The Big Interview
From university to the silver screen
Since graduating from University of the Arts London nearly a decade ago, Twan Lentjes has worked in everything from theatre to film. Having completed work for Royal Opera House, Netflix, Walt Disney Studios, and Universal Pictures, P&P assistant editor Cameron Beech spoke with Twan to find out more.
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pon returning to university to study costume interpretation in 2016 at the Wimbledon College of Arts, Dutch digital embroiderer and costume maker, Twan Lentjes, has made magnificent waves in the film and theatre industries with his spell-bindingly ornate embroidery. With a portfolio boasting the likes of Disney’s The Little Mermaid, Universal Pictures’ Wicked, and Netflix’s Queen Charlotte, Twan’s journey in crafting transcendental works of embroidered art has become a series of consecutive success stories. But what was the first success story?
The seminal habit à la Française
Twan’s time at university acted as a key pillar in his career, undertaking various projects which would set him upon a very fortunate path. However, it was his recreation of the habit à la Française, which proved to be his seminal work. The garment had been recreated for a project on Real Lives, with students being tasked with creating something based off a real-life garment or person. When asked why the habit stood out, Twan explained: “Just before starting university, I had gone to the V&A, where they had opened a new section. There was a suit there called the habit à la Française, which is a fully embroidered trench suit in the French style and I was wowed.
“Ever since, that stuck with me and when it came to third year, where we had to decide what to do our final project on, I knew I needed to make something like that, that is my dream.” It was a dream which led Twan down a life-changing rabbit hole, where he
| 34 | November 2024
Twan Lentjes, digital embroiderer and costume maker
would come across a certain habit for an Otto Baron van Randwijck. Twan explained: “I was researching 18th century wear for third year, and at one point, I came upon a picture in The Kunstmuseum Den Haag in The Netherlands. I emailed the museum because I could not find a high-resolution image, but it said it was worn by a Dutch person, so I thought why shouldn’t I remake that one? It makes it more interesting; it's closer to home.
“It turned out this person was the stablemaster of Willem V, and Otto Baron van Randwijck. Otto became the mayor of the town where I was born. I thought that was quite crazy, so that’s why that was another reason for me to specifically choose this blue suit to recreate.”
Wilcom and MGC Futures Another reason for the habit’s influence on Twan’s career was
because of its leading to Twan’s integral relationship with embroidery software, Wilcom. Twan admitted: “We didn’t have embroidery facilities at my university, I could embroider by hand, but that would take me years. “Between my third and final year, I researched and found digital embroidery to be a thing. I trialled the software for 30 days to try it out. “I emailed Wilcom, because they have an educational page, and they were really kind to offer me the chance to use their software for three months, until I had completed all of my embroidery.”
Twan continued to explain:
“Christopher Oram, a costume and set designer I followed on Instagram, told me to apply for the bursary, which is from his husband’s company, Michael Grandage Futures (MGC Futures). You can apply for a bursary in different fields for theatre, and this was the first year they did the bursary for Stephanie Arditti. She sadly passed away from cancer the year before; she was a huge supervisor within the theatre industry. I applied to that thinking it’s not really for students, but then I got the bursary to buy the actual software. That’s why, after university, I was able to still offer embroidery services even though I didn’t have a machine.” With the funding MGC Futures provided, Twan’s scope for opportunity was forever changed, and with the connections fostered throughout his time at university, he earned work on one very special production.
Part of a new world
After initially being hired on The Little Mermaid as a costume maker in Alessio O’Driscoll’s team, the tides slowly began to turn once Twan’s
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