Every year, Hand & Lock organizes a competition for the prestigious Prize for Embroidery to promote the use of hand embroidery and to discover emerging embroidery talent. This year, sponsors added Textile Art categories to the traditional Fashion categories. The 2016 brief challenges participants to create quality design that consumers will cherish for years and that will stand the test of time.
On Thursday, November 3rd, London’s Bishopsgate Institute hosted the final of the 2016 Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery.
Today we’ll meet the first-prize winner in the Fashion Student Category.
Name: Jin Kim
Location: Currently stay in Seoul, South Korea
School: 2016 Graduate of London College of Fashion
Describe your Hand & Lock entry:
Pictures are only left a clear evidence of the past, but memory is not. It also blurred and distorted as time goes on. This collection investigates the nature of memory and how it can be destroyed in time. Layering emotion expressed contrasting colour with labour-intensive manufacturing. The ethos
of this collection supports handmade, sustainable, because the manufacturing technique uses specific textile design processes, which involves layering and using several contrasting fabrics and embellishments. The dress involves handcrafted processes and buttons with dyeing techniques, the use of fringe threads, Irish and hand embroidery etc.


What made you want to enter this competition?
The ethos of this collection supports handmade, sustainable, because the manufacturing technique uses specific textile design processes, which involves layering and using several contrasting fabrics and embellishments. The dress involves handcrafted processes and buttons with dyeing techniques, the use of fringe threads, lrish and hand embroidery etc.
What motivated your choice for your entry?
Melancholy might be expressed another beauty through the visual image. The beginning of this collection was the death of the muse who was my best friend. Accordingly, it became a significant story based on the past memories. The theme of ‘Memorial’ based on the ‘Memories’ of the muse is also relevant.

Who was your mentor, and how did s/he help with your project?
LCF tutors taught how technique applied for making textile samples.
Are there any secrets you can now reveal about your entry?
For example, if we cook with a happy mind, the food is delicious. I think, the embroidery is the same. Because it is a time-consuming task. If I make tiny stitch with an enjoy mind, I believe, it conveys that emotion to people who look at it and people who wear it. I made this dress with this mind. So, I want to say this is the secret of my dress.

When and how did you learn embroidery?
I graduated from LCF for fashion textiles in 2016 and had studied for four years. Basic embroidery skills are taught in class. It depends on how it is applied in a designer’s own way for development. For me, the most attractive thing in embroidery is three-dimensional texture. It is beautifully expressed with colour combinations. So, I learned colour sense through sketching in several times, also lots of embroidery samplings were developed while experimenting.
What was your first embroidery project?
As you can see this image (below), when I tried to apply for LCF interview 5 years ago.

What made you want to pursue embroidery and textiles in school?
As artwork becomes more valuable over time. Since the collector buys value not only a product. This slow fashion (Anti-Fast) fashion manifesto encourages customers to buy less, choose well and to keep such carefully chosen objects and garments. Also I aim to make purchasing decisions based on quality rather than quantity.
To date, what’s been your favorite class?
I liked design class with tutor for communication and discussion when I was in Uni. It has to get me feedback with asking and answering for the reason about the concept. This is to encourage my idea and further more developed idea. Technical things learn from anywhere, but emotional things are different. So, I was able to work more confidently. Those things will be positive effect for further work.

What are you working on now?
I am preparing for launching my brand base on textile with embroidery for fashion accessory. So I have been repeating researching, creating and making samples, products also in terms of business aspect.
Describe your dream career. Where do you hope to be five years from now?
I want to make elaborate handiwork and design objects. And I hope it could give to people an unforgettable impression. We can meet in
London fashion week.
What projects are on the horizon for you?
I am preparing to exhibit 2017 Fashion Accessory Fair in Tokyo for this summer.
Where else can we see your work?
You can see and check my previous work in Instagram (@origeann) and my website is coming soon as well.

Rapid-fire Round: (Don’t think too hard about these.)
What stitchable motif would you choose to represent you and your life? Personality flowing out of my mind
Name something edible you can stitch. Sweet and salt
Favorite material to work with: Jewel-tone threads
If your embroidery were cataloged with books, what genre would it be (romance, mystery, horror, history, psychology, something else)? Fantasy
You’re having a solo show. What is the title of the show? I would be with you

Guests are coming to dinner. You’re cooking. What do you serve? Dessert with coffee for good endingJ
Name a book you’ve enjoyed recently: TheTtraveler’s Gift, by Andy Andrews
Describe your dream commission. What and for whom is it? I think more importantly psychologically I feel like they (people who get my design things) are getting better everyday to wear my garment and to see my design object. That is the sense of accomplishment for the goal.
If you could embroider with just one color thread for the rest of your life, what would it be? Rainbow
You’re making a garment for an animal. What is the animal and what is the garment? My mother feed a cow at home when she was a child for a long time. Both were cried when the cow left to other city for some reason. I liked their story so I am like to make garment for them.
