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Deirdre Hawken FSDC

Stitched & Constructed Textiles

About Deirdre
Deirdre is a designer who creates couture headpieces in her London studio. Her work is often inspired by food and nature. She combines traditional and contemporary techniques to produce her one off pieces.
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Biography Back to top

Deirdre Hawken is a designer specialising in couture one off headpieces with many commissions for theatre, television, film and retail and private clients.

She trained in Theatre Design at Central/St. Martins. She has exhibited and sold her work widely within the UK and internationally, including the Victoria and Albert Museum London, the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum New York, and the Crafts Council Gallery London.

Her work is in the public collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, the Kyoto Costume Institute, Kyoto, Japan, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA, and the Hat Museum, UK, and the Costume Museum, Bath, UK.

She is a Fellow of the Society of Designer Craftsmen and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 1999 she was awarded a Queen Elizabeth Scholarship (QEST) to study couture millinery.

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Education

  • I963/4 Central School of Speech and Drama, London
  • 1964/7 Central School of Art and Design, London. Diploma in Theatre Design (now Central St Martins)

Awards

1999 Queen Elizabeth Scholar (QEST)

2021 Michelangelo Foundation , elected as a Master Artisan

Professional Memberships

  • 1997 Fellow of the Society of Designer Craftsmen
  • 1998 Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
  • 1999 Elected to the Crafts Council Photostore of Selected Makers

Work in Public Collections

  • Victoria and Albert Museum, London
  • Metropolitan Museum of Art, Costume Institute, New York
  • Kyoto Institute of Costume, Tokyo
  • Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield
  • Museum of Costume, Bath
  • Philadelphia Museum of Art, USA
  • Hat museum, Stockport

Solo Exhibitions showing Millinery

  • 1986 Greenwich Theatre Gallery, London
  • 1992 Embroiderers’ Guild, London
  • 1992 Wrexham Arts Centre, Wales
  • 1995 Rye Art Gallery, Sussex
  • 1999 Atrium Gallery, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, London
  • 2004 Hat Museum, Stockport
  • 2010 Solo artist at Knit and Stitch Show, London
  • 2011 Julie Artisans’ Gallery, New York
  • 2012 Whitchurch Silk Mill, Hampshire
  • 2012 Bluecoat Design Centre, Liverpool
  • 2013 Dazzle at Manchester Art Gallery
  • 2016 Villa Di Geggiano, London
  • 2016 Garrards (jewellers) London
  • 2017/2018 Paris House, Woburn Estate
  • 2018 Halcyon Days, London
  • 2020 London Craft Week, at Paxton and Whitfield

Selected Group Exhibitions

  • 1991 Facets Jewellery Gallery, Dartmouth, Devon
  • 1991 Brewery Arts Centre, Cirencester, Gloucestershire
  • 1991/2 Modelhouse, Llantrisant, Wales
  • 1991 Highland Printmakers, touring exhibition
  • 1992 Crafts Council, London, 'Crafts in Performance'
  • 1993 Ruthin Craft Centre, Wales
  • 1993/4 Oxford Gallery, Oxford
  • 1994 Leeds Design Gallery and Craft Centre, Leeds
  • 1995 Bluecoat Design Centre, Liverpool
  • 1995 Rye Art Gallery, Sussex
  • 1996 Portcullis Gallery, Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, included residency at the Metro Centre
  • 1996 Ruskin Gallery, Sheffield, touring exhibition
  • 1996 Handswerks Plege in Bayern, Munich, Germany
  • 1996 Pam Schomberg Gallery, Colchester, Essex
  • 1997 Schoolhouse Gallery, Westchester County, USA
  • 1997 Handwerkskammer, Dusseldorf, Germany
  • 1997 Rufford Craft Centre, Nottinghamshire
  • 1998/2013 Julie Artisan Gallery, New York, USA
  • 2000 Simmons Gallery, London
  • 2001 Chelsea Crafts Fair, London
  • 2002 Garden Museum, London
  • 2002 Mall Gallery, London
  • 2003 Copia Gallery, San Francisco, USA
  • 2004 National Theatre, London
  • 2005 Bilston Craft Gallery, Wolverhampton
  • 2003/2006 Fusion, touring exhibition, various venues
  • 2008 Society of Designer Craftsmen Gallery, London
  • 2009 Macclesfield Art Museum
  • 2009/2012 Victoria and Albert Museum, London, ‘Hats an Anthology‘. Also New York and Brisbane
  • 2009 QEST exhibition, London
  • 2010 Society of Designer Craftsmen, Mall Galleries, London
  • 2012 Fortnum and Mason, London
  • 2013 Coronation Festival, Buckingham Palace
  • 2013 Dazzle at Manchester City Art Gallery
  • 2014 Made London, London
  • 2014/16 Society of Designer Craftsmen, Mall Galleries, London
  • 2015 Jewellery for Saks 5th Avenue, New York
  • 2019/20 Headpiece included in ‘Camp’, Notes on Fashion, Costume Institute, Metropolitan Museum, New York, USA
  • 2021 Fashion and Nature at Galerie Handwerk, Munich
  • 2022 Artefact at Chelsea Harbour, London


Selected Exhibitions with ‘Dazzle’ jewellery group

  • 1986 City Arts Centre, Edinburgh
  • 1987/88 Royal Festival Hall, London
  • 1989 Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow
  • 1990/95 National Theatre, London
  • 1995 Royal Pavilion, Brighton
  • 2004 National Theatre, London [mask]
  • 2021 Dovecote Studios, Edinburgh

Recent Publications

  • 2018 A Celebration of British Craftsmanship
  • 2020 Hat Talk Magazine
  • 2020 Hat Magazine
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