Today I received a wonderful letter from Susan North, V&A Curator of Fashion before 1800, confirming my coif has been assigned the accession number T.93-2024.
I’m beyond happy to know that the coif is now formally part of a Permanent Collection the Victoria & Albert Museum, London.
Not only was William Morris a founder of the Arts and Crafts Movement, but he was also President of the Arts and Crafts Exhibition Society (now known as the Society of Designer Craftsmen) from 1891-1893.
“All of our makers are designers and craftsmen and are selected for their strong and innovative design sense with the skills, craftsmanship and sensitivity to materials to make the objects they design. As the oldest multi-disciplinary Society in the UK we are proud to have as members some of the finest, most exciting and respected designer makers of today and since our founding in 1887.”
SDC – Profile
“Being a member of the Society gives our members professional recognition at all stages of their careers and provides a valuable network amongst its 350 members and through its many links with other creative organisations. We have three levels of membership that recognise the different stages our members have reached in their design practice, these are Licentiate (LSDC), Member (MSDC), Fellow (FSDC).” ~ SDC.
This is the next step in my creative journey and I’m looking forward to working within this well established society of designers and makers.
I’m also a member of the prestigious group Prism Textiles.
I’m pleased to announce that my hand stitched coif – created for The Unstitched Coif project – is now part of the Victoria and Albert Museum Collections. So far 78 of the coifs have been documented and images will follow later in 2025.
Catherine Hill Coif – Victoria and Albert Museum Collections
The project is a collaboration between the V&A and curator Toni Buckby a PhD student.
Unstitched Coif Project
The project is based on an original 17th century coif in the V&A archives in London. This coif was partially stitched and then unpicked, but the pattern is still clearly visible consisting of hand drawn flowers and whimsical bugs.
Around 130 needleworkers from across the world took part in the project.
To see more about the story behind this artwork, please followthis link.
