For the next installment of the 'Icons and Pioneers' Collection we have focused on four more remarkable women, creating four new beautiful designs for you to stitch. Discover May Morris, Anna May Wong, Katherine Johnson and Maria Sibylla - each kit capturing a symbol of their incredible stories through embroidery.
For this collection £1 per sale will go directly to the Wonder Foundation - a women-led charity dedicated to transforming the lives of women, girls, and their communities through quality education.
May Morris
May Morris was a pioneering designer, embroiderer and a key figure in the Arts and Crafts Movement in the late 19th to early 20th centuries. As the daughter of artist William Morris, she played a crucial role in preserving and expanding his legacy, whilst also putting her own stamp on the creative world. A talented craftswoman, her work combined beauty with purpose, and her influence helped shape modern design. May was also a big advocate for women’s rights, she founded the Women’s Guild of Arts in 1907 to give women artists a platform in a male-dominated industry.
Our embroidery kit is inspired by the piece 'Rose Wreath' which was designed by William Morris and embroidered by May as a cushion cover for a friend.
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Anna May Wong
Anna May Wong (Liu-Tsong Wong -1905-1961) was a pioneering Chinese - American movie star who made waves in the film industry, becoming the first Asian performer to star in a major Hollywood movie. She starred in major motion pictures though she was often stuck in supporting roles. Her big breakthrough came in the Arabian nights extravaganza The Thief of Bagdad (1924) where she gained both critical and public acclaim.
Despite her obvious talent, Wong continued to face inequality in the LA film scene, regularly being side-lined for leading roles, stereotyped or forced to play demeaning roles. After moving to Europe she struck fame. Across her career, she appeared in more than 50 American, English and German films making her the first global Chinese- American movie star. For the entirety of her professional career she was forced to fight racism and typecasting, but despite these struggles, Wong was a true artist of her time exuding on screen sophistication and charisma. Not just a screen star, Wong was also renowned for her ostentatious fashion sense, being coined the 'World's best dressed woman'.
Our kit is inspired by one of Wong's many embellished headdresses - namely the fringed headdress she wears in Daughter of the Dragon (1931). The oversized head piece featured jewels, crystals and floral motifs.
Katherine Johnson
Katherine Johnson (1918-2020) was a NASA mathematician, who was instrumental in providing calculations for America's first human spaceflight in May of 1961. The Freedom 7 mission changed the course of human history. Although this is her most famed achievement, Johnson was a pioneer in more ways than one. In 1939 she was handpicked to be one of only 3 black students to integrate into West Virginia's Graduate school. In 1958 she provided mathematical equations which contributed to the Notes on Space technology document and in 1961 she became the first woman from the flight research division to be credited as an author in a major report.
This embroidery kit honours Katherine Johnson and her equations for orbital spaceflight, with a miniature rocket circumnavigating space on a safe path back to earth!
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Maria Sibylla
Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was a pioneering entomologist, a scholar of the natural sciences and an artist of flora & fauna. Her artistic illustrations featured highly detailed imagery of botanicals and wildlife in a saturated palette of watercolours. In 1699, she embarked upon a remarkable journey with her young daughter, travelling from Europe to Suriname in South America. At this time, journey's like this were only ever undertaken by men, usually connected to the sugar trade, so it was highly unusual for a woman to travel alone. Merian was undeterred and pursued the journey to further her wildlife studies in this tropical location. Here, she published a magnificent body of work documenting her discoveries. The publication was a major contribution to the history of natural science and remains to this day a highly regarded resource.
Which kit are you most looking forward to embroidering? Let us know in the comments below!
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Author: Eve Lynch
Image References
Illustrations by Jasmine Ataç, Collages by Eve Lynch and Sophie Carr
Kit photographs by Rebecca Hope
