Impressionist Goldwork with Michelle Agnew

Location: This course is delivered via Zoom & WhatsApp. Please click here for guides to using Zoom & WhatsApp

Duration: 9 Week Embroidery Course (1 x 2.5 hour session per week for 9 consecutive weeks) 

Date: 30th January - 27th March 2026 (1pm-3.30pm - Fridays)

This nine-week course explores the meeting point between traditional goldwork embroidery, impressionistic expression and the flowing lines of the Art Nouveau movement. Taking inspiration from Margaret Macdonald Mackintosh—one of Klimt’s lesser-known influences—students will create embroidery that features elongated lines and varied textures.

Like the Impressionists, who used broken colour and light to suggest rather than define, students will use the reflective qualities of goldwork—its texture, direction and play of light—to convey the essence of an idea.

The original design for this class is inspired by the wind phone: a disconnected telephone placed in a quiet spot to carry messages on the wind to loved ones. These spaces offer solace and reflection, giving people a chance to share memories and say the words left unspoken.

A 12.5 cm × 12.5 cm design will be provided, but students are welcome to develop their own subject and create a design of the same size. Those choosing this route will be asked to prepare a mood board and proposed design ahead of the first class.

Throughout the course, students will learn core goldwork techniques including couching, cutwork, chipping and s-ing, alongside innovative approaches that draw on unconventional techniques such as knitting, braiding and the deconstruction of deadstock fabric. Unusual materials—like china fragments, beads, found objects or precious scraps—will also be incorporated to push creative boundaries and expand traditional practice.

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The design for this course is inspired by the wind phone, a simple, disconnected telephone placed in a quiet garden in Japan as a way for people to speak to loved ones who have passed away. Over time, similar installations have appeared around the world, offering spaces of solace and reflection where words can be spoken into the wind. This idea of messages carried through air, fleeting yet powerful, informs the composition of the piece. Flowing lines echo the movement of wind, while areas of light and texture created through goldwork suggest the intangible nature of memory and emotion. The design balances structure with fluidity, encouraging personal interpretation and emotional connection.

Michelle Agnew is a Canadian artist specializing in sculptural goldwork embroidery. With training from the Royal School of Needlework, she transforms traditional embroidery into a three-dimensional art form through impressionistic goldwork. Michelle’s work merges the ancient craft of goldwork with contemporary techniques, recontextualizing it within modern frameworks. Her approach aims to celebrate the medium's versatility and honour the craft’s rich heritage while expanding its boundaries, creating visually striking and conceptually engaging artworks.

Michelle is also a Freeman of The Worshipful Company of Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers.

Over the course of the 6 weeks of this course you will learn the following embroidery techniques

• Work with pearl purl to create delicate raised outlines and decorative borders
  
  

• Explore cutwork to shape and place metal threads for structured, reflective areas
  
  

• Learn chipping to add sparkling texture and dimension
  
  

• Practise s-ing to form flowing, decorative patterns with s-shaped coils
  
  

• Develop couching techniques to secure metal threads neatly on the surface
  
  

• Use whipped plate to hold plate in place with a decorative over-stitch
  
  

• Refine couching with metal threads for precise lines and varied textures
  
  

• Experiment with knitting using goldwork threads to introduce unexpected structures and surfaces
  
  

• Learn plunging and tying back to finish work cleanly and professionally on the reverse

For this course you will need to provide the following (all other materials will be sent out to you): 

• You will need to provide scrap fabrics, any additional threads you’d like to use (such as DMC for couching or alternative metal threads), and at least one unusual material to incorporate, for example beads, china, sea shells or similar.

• If you’d like to work with your own colour scheme, you should create a mood board or palette and select your materials accordingly. Hand & Lock will provide gold metal threads for this class; if you wish to use metal threads in other colours, you’ll need to source these yourself.

• You may also bring your own background fabric (non-stretch) to match your chosen palette, subject to approval.