Hand & Lock, the world’s leading specialist embroidery house, can trace its history back to 1767, when a young Huguenot refugee from France, named M. Hand, arrived in London and began manufacturing and selling lace to military tailors. In the 1950s Stanley Lock was a talented embroidery designer who bought the company and renamed it upon the owner’s retirement in 1956. Today, they offer a wide range of services from hand monograms and bridal customisation, to goldwork blazer badge and machine embroidered logos.

The company, whose atelier is based in central London, has the Royal Family, many top international design and fashion houses, the Royal Forces, Savile Row and costume designers for theatre, film and television among its clients.To enhance and hand down their expert embroidery knowledge, the company since 2001 has promoted a programme of embroidery education and encouragement by establishing the Hand & Lock School for Embroidery and creating the annual Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery, which celebrates emerging embroidery talent from all over the world.