Mia Hansson: Five things to know

Mia Hansson is a Swedish textile artist, storyteller and illustrator whose most ambitious project has been a decade in the making. Her full-scale recreation of the Bayeux Tapestry brings fresh attention to the craftsmanship behind one of the world’s most remarkable historical artworks. 

In celebration of the presentation of the Bayeux Tapestry in London, Castle Fine Art launches Bayeux Illuminated, an exclusive collection of limited edition prints created in association with the British Museum.

Her love of needlework spans four generations

Hansson’s introduction to needlework began at five, when her grandmother, Greta, taught her to cross-stitch. She belongs to a family of makers: her great-grandmother was a quilter, her grandmother knitted and crocheted, and her mother also made her own clothes. Growing up in Skanör, southern Sweden, Hansson lived close to the Foteviken Viking Age museum. From 2001, she became involved in Viking reenactments, developing her interest in needlework through making period clothing. After moving to Britain in 2003, she eventually settled in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire. Becoming a full-time carer for her partner’s son meant spending more time at home, creating an opportunity to immerse herself in embroidery.

Her Bayeux project has involved more than 10,000 hours of hand embroidery

In July 2016, Hansson made the first stitch of her full-scale reproduction. The undertaking is extraordinary: the original Bayeux Tapestry stretches approximately 70 metres, depicting the events leading to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. Hansson has devoted more than 10,000 hours to recreating this eleventh-century work. She aims to finish in 2027, marking the 1,000th anniversary of William the Conqueror’s birth. Her project coincides with the original Tapestry’s loan to the British Museum from September 2026 to July 2027. While the historic embroidery introduces visitors to medieval craftsmanship, Hansson’s ongoing work offers another way to appreciate the patience and skill behind its creation.

She preserves the original's imperfections

For Hansson, faithfulness to the Tapestry means resisting the temptation to improve it. She studies its imagery, colours and stitching closely, drawing directly onto fabric before embroidering each section. Even mistakes are deliberately retained.
These irregularities matter because they preserve something of the original makers. Rather than treating the Tapestry as an untouchable museum artefact, Hansson approaches it as a work created by human hands.
It is this human dimension, rather than historical significance alone, that attracted her to the project. Her embroidery pays tribute to the individual artisans who collaborated on the original, reminding us that behind its monumental narrative lies a deeply physical process of looking, drawing and stitching.

Bayeux Illuminated tells a story through six pivotal scenes

Created from Hansson’s recreation, Bayeux Illuminated follows the Tapestry’s central narrative through six selected moments. Oath shows Harold Godwinson pledging his support to William, Duke of Normandy; Coronation depicts Harold’s subsequent acceptance of the English crown.
In Comet, figures marvel at Halley’s Comet, interpreted as an ominous sign. Beneath them, ghostly ships anticipate the Norman invasion. William follows the fleet across the Channel, while Hastings captures the confrontation between Norman cavalry and Anglo-Saxon infantry. Harold brings the sequence to its dramatic conclusion with the English king’s death.
The images invite closer questioning. In Harold, the familiar story of the king’s death by an arrow to the eye sits alongside uncertainty about which figure represents him, reminding us that this dramatic medieval narrative is still open to discussion and interpretation. 
Hansson selected these scenes for their visual appeal as well as their narrative importance. Together, they reveal how gestures, symbols and details can communicate a complex story, just as the original spoke to a largely non-reading audience.

The collection brings embroidery and illumination together

The title Bayeux Illuminated references the historic practice of enriching manuscripts with gold and silver leaf and intense colour. Each artwork is hand-finished with metallic leaf in gold, ruby and sapphire, giving the medieval imagery a luminous contemporary character. For Hansson, this treatment ‘highlights the original masterpiece’.

The printing process also honours the embroidery’s material qualities. Three layers of texture printing recreate the fabric’s weave, with further layers capturing the embroidered detail. Printed on Canson Infinity Moulin du Roy HP watercolour paper, the editions translate the character of textile into works on paper.

They are produced by Harwood King Printmakers in Newhaven, East Sussex, just 15 miles along the coast from Pevensey, where William landed in 1066: a geographical connection between the story and its contemporary retelling.

Discover Mia Hansson’s Bayeux Illuminated collection with Castle Fine Art.