After months of waiting and hoping, our Hand & Lock Prize finalists have finally been announced. The finalists were informed by email and their names are now being published on social media. From hundreds of entrants, our esteemed judging panel have selected 24 finalists for the 2023 Prize, six in each of the four judging categories. These talented embroiderers are now working with our mentors to develop their final ideas. Whatever their final piece looks like, you’ll have to wait to see it at the prize exhibition and prize giving. In the meantime see below for their names and hints of their impressive submission.
Katie Tubbing studied fashion design in the Netherlands. Her work in the fashion sphere is experimental in that it pushes aesthetic and physical boundaries. She has a deep passion for handcraft, this passion can be seen in her intricate handwork. She Evokes a new reality, a place where boredom does not exist and a fabricated sense of identity takes precedence.
Yanis Miltgen is a 22 years old french-luxembourgish student in graduate year at Atelier Chardon Savard in Paris. He learned embroidery at Studio Eyral (Reunion Island). His main inspiration is nature. To him, creating is synonymous with transmitting emotion. With embroidery, he wants to show people that life is beautiful.
Identifying as a conscientious disruptor by responding to social and political injustice through the gentle craft of embroidery, Chloe Rogers is a hand embroiderer based in London. Her graphic style is inspired by the street art prolific in the urban areas where she spent her childhood years.
Madelaine Atkinson recently graduated from Birmingham City University, where she studied Textile Design with an embroidery focus. Using multiple embroidery methods allows Madelaine to express and tell stories of issues in society in a flamboyant, powerful but compassionate thought evoking way.
Emily is a 19-year-old fashion student at Manchester metropolitan university. She started knitting, crocheting and sewing at a very early age and then found her passion for hand embroidery and beadwork. Emily has always followed a creative path and likes to explore working with different mediums within her work.
Chloe is a textile embroiderer specialising in traditional hand embroidery techniques combined with contemporary fashion forward materials. Chloe creates thought provoking work reflecting the impact fashion has on global warming. She visually shows the issues behind climate change, specifically the impact on sea life, influenced by her childhood on Devon beaches.
