Claire de Waard is a hand embroidery artist and maker based in London, UK. Specialising in straw work, her practice is a fusion of passed-on embroidery techniques reframed through the medium of wheat and rye straw, with inspiration taken from basketry and marquetry. The raw material and its tactile texture aims to draw attention to its modest origin and domestic essence.

Rooted in her multicultural background spanning Brazil, the Netherlands and France, Claire's work delves into the cultural significance of wheat as a symbol of human sedentism juxtaposed against historic patterns of migration. Her aesthetic narrative is deeply intertwined with domestic practical crafts transcending temporal and geographic boundaries, offering a contemplative exploration of themes such as home, belonging, and cultural identity and transmission.

Claire’s training at the Royal School of Needlework, London (2017) allowed her to gain in-depth knowledge and skill into hand embroidery while allowing her to explore unconventional materials. She was since commissioned to create embroidered life-size bees for the World Health Organization pavilion at COP27 in Egypt (2022), subsequently featuring in the Land Body Ecologies festival at the Wellcome Collection, London, UK (2023). Her work focusing on familial, female related cooking pots was exhibited at the embroidery exhibition Bound, in London, UK (2025). Claire has also enjoyed teaching for TextileArtist.org (2022), Hand & Lock, London, UK (2024), and the Royal School of Needlework, London, UK (2022 - 2025).