{ "title": "We are finalists of Hand & Lock's international embroidery competition!" , "date": 1695035110 , "content": [ [ "img", [ "project-handnlocktheprize2023-16-intro.jpg" ] ] , [ "p", "Founded in 1767, Hand & Lock are London's premier embroidery house providing embellishment services to the British Royal Family and a number of top European design houses. Every year, they organise the prestigious "The Prize", an international art competition to promote the fine art of embroidery. The competition strives to highlight the exquisite craftsmanship and skill that goes into this intricate craft and bring together the whole embroidery community to celebrate at an annual event in London." ] , [ "p", "We are extremely grateful that Yasmina has been selected as one of the six finalists of the 2023 competition." ] , [ "p", "The theme for this year's competition was Modern mystic arts and the power of colour. The brief highlighted the duality of science and spirituality and invited contestants to consider the formation of their art through the repetitive stitch in an almost meditative state, play with contradiction and semiotics, and explore digital and technology as extensions to the physical universe." ] , [ "hr" ] , [ "pb", "PART I - THE DESIGN" ] , [ "p", "This theme immediately resonated with our personal appreciation of zen buddhism, our love for nature, whilst striking our nerdy chord. We very quickly converged to the idea of a cyberpunk zen garden, in the form of an embroidered dress." ] , [ "img", [ "project-handnlocktheprize2023-01.jpg", "project-handnlocktheprize2023-02.jpg", "project-handnlocktheprize2023-03.jpg", "project-handnlocktheprize2023-04.jpg", "project-handnlocktheprize2023-05.jpg" ] ] , [ "p", "Buddhist zen gardens (枯山水, literally dry mountains & rivers) are made of very simple, natural elements. Rocks, sand, grass, a few plants. They are designed to perfectly mimic nature yet they are the absolute opposite of it: man-made, thought through constructions demanding a flawless execution to become a multi-layer source of enchantment:" ] , [ "ul", [ "At first sight they look like a beautifully simple, small scale reproduction of nature. Rocks emerge from the sand like mountains from the sea." , "Spend a few minutes observing, you will certainly succomb to the playful nature of the garden, walk around it, play with perspective and distance, enjoy the harmony of the composition, the delicate balance of mass and void and the skillful use of numbers and groups." , "Later, you might just sit and consider the contradictions between the irregular asymmetry of the garden and its controlled intangible geometry, between the static nature of the sand and its dynamic evocation of running water, between the garden typically enclosed in walls yet fully integrated in its surrounding environment, as if the nature outside and the garden inside were one." , "At some point, you realise that you have just spent the entire afternoon there, hardly moving, letting your mind wander across layers of significance, in a meditative journey." ] ] , [ "p", "After Yasmina got convinced that this would be the theme of our art piece, she needed to explore more. She read (again) everything we had on the topic, from Taschen's classic Japanese Zen gardens to the Sound of Cherry Blossoms and the Complete Works of Shunmyo Masuno. She revisited the photo library of our previous visits to Kyoto's Zen temples, and even explored Asian botany to build a list of typical plants used in both Chinese and Japanese gardens, with a particular attention to symbolism." ] , [ "p", "In parallel, she started exploring ways to boost the art piece with something unique and digital, anchored in Hong Kong's technological culture. Hong Kong being the mother of cyberpunk and the city of neons, she very quickly got interested in different options to include lights into the dress. It took a few weeks to finalise an embroidery method that would encapsulate lights at the surface of the dress, and deliver the effect she was looking for." ] , [ "p", "The design submission was due in early June, at the top of the wedding season. We miraculously found the energy to put the ideas together and submit Yasmina's design to Hand & Lock, just a few hours before the deadline... And suddenly there she was, selected out of four hundred candidates, as one of the six finalists of arguably the most prestigious embroidery competition in the world." ] , [ "hr" ] , [ "pb", "PART II - THE DRESS" ] , [ "p", "It took weeks of hard work to convert the design into an actual dress. There was so much symbolism and detailed design to be embedded and so little time, as the atelier was in parallel invited to join Hong Kong fashion week." ] , [ "img" , [ "project-handnlocktheprize2023-12-embroideryframe.jpg", "project-handnlocktheprize2023-16-dye.jpg", "project-handnlocktheprize2023-13-ribbon.jpg", "project-handnlocktheprize2023-14-lotus.jpg", "project-handnlocktheprize2023-15-painting.jpg" ] , [ "project-handnlocktheprize2023-11-skirt.jpg" ] ] , [ "p", "The dress is made of recycled raw cotton calico fabric. The top is hand-dyed using tea, coffee, herbs, and berries to give it its green hue with hints of blue, as Yasmina wanted the dress to have a naturally aged vibe. She also used a large, custom-made embroidery frame for the skirt, which includes very long lines organised in a complex geometric shape. Attaching these cords took long hours of conscientious, meditative work." ] , [ "p", "The main embroidery is made using a combination of various ribbon techniques, that we don't frequently use in couture. Silk ribbons are also dyed and flowers were hand-painted one by one. It was a lot of fun." ] , [ "img", [ "project-handnlocktheprize2023-26-croptop.jpg", "project-handnlocktheprize2023-21-electronics.jpg", "project-handnlocktheprize2023-23-USB.jpg", "project-handnlocktheprize2023-25-flowers.jpg", "project-handnlocktheprize2023-24-berries.jpg" ] ] , [ "p", "Then for the technology cyberpunk twist, Yasmina designed a crop undertop and attached induction loops to it, powered by USB batteries kept in a hidden pocket under the skirt. Two hundred white, warm gold and red tiny lights are hidden inside snowflowers on the chest and honeysuckle berries on the shoulder. The lights are wirelessly powered by the electromagnetic field generated by the loops, the effect is spectacular and was very popular when we showcased the dress at Hong Kong Centrestage fashion show." ] , [ "hr" ] , [ "p", "The award ceremony will be held in November in London. Whatever the results, this is a huge win. The illumination system is so nice that we have decided to patent it and Yasmina will definitely embed lights in our collection next year, considering the versatility that this technique offers in terms of light pattern." ] ] , "author": "Yasmina VF" }