insideKENT Magazine Issue 84 - March 2019 | Page 129

IN ASSOCIATION WITH
EDUCATION
STUDENT HAS HER FUTURE ALL SEWN UP
A WEST KENT COLLEGE STUDENT IS SET TO MAKE A SEAMLESS TRANSITION INTO
UNDERGRADUATE STUDY, AFTER BEING OFFERED A COVETED DEGREE PLACE AT THE
RENOWNED ROYAL SCHOOL OF NEEDLEWORK (RSN) AT HAMPTON COURT PALACE.
Eliza Gomersall , currently studying the
Foundation Diploma in Art & Design, received a
conditional offer for the RSN’s BA (Hons) Hand
Embroidery for Fashion, Interiors, Textile Art – a
world-renowned course – and the only full-time
specialist degree in Hand Embroidery in Europe. Eliza attributes her chosen creative direction to
her Nan: “She was a keen embroiderer and my
inspiration, really. She taught me a lot and it’s her
influence that first sparked my enthusiasm for it. She
was really proud when she heard about my offer
from the RSN.
She says: “It’s a very prestigious course which only
accepts 22 students in the first year, so I was shocked
when I received the conditional offer at interview.” “I really started to get interested in embroidery
around the time of my GCSEs. I just wanted to learn
a skill for life, and a skill that is getting rarer these
days, so embroiderers are very much in-demand
and the job opportunities are good.”
Eliza’s work consists of intricate machine-embroidery
and watercolour narrative scenes on fabric.
She says: “I chose to study the Foundation Diploma
course as I’d studied photography, fashion and art
A-Levels and wanted a course that gave me the
freedom to experiment with different mediums,
helped me to loosen my approach and develop my
own style. It’s encouraged me to work quicker without
restrictions and ultimately increase my work rate to
that expected at degree level.”
She continues: “The RSN degree incorporates live
projects for prominent fashion houses, which are a
great springboard to working freelance for Alexander
McQueen, Ralph & Russo and others, which I hope
to do when I graduate. I also want to do some
volunteering work at schools to bring embroidery
back into the picture and ensure it doesn’t become
a dying art.”
Since its establishment in 1872, The Royal School
of Needlework has taken on bespoke embroidery
commissions for many important events. These have
included producing the velvet cushions on which
the royal crowns were carried into Westminster
Abbey for the coronation of King George VI, creating
gold embroidery for the coronation robes of Queen
Elizabeth II and, most recently, hand appliquéing
machine-made floral lace motifs onto silk net for the
wedding dress of Kate Middleton, now HRH The
Duchess of Cambridge.
The Foundation Diploma in Art & Design at West
Kent College is the ideal entry route to a university
programme in an art and design subject. An intensive
one-year course, it prepares students for study at
higher education in a very broad range of art and
design specialisms.
www.westkent.ac.uk
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