Our story

Handcrafted to be kept.
Taught to be passed on.

Anything can be made in a second now — a picture, a paragraph, a parcel by morning — and we notice what we hold on to: the things that took time, made with care, or made ourselves. Royal Chou is built on that belief. The human touch is something you can hold, and something you can learn.

  • 2,000 yearsSuzhou silk embroidery
  • Royal School of NeedleworkEndorsed kits
  • British LibraryStocks our Shakespeare scarf
  • Nearly 3,000People taught
Silk-shaded peony, hand-embroidered in split silk thread
Silk shading — one strand of silk, split finer than a hair

I · The craft

No wrong side

We work in Suzhou silk embroidery, a craft passed hand to hand for two thousand years. Silk split into strands finer than a hair, blended like brushstrokes, until a piece is finished so completely it has no wrong side. Hold one and you know: the time is visible, the care in it.

The Shakespeare silk scarf: a portrait of Shakespeare hand-embroidered in gold thread inside a cloud roundel
The Shakespeare scarf — hand-embroidered in gold thread

II · Stories in silk

A keepsake in silk

We stitch that craft into stories you love — Shakespeare, Homer, Austen — from collections like the British Library's, which stocks our Shakespeare scarf. A hand-embroidered motif carrying a story across generations: a keepsake in silk, to hold and to give. We call it a keepsilk.

Teaching the first stitches at a Royal Chou workshop in London
Our recent stitches workshop, London

III · The stitch itself, taught

We remember what our hands make

We remember what our hands make long after we forget what we read — psychologists have known this for forty years — so we teach the stitch itself. Our kits are endorsed by the Royal School of Needlework, established 153 years ago; our embroiderers have taught nearly three thousand people; our workshops run from a London studio to the British Library, on a frame we designed so that what you stitch is what you live with.

Royal Chou with the Royal School of Needlework
With the Royal School of Needlework

Everyone talks about the human touch.
We put it in your hands.

Royal Chou

IV · Two women, one name

Two women who share a name began this, in Suzhou and London — Zhou; Chou, in the old spelling, the sound of the Chinese word for silk. Every piece we embroider is 100% silk, a natural fabric that lasts for generations and, at the end, returns to the earth.

This stitch has travelled two thousand years to reach us. Our plan is simple: the next two thousand.

Self Portrait — a digital artwork embroidered by hand in silk, mixing old techniques and new
Self Portrait — a digital artwork, embroidered by hand. Old techniques, new ones, and what comes next.
See the pieces Learn the stitch

Visit & Connect

Email: info@Royalchou.com

Address: Westmont Enterprise Hub, UWL, St Mary's Rd, London, W5 5RF

Instagram: @royalchoustudio