Beth wins inaugural Heritage Crafts Young Embroiderer of the Year Award
2nd December 2024 | ANNOUNCEMENTS | OUR STORIES
Gloucestershire embroiderer Beth Somerville has won the inaugural Young Embroiderer of the Year Award, supported by the Worshipful Company of Broderers, including a £1,000 prize awarded at a special presentation at Eltham Palace on Tuesday 26 November 2024.
The inaugural award celebrates a young embroiderer who has made an outstanding start to their craft career. The winner is highly skilled amongst their peers, whilst raising the perceived value of their craft through sharing and awareness raising. They have given themselves a fantastic chance of achieving long-term success, perhaps overcoming disadvantage or setbacks along the way.
Beth Somerville started a degree in plant science at Manchester University, before diverting to pursue a career as a textile designer at Falmouth University. In 2023 she was awarded the New Designer of the Year after exhibiting at New Designers, and invited to show her work at the Knitting and Stitching Show. Since graduating, Beth has completed the Chanel and King’s Foundation Metiers d’Art Fellowship.
The two other finalists for the award were Imogen Marmont, who combines traditional skills with organic materials to create exquisite designs, and in 2023 received an award for stitch innovation sponsored by the Worshipful Company of Needle Makers, and Rosie Merriman, who strives to make impactful, unconventional textile pieces, and who received the Principal’s Award for Studentship during her degree in Textile Design, and has since studied in Paris. Both Imogen and Rosie have also completed their Chanel and King’s Foundation Metiers d’Art Fellowships.
Among the award judges was goldwork embroiderer Hanny Newton, recent recipient of the inaugural Queen Elizabeth Scholarship Trust Sanderson Rising Star Craft Award.
The Worshipful Company of Broderers is an ancient company with a busy programme blending a keen interest in the art of embroidery with an ethos of friendship, charity support and fun.
Photo: Beth Somerville, winner of the 2024 Young Embroiderer of the Year Award, and Hanny Newton, goldwork embroiderer and award judge. Photo by Robert Wade.