Graduate’s (New) Cross Stitch sculpture unveiled

A Goldsmiths, University of London graduate’s large-scale sculpture of a sewing needle and thread, designed to mark the New Cross area’s history as a centre for haberdashery, has been unveiled at a new local housing development.

In 2014 MA Arts Administration and Cultural Policy student Jonathan Newey, who also has a BA from the University of Westminster, applied under an open bid to create a public artwork commemorating the area’s history.

In partnership with Goldsmiths and Arts Council England, the competition for Goldsmiths students was commissioned by One Housing for their 114-home development Batavia Road, close to the university’s campus.

Jonathan’s £38,000 design consists of a giant needle and thread ‘sewing’ a wall – a universal symbol for creativity and mending that also represents the sewing together of a diverse community and the creative future of the area.

He comments: “This has been an incredible artistic opportunity. New Cross is such a rich and diverse area, it was fascinating finding common ground through a shared history and narratives, to find universal symbols that evoke a sense of mending, welfare and its creative future."

New Cross was previously known as “Hatcham” and used to be the centre for haberdashery tradesmen. The area was widely known for the Haberdasher’s Livery, which was intrinsic in the development of the area both economically and with the building of public schools that still remain today.

The artwork was unveiled at a November ceremony attended by the Mayor of Lewisham Sir Steve Bullock.

Find out more about the Institute for Creative and Cultural Entrepreneurship (ICCE) and our MA Arts Administration and Cultural Policy.