Instagram story viewer> @handandlockprize> Posts

Hand & Lock Prize For Embroidery

@handandlockprize

18.8K

followers

606

following

World’s Prestigious Embroidery Competition since 2000.
⭐️ Celebrating 26 Years
⭐️ Prize Finalists have been Announced! Keep posted here for updates

POSTS STORIES REELS TAGGED

BTS PRIZE PHOTOSHOOT 2026

Photography: @domi_rad
Makeup: Jacinta @oliviatoddmakeup
Model 1 : Hanna Schlott
Model 2 : Isadora Flôres taken in Hand & Lock by @handandlockprize

234

3

9 days ago

The Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery returns for its 26th year at The Building Centre

We’re busy in the studio getting ready for this year’s exhibition, and we’re excited to announce that the Prize is moving to The Building Centre in London, between Tottenham Court Road and Goodge Street station.

Join us this November to discover the exceptional work of 24 finalists and Associate Award winners, showcasing embroidery across fashion and textile art in a contemporary exhibition space.

📍 The Building Centre 26 Store Street, London, WC1E 7BT

Exhibition opening times:

Tuesday 3rd November — 10am–4pm
Wednesday 4th November — 10am–1pm
Thursday 5th November — 10am–4pm
Friday 6th November — 10am–4pm

The exhibition is not ticketed, and entry is free!

We can’t wait to share this year’s finalists’ work with you! ✨

Prize Taster Embroidery Courses

Alongside the exhibition, join one of our special Embroidery Taster Workshops at the exhibition and discover the skills behind specialist hand embroidery techniques.

Tickets are limited, so be sure to book your place! Tickets are available to purchase on our website.

Prize Taster Embroidery Courses

Alongside the exhibition, join one of our special Embroidery Taster Workshops at the exhibition and discover the skills behind specialist hand embroidery techniques.

Tickets are limited, so be sure to book your place! Tickets are available to purchase on our website. by @handandlockprize

156

0

10 days ago

🏆 THE 2026 STUDENT FASHION FINALISTS

We are pleased to announce the finalists for the 26th Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery in the Student Fashion category:

Annabel Thornton @embroiderybyannabelt
Sabrina Nieddu @sabrina_nieddu_
Harriet Hawtry-Coombs @harriet_hcembroidery
Isabella Carrier @isabellasofia.textiles
India Phillips @indiaphillips.embroidery
Kai Otsuki @kaiotsuki

From intricate craftsmanship to imaginative approaches to embroidery and fashion, this year’s finalists have demonstrated the creativity and dedication that continues to shape the future of textile art.

We can’t wait to see these talented artists bring their work to life and to celebrate their achievements at the 26th Hand & Lock Prize Giving next month!

Congratulations to all of our 2026 finalists! 🎉

#handandlockprize #handandlocklondon

Annabel Thornton - The Ebb, The Flow, The Infinite

The Ebb, The Flow, The Infinite explores memories of the North Wales coast, translating shifting landscapes into a study of movement, atmosphere and place. The rhythm of the ocean, abstract forms of windswept sand and the immersive darkness of the night sky shape the visual language of the piece. The meeting of sea and sky mirrors the rhythm of breath - an endless ebb and flow - while the ever-changing sky reflects the constant movement of life. No two sunsets are the same, just as no two moments unfold alike. Together, these landscapes become a personal reflection on home, time and memory.

