Award winning embroidery design by Ami Waring
Fulfilling the 2017 Embroidery Prize brief, ‘Celebration’, Ami celebrated nature, drawing from her ongoing inspirations of the Surrey countryside where she grew up. Her garment depicts a garden with an imagined narrative of collecting. Ami envisaged a magpie’s view flying above a landscape in search of reflective and intriguing items to covet, informing her choices of eye-catching materials that sparkle within the embroidery; gold, silver, precious stones, metallic elements and iridescent insect wings. The scene is completed by a moveable insect and flying dragonfly. She invited viewers to celebrate the beauty and diversity of nature and to promote sustainability through responsible collecting.
This exhibition showcased Ami Waring’s final couture garment, Winner of the International 2017 Hand & Lock Prize for Hand Embroidery, alongside previously unseen photo-documentation and selected research.
Ami Waring
As a technical embroiderer, Ami developed techniques in direct personal response to her surroundings to visually interpret the texture of the landscape. The choice to work with leather challenges technical boundaries with both tailoring and hand sewing. Her passion for colour choice and placement also characterize her work. Embroidery techniques combine; gold work (couching and cutwork, plate work, padding and trellis stitching), raised applique, complex beading, French knotting, thread couching, chain stitching, hand sewing, fabric manipulation, rouleau, trimming details and leatherwork. This was produced from scratch, requiring several hundred hours of work over a 9 month period working alongside Ami’s burgeoning freelance career. Ami completed her BA in Fashion Textiles – Embroidery, London College of Fashion 2016.
Ami designed a limited “Garden Celebration” collection of hand embroidered accessories; brooches, necklaces and hairclips available in the Garden Museum shop, mementos of your visit and her exhibit. Available to purchase online at awembroidery.co.uk there is additionally the facility to commission bespoke couture embroidery to your own design brief.