Hand & Lock is able to trace its roots back to 1767 when a young French Huguenot refugee M. Hand fled to London and started manufacturing and selling lace to military tailors. He expanded into the design and manufacturer of military badges and uniform accoutrements for officers' dress uniforms. Around 200 years later, in 1956 the embroidery designer Stanley Lock took over his employer's embroidery house on his retirement, renaming it S. Lock Ltd. Clients included such couturiers as Christian Dior and in 1981 the company worked with David and Elizabeth Emanuel on Princess Diana's wedding veil. In 2001 the firms merged to form Hand & Lock. While hand embroidering techniques have changed little since M. Hand's time, clients now include fashion designers, interior designers and costume designers for theatre, film and television. In the main hand-embroidery, staff cut, iron and embroider fabric. Beyond that is the digital-machine department, which is growing because digitally created embroidery is popular with film and TV costume departments. Also in the building, the shop sells embroidery materials, such as the goldwork bullion for which the company is famous and military laces and badges.