Mentor: Anna Taylor @annataylorembroidery

Sabrina Nieddu - Anger

In Anger, Sabrina Nieddu transforms reclaimed materials into a visual expression of female strength, connection and the desire to reclaim women’s stories. The garment brings together two distinct yet interconnected pieces. The gold textile represents the bond between generations of women, their experiences, memories and stories woven together as a source of collective strength. The dress, inspired by the power and unpredictability of a volcano, becomes an armour, symbolising hidden force, resilience and energy. Through broken records collected over a year and a vintage gold curtain, both given new life through handwork, Anger reclaims anger as a taken in Hand & Lock by @handandlockprize

1k

16

12 days ago

🏆 THE 2026 STUDENT TEXTILE ART FINALISTS

We are pleased to announce the finalists for the 26th Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery in the Student Textile Art category:

Romy Philo @romygrace.embroidery
Mia Zeferino-Birchall @@mzbtextiles
Eden Kingston @eden_stitch_
Ash Jones @ashjayart
Anna Moroid @lampi_lamp
Rowan Shepherd @rowantextiles

Stay tuned as we reveal the finalists for the last 2026 category: Student Fashion

Congratulations Student Textile Art Finalists!

#handandlockprize #handandlocklondon

Romy Philo - Between Wool and Gold: An embroidered exploration of organic fibre and contemporary materials through the myth of Jason and the Golden Fleece

Inspired by narratives and landscapes, Romy Philo’s practice as a hand embroidery artist is rooted in physical exploration through the creation of richly textured surfaces. Different drawing techniques and their translation through stitch inform her textile and embroidery work. Intrinsic to her practice are delicate and refined techniques layered with unpolished, abstract stitch to create expressive work that is an exploration of contrasts.

‘Between Wool and Gold’ is a hand-embroidered wearable textile artwork inspired by the tale of Jason and the Golden Fleece. Rather than retelling the myth directly, the piece explores its atmosphere and symbolism through texture and materiality.

Mia Zeferino-Birchall - Cached Memories

Through Cached Memories, Mia explores how we remember in the digital age, depicting digital photographs as repositories of our memories and personal histories. Like stories, our memories are continually reconstructed through fragments of emotions and incomplete details. Alongside these memories exist thousands of photographs, preserving people, places and fleeting moments as pixels on a screen.

Drawing on digital aesthetics, Mia combines pixelation, an RGB colour palette and Divisionism with generative embroidery to evoke memory’s shifting nature. Through embroidery, she translates digital artefacts into tactile forms, allowing everyday moments to become permanently bound in cloth, preserving their stories beyond the screen.

Mentor: Stacey Jones @bystaceyjones

Mia Zeferino-Birchall - C taken in Hand & Lock by @handandlockprize

723

11

13 days ago

🏆 THE 2026 OPEN FASHION FINALISTS

We are pleased to announce the finalists for the 26th Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery in the Open Fashion category:

H.L Story @storr.xxiii
Lihi Rose Sohovolsky
Dorine Leenders @the_chronic_stitchtress
Mariia Khmelnytska @mr.khmelnytska
Lucy May @embroiderthetruth
Margarita Kokovina @florany_marg_digital

Stay tuned as we reveal the finalists in the Student Textile Art and Student Fashion categories.

#handandlockprize #handandlocklondon

H.L Story - A Clear Light Abideth Upon Men

“A Clear Light Abideth Upon Men”, constructed as a sundial-cum-bas-relief, illustrates the slaying of the Python at Delphi, the primary western Ur-narrative of the victory of light over the chthonic; it explores the intimate connection between solar illumination, geometry, measure, and the divine, embodied in the principle of Apollo— the cosmic architect.

H.L. Story is a designer and bespoke tailor whose work in design and philosophy is focused on the connection between classical architecture, dress, and their joint effect on the public landscape, with a broader focus on aesthetics and the underlying value structures from which they arise.

Mentor: Richard McVetis @richardmcvetis

Lihi Rose Sohovolsky - Ornament as Memory

In her work, Lihi investigates the primal human urge to mark and ornament surfaces. Drawing inspiration from her grandparents’ archive of authentic Persian carpets, she explores how textiles function as vessels of heritage, symmetry, and memory. This intimate connection expands into a dialogue with contemporary graffiti, treating street art as a modern expression of the same decorative instinct.

