It's a stitch up: the BBC's World Cup trailer sewn by one of the east London workshops bringing embroidery into the 21st century

A Hackney workshop stitched 650 panels for the BBC’s stunning tournament trailer. Now London is hooked on embroidery.
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Barbara Chandler28 June 2018

A workshop in Hackney scored a goal for British design and craft when it embroidered 650 panels in three weeks for the BBC’s trailer for the World Cup, inspired by Russian art.

Completing this tapestry tour de force was the London Embroidery Studio, set up in 2007 by RCA graduate Andy Kenny, whose couture clients include Louis Vuitton and Victoria Beckham.

The studio uses a flatbed digital machine, custom-built in Japan and installed by crane into its premises near Broadway Market. The trailer’s director of animation was Nicos Livesey of production company Blinkink, with Alex Halley as producer.

“We worked 23 hours a day in two shifts,” says Kenny, who recruited 14 extra embroiderers, mainly from the London College of Fashion, dragooned by senior embroidery designer Lucie McKenna, one of a resident team of three.

Viking celebration: the tapestry commemorates Iceland's first ever World Cup qualification
blinkink.co.uk

“We were playing a sort of Bayeux football.” And this feat does indeed make you think of that tapestry depiction of the Battle of Hastings in 1066.

TV’s stitch-up of the World Cup starts with Maradona’s infamous “Hand of God” goal against England in 1986, and ends with a dramatic clash between Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo.

In between comes a barrage of iconic moments — the England win; Gazza’s tears; Cameroonian Roger Milla’s celebratory dances; Frank Lampard’s devastating disallowed goal in 2010; Gotze’s 2014 winning goal, and Vikings celebrating Iceland’s first ever World Cup qualification.

See it on bbc.co.uk with sections of the tapestry itself on view at the National Museum of Football in Manchester.

The machine did the heavy stuff. But first the artwork for every panel was programmed into stitch, then came hours of screen work by computer-savvy embroiderers, followed by laborious cutting of threads to finish off, and adding details by hand.

“It took me five days to get Gary Lineker right,” says Kenny. The finished panels then went back to the animators to be painstakingly photographed for the final film.

TAPESTRY GETS GEOPOLITICAL

In Walthamstow 16 women artists from the UK, US, Japan, Norway, Canada and New Zealand have used traditional slow-woven tapestries to explore modern life, from natural disasters, pollution and war to nature and country life.

Weaving New Worlds, a free exhibition at the William Morris Gallery, includes a double portrait of Kim Jong-un by Londoner Pat Taylor.

Morris himself loved to design and weave tapestries. Copies of some woven by the Victorian designer in France are sold by long-established firm Hines of Oxford, in widths up to around three metres, while his works are put on to wallpapers and fabrics at Morris & Co from Style Library.

Tapestry and stitch have long been a mirror of contemporary events, says expert Polly Leonard, editor of London’s Selvedge Magazine.

“The World Cup is a perfect example.” Also stitched were the banners that up to 30,000 women carried nationwide on recent marches for the 100th anniversary of women getting the vote. “Tapestry and embroidery connect us to the handmade, adding handle and texture for a satisfying experience where you can work at your own pace.”

Lora Avedian, a recent graduate of the RCA, stitched a large wall hanging at Howe in Pimlico Road for London Craft Week. “Textiles are emotive,” she says. “You feel their weight, texture and colour.”

Embroiderer Jacky Puzey of Bristol is working on tapestries of Saxon kings for All Saints Church in Kingston. She has a large digital machine and is currently stitching paper — “my modern Chinoiserie” — for dramatic wallcoverings.

“I’m inspired by diverse cultures and changing urban environments,” she says. The koi carp in her latest work are protective symbols in Japan.

Carnations and Tulips: Embroidered flowers by RCA graduate Lora Avedian

Stitched paper is a traditional art in China, perfected by London’s Fromental silk wallpapers company for delicate, modern florals and traditional Chinoiserie.

In Margate, Tracy Kendall hand-stitches calligraphy and trimmings on to wallpaper, while Chiswick’s Ekta Kaul uses hand and machine to turn stitch into commissioned “story maps” personalised for emotive wall art, quilts and more.

WHERE TO FIND STITCHING WORKSHOPS IN LONDON

London stitching workshops reflect the demand for those wanting to learn the craft.

Where to start: sign up for a workshop at Ekta Kaul textile design studio, Cockpit Arts Holborn

Check out classes at the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace. Current show is Animals in Embroidery — 80 of them, handmade. Pre-booking is essential.

Selvedge Magazine has an ambitious workshop programme headed up by leading artists. An exotic venue this summer is Château Dumas, near Toulouse in France.

A new outfit in Hackney, The London Loom teaches “free-style” weaving.

Try the London Embroidery Studio or Kew Studio for courses. In central London, learn with the celebrated Hand & Lock or at London Embroidery School.