Leonie wins Emerging Weaver of the Year Award 2025

West Midlands weaver Leonie Edmead has won the 2025 Emerging Weaver of the Year Award, supported by Rose Uniacke, including a £1,000 prize awarded at a special presentation at Wentworth Woodhouse on Monday 17 November 2025.

The award, now in its third year, celebrates an emerging weaver 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.

Leonie Edmead’s practice is uniquely focused on exploring Caribbean identity and history, blending traditional techniques with contemporary influences. She is now based at Cockpit Studios in London, creating textiles that tell underrepresented cultural narratives through vivid colour and pattern and has been recognised with the Worshipful Company of Weavers Scholarship and Clothworker’s Award.

The two other finalists for the award were Caitlin Binks, a highly-accomplished weaver and educator at the National Trust’s Quarry Bank Mill whose passion for her craft has is demonstrated through her popular TikTok tutorials and her research into historical weaving, and Kitty Wilson Brown. who co-founded Contemporary Hempery, pioneering the revival of homegrown hemp for textiles, growing her own flax and natural dyes at an agroforestry farm.

Rose Uniacke has long been committed to championing traditional skills and craftspeople. Over the years, she has nurtured relationships with an exceptional group of highly skilled artisans and craftspeople who have the experience, virtuosity and sensitivity to interpret her designs. Since 2021 Uniacke has been supporting Heritage Crafts through donating profits of her Remnant Weave range, created from Rose Uniacke fabric remnants.

Photo: Leonie Edmead, winner of the 2025 Emerging Weaver of the Year Award, and Chloe Shinnie, Fabric & Editions Development Designer at Rose Uniacke. Photo by Robert Wade.