Through digitally embroidered padded nylon, Lihi transforms these contrasting visual languages into a sculptural garment. The dense stitching compresses the layers to create relief and volume, turning graphic motifs into a tangible, three-dimensional experience.

Lihi Rose Sohovolsky - Ornament as Memory

In her work, Lihi investigates the primal human urge to mark and ornament surfaces. Drawing inspiration from her grandparents’ archive of authentic Persian carpets, she explores how textiles function as vessels of heritage, symmetry, taken in Hand & Lock by @handandlockprize

337

14

13 days ago

🏆 THE 2026 OPEN TEXTILE ART FINALISTS

We are pleased to announce the finalists for the 26th Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery in the Open Textile Art category:

Santiago Celio @santo_cielo
Lei Ka Wai @treasure.needle
Kirsten Doogue @doogue_embroidery
Sarah Muscat Azzopardi @the_secret_rose
Amy Martin @tuesdaysbride_
Katy Merrington @katymerrington

Stay tuned as we reveal the finalists in the Open Fashion, Student Textile Art and Student Fashion categories.

#handandlockprize #handandlocklondon

Santiago Celio Cioli - The Uprooted Garden

Santiago Celio Cioli (Santo Cielo) is a Uruguayan embroidery artist based in Germany, specialising in needlepainting. In The Uprooted Garden, he combines this detailed technique with three-dimensional stumpwork to create a layered diorama inspired by medieval manuscripts, Bosch and literary bestiaries, exploring migration through a surreal garden of symbolic creatures.

Mentor: Danielle Clough @fiance_knowles

Lily Lei Wai - Marriage

This work explores personal freedom and cultural constraints, critiquing societal pressures that define women through marriage. Subverting traditional Chinese wedding motifs, the artist reimagines classical dragon and phoenix symbols into satirical vignettes of past romantic missteps, investigating the suffocation of forced expectations. Crafted using goldwork, needle lacing, and stumpwork on mesh and leather, the piece transforms heavy gold wedding bracelets into tools of autonomy. Connected by a broken chain, these 3D embroidered bracelets symbolize the rupture of generational cycles. This intuitive, painterly embroidery champions artistic liberation, declaring that women forge their own paths and celebrate freedom.

Mentor: Kseniia Guseva @faimyxstitch

Lily Lei Wai - Marriage

This work explores personal freedom and cultural constraints, critiquing societal pressures that define women through marriage. Subverting traditional Chinese wedding motifs, the artist reimagines classical dragon and phoenix symbols into satirical vignettes of past romantic missteps, investigating the suffocation of forced expectations. Crafted using goldwork, needle lacing, and stumpwork on mesh and leather, the piec taken in Hand & Lock by @handandlockprize

601

15

13 days ago

THE HAND & LOCK PRIZE 2026 ✨

🪡 Embroidery Talks: Visual Storytelling from Heart to Hand

We often spin a yarn, weave a narrative or embroider the truth — revealing the deep connection between storytelling and textiles.

For the 2026 Hand & Lock Prize, artists and designers were invited to explore this relationship through embroidery, using thread, colour, texture and embellishment to bring stories to life.

From personal memories and cultural histories to myths and imagined futures, this year’s makers explored what can be preserved in cloth, what might be forgotten, and how embroidery can give new life to stories.

We’re excited to introduce this weekend our 2026 Finalists and share the stories woven into their work. ✨

Embroidery by Kirsten Doogue

#handandlockprize by @handandlockprize

264

0

14 days ago

✨ WHAT A YEAR! ✨

Looking back on a truly special year celebrating 25 years of The Prize! 🪡✨

From incredible embroidery and inspiring creativity to unforgettable moments shared with our finalists, participants and supporters, 2025 was a year to remember.

A huge thank you to everyone who made our 25th anniversary so special. Your talent, passion and support continue to make The Prize what it is today. ❤️

Now, it’s time to turn the page… 👀

We’re getting ready to introduce our 2026 Finalists and can’t wait to share this year’s incredible work with you!

