Hand and Lock: The Prize

We were delighted to participate in the 25^th anniversary of the Hand & Lock Prize this year providing an award for Design & Innovation.

The overall brief was archive. Congratulations to Madelaine-Rose Walker on gaining the Embroiderers’ Guild and Embroidery Magazine Design & Innovation Award for her Urban Sirens: Mysterious love story meets streetwear and graffiti.

Madelaine-Rose is a hand embroidery artist from Cornwall, whose work is deeply inspired by her Cornish heritage. She is a recent graduate of the Royal School of Needlework, where she achieved a first-class degree with honours. She is excited to pursue a career in translating Cornish folklore into vibrant embroidery.

The mythical and mysterious love story “The Mermaid of Zennor” has been Madelaine-Rose’s inspiration for her final piece. The story follows an unconventional romance between a man with perfect pitch and a beautiful stranger who is secretly a mermaid. Madelaine-Rose reimagines the tale in unexpected ways, using processes of graffiti, hand embroidery, and tin can embellishments to give the legend a contemporary twist.