Lemon Pepper Studio is in Wiltshire where embroidery artist Pippa Haynes creates pieces inspired by nature, flowers and mushrooms. Born from a love of nature and inspired by a three month working holiday on a farm in California. Lemon Pepper Studio evolved to create artistic representations of the small, everyday micro-habitats that surround us.

How did you get into embroidery?

I first got into embroidery after a gap in my freelance work as a Set Designer. I needed something to keep my hands busy and have always loved making and creating things, I had just never thought of embroidery as something I would be able to do. From there I completely fell in love with it and have rarely been seen without a needle and thread since! I am completely self-taught and I think my style has evolved because of that into an amalgamation of many different techniques.

Do you have a background in design?

Yes, I first did an art foundation at Brighton City College and then went on to do a BA in Performance Design. After university I moved to London to pursue a career in Set Design, building big window displays for Hermes, Harrods and Topshop. I also worked as a florist for a while too!

What are some of your favourite stitches?

You can’t beat the look of a Bullion knot but I definitely have a love hate relationship with them.

Are there any stitches you’re keen on learning?

I use a range of different stitches in my work but I would say that I would love to learn more about beading techniques. There’s something I find so aesthetically pleasing about heavy beading combined with embroidery, I think it can look really sumptuous.

Where do you get your materials and threads from?

I buy most of my materials from my local haberdashers but am always on the look out for anything that catches the eye. I’m very drawn to rich dark colours a lot of the time. For threads I tend to use either DMC or Anchor, I really love the tonal qualities of Anchor thread.

How do you start a new piece of work, what’s your design process?

I get a lot of inspiration from nature and the natural world and love exploring when I take my miniature dachshund, Olive, on walks. Since moving out of London I have seen a lot more of my work become influenced by my surroundings and the countryside where I’m now based. Usually when I get an idea I will work it over in my head for a while, I often find it helpful to look at materials and fabrics at this point to see if anything jumps out at me. Once I feel I have worked the idea through, usually after a couple of days, I begin to sketch out some of the ideas so I have a reference to work from. Then it’s about creating a pattern and getting down to the actual embroidery!

Are you overwhelmed with designs and ideas or does it take time to find new embroideries to stitch?

I’m terrible at sticking to one thing at a time when it comes to embroidery work, usually I have two or three pieces on the go at once. It seems that as soon as I begin one it gets the creative juices flowing and I end up having loads of ideas. There are definitely times when I have less or no new ideas but I think it’s really important to use those moments to let your brain rest and reset as the creative process can be draining. More often than not I find that worrying less about feeling stuck allows ideas to form much more naturally. Ultimately though I love embroidery and the craft of it so I usually can’t wait to get started on something new.

Do you embroider for fun or is it a full time job?

Currently I still work freelance in set design and scenic painting so embroidery is still a part-time job for me. The Set Design work I do is mainly for shop windows and installations so it is on a much bigger scale than embroidery! My dream is to establish my studio as an artistic practice and sell my embroideries for a living.

How do you find using Instagram? Do you ever worry your work will be copied? 

I’m pretty certain I wouldn’t be where I was today if it wasn’t for Instagram so I am definitely a fan of it. It is also really boosting to have a whole wonderful embroidery community literally at your fingertip, where you can get advice, opinions and forge friendships with some really great people, because of that I feel very spoiled! However, it is sometimes hard to know where to draw the line, especially when it comes to content sharing and image rights. Instagram is a platform based entirely off the sharing of images so it’s a big thing and sometimes scary to think that something you’ve worked really hard to create can be used without your knowledge. I do think that despite this it is very hard to copy someone’s craft entirely as it is a culmination of their passion, time and personal creativity which is a completely individual thing.

Do you ever feel nervous or anxious your followers won’t like your work?

I think a lot of the work I do is quite individual so there will obviously be people who like it and others who don’t so much but that’s ok, and that’s the beauty of Instagram as a tool to curate your own online community.

Do you ever feel pressured to post images that you know will get lots of likes instead of simply posting what you like?

It’s not necessarily so much the pressure of worrying about whether the image itself is good enough but more that I don’t provide enough content sometimes! I will often have multiple projects on at once so can skip between both but I sometimes have to stop myself from rushing a piece just so I can put it on my account.

What do you love about embroidery?

I love the slow nature of it, although sometimes this can nearly drive me insane. It is a very considered and slow craft which I find can give real depth to finished artworks, you know that every stitch has been placed by hand and every colour chosen individually. I think what really made me fall in love with it though was the diversity that is possible within it. It can be painterly, realistic, artistic, graphic or sculptural. Whilst being a traditional craft it is not limited to just that, it’s just exciting exploring its possibilities.

Follow Pippa here.