In their central London atelier the company serves the embroidery and embellishment needs of Royal Family, top European design houses, the Royal Armed Forces, Savile Row and members of the public. The company offer a range of services from hand monograms and bridal customisation to goldwork blazer badges to machine embroidered logos.

H&L offer all their clients our expert embroidery knowledge whether the job is a single small item or a large scale order. Since 2001 the house have promoted a programme of embroidery education and encouragement by creating the annual ‘Hand & Lock Prize for Embroidery’ and establishing the ‘Hand & Lock School for Embroidery’.

The company can trace it’s history back to when a young Huguenot refugee from France named M. Hand came to London in 1767 and began manufacturing and selling lace to military tailors.

Later he incorporated the design and manufacture of military badges and uniform accoutrements. Officer’s dress uniforms were and still are highly specialised and require very specific embellishments. M. Hand became a trusted name used by Savile Row and Military tailors for over 200 years.

In the 1950s Stanley Lock was a talented embroidery designer at specialist embroidery house CE Phipps & Co. Upon the owner’s retirement in the late 1950s, Stanley Lock bought the company and renamed it S. Lock & Co took. The newly formed couture house worked with couturiers such as Christian Dior, Norman Hartnell and Hardy Amies on gowns for the Queen, Queen Mother and later Princess Diana and was subsequently awarded the Royal Warrant.

In recent years clients requiring embroidery services have grown to include international fashion houses, emerging designers, interior designers, the Royal Forces, the Royal Family, PR companies and costume designers for theatre, film, and television. Hand & Lock pride themselves on the fact that the design methods and embroidery techniques have changed very little since 1767.

Now, Hand & Lock are no longer just craftsmen and women but also teachers and promoters of the fine art of embroidery. With a long heritage to protect and timeless craft to preserve the team now operate classes around the world teaching the traditional skills of embroidery and banging the drum for quality British craftsmanship.