Based in Hastings and St Leonards, Megan Neville is an artist and practitioner whose work explores her experience of living with Type One Diabetes. Combining her skills with colour and texture, Megan creates work about uneasy topics in her life and raises awareness of them. Trained at the Royal School of Needlework, Megan uses various hand embroidery techniques to produce visually explosive designs. Colour is an important factor in her work as she wants people who wear her products to feel unashamed about living with diabetes, but to celebrate the small wins and battles that those with the condition face. Through her work, Megan aims to bring the ‘mundane’ into a new light.

Inspired by her love for handbags, Megan produces beautiful handbags and other accessories for those with diabetes, breaking the assumption that supply cases and bags should be boring and clinical. Through her undergraduate study, she has built upon her lifelong passion for handbags and uses her embroidery to create delicate, but chaotic designs to catch the attention of others. Megan aims to work as a designer-maker, producing products for her small business that are in demand for those with medical conditions.

The artist was awarded the Friends Award bursary during her study and has completed several live projects with creatives such as artist, Susan Aldworth and the Alexander McQueen embroidery team. Megan also had the privilege to work on His Majesty’s Coronation in 2023. The artist has also taken part in various competitions such as the Bradford Textile Society Competition and the Worshipful Company of Glovers Competition.