Deborah Wilding, current MPhil candidate
Embroiderer
QEST Scholar
Silk, cotton, wool threads featuring natural dyes, on cloth
Deborah trained at the Royal School of Needlework (RSN) from 2010, graduating from the Future Tutor Programme with a Distinction in 2015. She was awarded the RSN Teaching Award in 2013 and the Elizabeth Elvin Goldwork Award in 2015. She is trained in historically accurate, hand embroidery techniques, including goldwork, silk shading, whitework, canvas techniques, stumpwork, appliqué, blackwork, and crewelwork, among others. Her experience includes working on large studio projects and on small-scale items for customers. She spent most of the latter part of 2022 and the early part of 2023 working with a small group of embroiderers from the RSN on various projects for the Coronation of HM King Charles III. She has also completed work for Fortnum and Mason and various projects with the RSN for HM Queen Elizabeth II and Prince George, numerous churches and chapels across the UK, fashion and couture designs, Game of Thrones and her work has been featured in the Times and the Guardian. She teaches independently and as a representative of the RSN in the UK, USA and Australia.
Her interest in geometry and its potential in relation to embroidery design brought her to the School of Traditional Arts. Her research focuses on design in contemporary embroidery which she feels has something to gain from a look back at design in past eras when embroidery reached a level of excellence no longer seen today. She aims to reintegrate knowledge from the past into contemporary embroidery, both through pedagogy and outcomes.