Jewellery and textile designer Hyo-Kyeong Ma, who is currently an MA student in Luxury Brand Management at ICCE, narrowly missed out on the first prize in the Student Textile Art Category at this year’s Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery.

Hyo-Kyeong graduated with a first in Textile Design from Chelsea College of Arts in 2018. She was shortlisted from several hundred submissions globally, and the judges were particularly impressed with her tongue-in-cheek approach to artisan craft, her fine workmanship and her unique vision. This is no surprise, given that Hyo was raised in the Far East and has spent half a decade in London, where she has refined her ability to catch the eye of easterners and westerners alike.

Hyo-Kyeong Ma with her uniquely detailed creations. Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery 2018

Hyo-Kyeong Ma’s unique tongue-in-cheek approach to artisan craft saw her being shortlisted from several hundreds of global submissions. Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery, 2018

For Hand & Lock, she used traditional hand-embroidery to recreate iconic, emoji-inspired images akin to those found on common social networks, suggesting that this modern trend resurrects ancient communicative forms which date back centuries, even as far back as Egyptian hieroglyphics. Her audience found these witty creations, such as Uber Sublime and Snapchat Dream, convincing images that turned upside down the notion that modern humanity is any different to its predecessors – rather, Hyo suggests that we are the same as we ever were. Her work rests on years honing her craft.

Before graduating from Chelsea, she gained a Distinction on a Foundation Diploma in Art & Design from Central Saint Martins, where she specialised in jewellery design.

Later, she developed techniques in historical crafts such as Jacobean crewelwork, silk shading, canvas shading, stumpwork, goldwork and applique at the Royal School of Needlework at Hampton Court Palace.

More recently, she joined the team at Ralph & Russo, spending hundreds of hours refining her embroidery, collaborating on some of the design house’s most breathtaking creations.

After graduating from her MA Luxury Brand Management course at Goldsmiths, Hyo-Kyeong is seeking to continue this drive for creating uniquely detailed creations, always throwing herself into the creation of breathtaking, one-of-a-kind pieces.

In the pipeline is the launch of a bespoke bag brand in London, where the notion is that the maker sells the story of the protagonist – you.

Check out Hyo’s collection at: www.hyokyeongma.com