Richard Ashcroft, former Verve front man, has released his new album ‘The United Nations of Sound’.  The album was recorded in Los Angeles, New York and London by producer No ID, who has worked previously with Jay-Z.   It includes the talents of session players Steve Wyreman (guitar) Paul DW Wright (bass) and drummer Derrick Wright, but most importantly it sports an incredible embroidered cover by Hand & Lock.

The cover and reverse of the album was a combination of the efforts of Stephen Kennedy at Studio Fury, Megumi Endo – Embroideress at Hand & Lock and Creative Director Claire Barrett, the cover is a close up of beautiful silk and silver cut-work embroidery mounted onto a cream and silver fringed pennant.  The logo is an alternative take on logos for global institutions; this was then translated into an embroidery design by Claire and stunning hand embroidery by Megumi.

The brief was ‘to create a strong sense of being anti-establishment’, when we heard that ‘it was important that the embroidery is simply not machine-stitched’ and that Studio Fury would like to create ‘a sense of history and tradition’ we knew that they and Richard Ashcroft, had come to the right place.  The project was completed in a record breaking 7 days in the London studio.

Watch the video

Would you like to work with the finest hand embroidery specialists worldwide and learn what it takes to produce only the highest quality of hand embroidered products and services?

If you’ve answered yes to those questions then get in touch with us and email Hand & Lock Studio Manager, Sana Uddin:  sana@handembroidery.com

From your wedding gown to your guests’ favours, adding the finest embroidery can be the detail that will make your day so special. Hand & Lock provides personalized embroidery services and can customize it all: garment, accessories, etc…

View our new range of:

• wedding ring cushions

• wedding neckpieces

The first round judging has just happened. View who from the 400 entrants made it through the Second Stage!!!!

On Friday 9th July, Hand & Lock gathered a panel of experts to judge this incredible 10th Anniversary edition of the Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery. From the number of entrants to the quality of the entries submitted, this year’s Prize has broken all our records.

“It was exciting to see everyones interpretations of militaria, and great to see some finished to such a professional level.  I’m really looking forward to getting the work in to have a closer look.” Claire Barrett – HL  Creative Director

- Candidate No.     36    Open Prize            [Alexander Theresa
- Candidate No.     342    Student Prize      [Bampton Claire
- Candidate No.     184    Student Prize      [Barrett Diana
- Candidate No.     186    Open Prize         [Bellando Kathryn
- Candidate No.     286    Student Prize      [Bertram    Flett K R
- Candidate No.     236    Student Prize      [Callennec Eline  J LE
- Candidate No.     240    Student Prize      [Cant Natallia
- Candidate No.     259    Open Prize          [Ciarrocchi Elena
- Candidate No.     366    Student Prize      [D D Meilune
- Candidate No.     254    Student Prize      [Dart Eleanor J
- Candidate No.     222    Student Prize      [Falvey    Emma
- Candidate No.     188    Open Prize          [Haimovitz Nophar
- Candidate No.     339    Open Prize          [Hunt Rachel
- Candidate No.     166    Open Prize          [Kania Beata
- Candidate No.     290   Open Prize           [Knibbs Jan
- Candidate No.     189    Open Prize          [Lakmali Bandaranayake Eranga
- Candidate No.     398    Open Prize          [Lemelin Laurie
- Candidate No.     363    Student Prize       [Mayne Ashleigh
- Candidate No.     202    Student Prize       [O'Doherty Sian Angharad
- Candidate No.     295    Student Prize       [Ramsay Laura
- Candidate No.     355    Student Prize       [Rattik Olga
- Candidate No.     238    Student Prize       [Sagar Hayley
- Candidate No.     216    Student Prize       [Tooming    Liina
- Candidate No.     356    Student Prize       [Vagistrom Chris
- Candidate No.     389    Open Prize          [Yehezkel Syvan

Each year, the Hospital Club 100, in association with The Independent, ranks the most influential people in the Creative and Media Industrie. For 2010, Dean is listed along 4 other emerging talents:

• Jemma Dyas, buyer, Browns Focus
• Helen Jackson, founder, e-tailtherapy.com
• Anna Trevelyan, stylist
• Emma Watson, actress and Burberry model

Again, all our congratulations to Dean Quinn and his fellow nominees. We wish him a very successful career, hopefully he will join other famous Established nominees in the near future; the late Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney and Christopher Bailey to name a few.

Read The Independent article: www.independent.co.uk

View The Hospital Club 100 list: www.thehospitalclub.com

Dean James Quinn website: www.deanquinn.com

Hand & Lock collaborated with Natalie for her final collection as she wanted all her garments to be professionally hand embroidered in silk shading, which is a beautiful technique but very time consuming!

Natalie chose to combine oversized and softly shaped jackets, coats and shirt dresses, using ethically sourced cottons in cool colours, with fur inspired hand embroidery. Animals such as a gazelle, anteater, hyena and fox, were the source of her designs, as their fur varied in boldness, colour, pattern and shape.

Before starting the embroidery onto Natalie’s actual fabric, Hand & Lock sampled each ‘fur’ design to ensure they achieved the perfect result. Sana Uddin, Studio Manager and Natalie, sat for hours discussing colours, shading and which the types of silks thread would be the most suitable. Hand & Lock chose to use Anchor embroidery threads for the silks shading, and one small sample used 3 skeins alone. This was due to the density of the embroidery and the effect that Natalie wanted to achieve. After embroidering each sample, Hand & Lock knew that boxes upon boxes of silk threads would be used for each garment!

The design and pattern of the embroidered ‘fur’ had to be very precise as each pattern piece had to match up. The embroiderers used Natalie’s beautiful illustrations as a guide, as she drew each stoke of fur by hand onto each pattern piece. The embroiderers then followed the artwork meticulously, using their experience and expertise to ensure that each pattern piece was exactly as the drawing.

Once the ‘fur’ embroideries were complete, Hand & Lock were also asked to embroider two further designs, yet this time Natalie chose to use feathers for her inspiration. The feather designs were much more delicate and soft, due to the tonal and complimentary colours and the placement of the embroidery. Therefore the density of the embroidery was much less, so Hand & Lock chose to use a fine split stitch for one of the feather designs.

After seeing the whole collection finished and photographed, it was great to see the bold colours of the ‘fur’ embroidery on each garment. The ‘Gazelle Coat’ was a fantastic example of this, as it was densely embroidered using autumnal shades of browns and deep golds, and against the royal blue cotton, it looked striking! The two garments with the feather designs sat well in the collection, as they gave the collection a more feminine touch and helped to create a balance between the bold ‘fur’ designs.

If you are mad about football and want to show your support to a team or player Hand & Lock can help you.

Our machine embroidery services will allow you to embroider the name of your favourite player onto your football shirt, the badge of your team onto polo shirts and blazers within 3-5 working days.

And because we at Hand & Lock want to support you, all badges machine embroidered during the 2010 World Cup will be charge to a unique rate of £25.00 (including VAT).

Well done Danny, all Hand & Lock companies would like to wish you well for this new adventure.

Our  embroidery services can also help you add the finishing touch to your wedding from exquisite embroidery on your wedding dress to a subtle embellishment of your shoes for the day. Please contact Sana for more details via email sana@hanedmbroidery.com or phone +44(0)207.580.7488