works depict aspects of the city life that one wouldn’t usually consider interesting, such as using the launderette or taking a bath, and make them appear more compelling.To achieve a photorealistic look, he cuts tiny pieces of denim from the thousands of jeans in his studio and glues them, creating detailed shapes and, more importantly, gradients. This produces a similar effect to the embroidery technique of appliqué.
Instagram: @celeste_mogador
Pascale Nivet Bernetiere, artistically known as Céleste Mogador, is a French self-taught jewellery designer and embroiderer. She released her brand in 2016 alongside her husband Fabrice Bernetiere and sells luxurious accessories she designs and handcrafts herself. Before being adopted by Pascale, the pseudonym Céleste Mogador belonged to Élisabeth-Céleste Vénard, a 19th century Cancan dancer from France.
Pascale is inspired by a number of themes: the Sámi and Inca civilizations, Chinese masks and her own childhood memories. The use of beads is a very prominent aspect of her work, as well as exuberant colours. Our favourite designs of hers include the Eyes, the Sea and Ex-Voto collections for their intensity, eccentricity and extraordinary skill.
Instagram: @nickcaveart
Nick Cave is a performance and textile artist based in Chicago, Illinois. Currently director of the graduate fashion program at School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Cave has studied in schools such as Cranbrook Academy of Art in Michigan, North Texas State University and Kansas City Art Institute.
He is most famous for his avant-garde Soundsuits, wearable sculptures that mask all aspects of the body and free the ones who wear them from the prejudice of spectators. A variety of materials are used in his work. ‘Speak Louder’, a piece of 2011, is made of buttons, wire, bugle beads, upholstery and metal, while some other pieces include more peculiar materials such as dyed hair.