#handandlockprize by @handandlockprize

187

1

16 days ago

Madelaine Rose Walker - The Embroiderers’ Guild and Embroidery Magazine Associate Award for Design and Innovation Winner 2025

The Embroiderers’ Guild and Embroidery Magazine Associate Award for Design and Innovation: Urban Sirens: Mysterious Love Story Meets Streetwear and Graffiti by Madelaine Rose Walker celebrates the fusion of heritage, storytelling and contemporary embroidery.

The award recognises imaginative design, skilled execution and innovative approaches to materials and techniques across hand and machine embroidery.

Inspired by the Cornish folklore tale The Mermaid of Zennor, Urban Sirens transforms myth into a wearable embroidered cape, combining denim, graffiti-inspired fabrics, goldwork, crewel work, stumpwork and intricate beadwork.

Featuring a sculptural mermaid tail crafted with hand-cut tin cans, layered embroidery and hidden stitched details, the piece explores identity, environmental awareness and the connection between traditional craft and modern self-expression.

#handandlockprize #handandlocklondon #prizefinalist #theprize #embroidery by @handandlockprize

101

0

19 days ago

Charlotte Edwards - The Wilcom Award for Digital Embroidery Associate Award - Fashion Winner 2025

‘Where The Apron Once Was’ by Charlotte Edwards explores the meeting point between heritage, technology and contemporary garment design.

Inspired by an 18th-century embroidered apron fragment from the Roger Warner Textile Collection at Temple Newsam, Charlotte transforms domestic textile history into a theatrical garment using digital embroidery as both decoration and a tool for construction.

Through carefully digitised motifs, precise mapping and innovative machine embroidery techniques, the piece reimagines historic craftsmanship within an 18th-century inspired silhouette. Where The Apron Once Was demonstrates how digital embroidery can preserve tradition while expanding the possibilities of fashion design.

#handandlockprize #handandlocklondon #prizefinalist #theprize #embroidery by @handandlockprize

103

2

20 days ago

Charlotte Wood - The Wilcom Award for Digital Embroidery - Textile Art Winner 2025

The Wilcom Award for Digital Embroidery - Textile Art: Man on Chair by Charlotte Wood explores memory, preservation and the fragile relationship between people and the objects that surround them.

Through her character, the Man, Charlotte creates a three-dimensional textile sculpture that reflects themes of loss, nostalgia and the difficulty of letting go. The figure merges with the chair beneath him, blurring the boundaries between body, object and memory.

Created predominantly through digital embroidery, with additional machine and hand embellishment, the work combines layered, distressed stitching and textured surfaces to bring the Man’s inner world into physical form. Man on Chair demonstrates the creative possibilities of digital embroidery as a tool for storytelling and transformation.

#handandlockprize #handandlocklondon #prizefinalist #theprize #embroidery by @handandlockprize

158

6

22 days ago

Joel and Son Fabrics Associate Award Winner: Charlotte Edwards 2025

Charlotte Edwards won the Joel and Son Fabrics Associate Award for her innovative use of fabric manipulation, materiality and embroidery at the 2025 Hand & Lock Prize.

The award recognised excellence in the use of fabric and materials, alongside innovative embroidery techniques and how effectively the work responded to the brief.

Joel and Son Fabrics is a family-run business with more than 70 years of history and is renowned as one of England’s leading couture fabric retailers.

Charlotte’s project was inspired by an 18th-century embroidered apron from the Roger Warner Textile Collection at Temple Newsam. She reimagined the original embroidery as a theatrical garment, using digital embroidery as both decoration and part of the garment’s construction.

Inspired by 18th-century robe à la française and robe à l’anglaise silhouettes, the finished piece demonstrated Charlotte’s ability to combine historical embroidery with innovative garment construction.

#handandlockprize by @handandlockprize

121

5

22 days ago