One of the most exciting aspects of Elements each year is supporting a new group of emerging designer-makers. These designer-makers come from a range of backgrounds and specialities, but are all in their first five years of business. We are thrilled to share with you some of the inspiration behind their work and insight into their techniques and practice.

Taking inspiration from the landscape and weather of Scotland, Emma Louise Wilson creates fine silver and enamel jewellery, as well as hand raised bowls in fine silver or copper with enamel decoration. Her work begins in the landscape, taking photos of the hills and the sea, and collecting pebbles from the beach which are all referenced when working in the silver and enamel. She loves to use traditional techniques like hand-raising and enamelling in a contemporary way, producing work which is beautiful and modern and something to be treasured.

Describe your journey to becoming a maker.

From a really early age I’ve loved drawing and making, I think I announced at age seven that I was going to art school! While in primary school we did a workshop in basic enamelling and I fell in love with the material and the process so when I got to Gray’s School of Art I was always going to end up in the jewellery workshop. I graduated in 1995 and headed to Birmingham about a year later where I had a workshop for a few years until my son was born in 1999 closely followed by my daughter in 2000, so at that point I took a career break. I did other creative things while the children were growing up, but it wasn’t until 2017 when I got the chance to rent a bench at Vanilla Ink Studios in Glasgow that I finally got back to silversmithing and enamelling and I haven’t looked back! We moved back to Aberdeen at the start of last year and I’m lucky enough to have a lovely workshop of my own at Deemouth Artist Studios.

How does your process of creating a new piece begin?

My design process begins in the landscape where I’ll take lots of photographs of the hills, the sea, the clouds and the interactions between them all. I love seeing mist surround the top of a hill or the spray of the waves. These photographs then become the starting point for the watercolour paintings I produce back at the studio and I’ll reference these paintings when working with the enamel, using jewellery enamel along with powdered painting enamel to produce an effect similar to my paintings, I am trying to evoke the feeling of the landscape without reproducing it exactly. The shapes of the jewellery and bowls come from my drawings of pebbles, flowers and plants so they are always natural, rounded shapes which will feel comfortable to hold and wear and are very tactile.

What has the past year been like for you? How have you developed your skills and continue to make?

This past year has certainly been an interesting one! We moved back to Aberdeen from Glasgow at the end of January 2020 and I moved into my new studio at Deemouth Artist Studios at the same time, so we only had a few ‘normal’ weeks before lockdown. We’ve been very lucky at Deemouth though to be able to still access our workshops almost throughout the lockdowns. I spent much of last year working on a new collection and I enjoyed being able to take a little longer than I perhaps normally would have.

I am one of the 2020 cohort on the Craft Scotland COMPASS: Emerging Makers Programme and of course that all had to move online, but we managed to do most of it with a few elements left to do, hopefully, this year. It has been great to have that amazing group of makers as support throughout the year.

This year I was lucky enough to receive a VACMA Award from Creative Scotland and Aberdeen City Council which allowed me to develop my raising skills and make some larger bowls which has been really interesting and challenging.

Where do you draw inspiration from?

I draw most of my inspiration from the stunning Scottish landscape. When we lived in Glasgow we were surrounded by hills and I loved to watch the mists on the Campsies or drive through Argyll and look over to Jura and Islay and watch the dramatic weather, the big clouds, mists and rain over the mountains. Now that I’m back in Aberdeen I am of course inspired by the sea and coastline. I love it’s ever changing nature, the sea is a different colour every day, the big skies full of clouds, the waves rolling in on a windy day or gently lapping the shore when it’s calm. The pebbles on the beach inspire the shapes of the jewellery and bowls that I make, how they feel in the hand and how they look all piled together, and the rock formations along the coastline influence the textures I put on the silver with my selection of hammers. My work is very tactile and I think that comes from holding pebbles and touching the textures on rocks as well as the nature of the glossy enamel itself.

What technique do you use most often when making? What interests you about this technique?

The technique I use most often and which is the main focus of my work, is of course enamelling. I have always loved enamel and always worked with it. I love the magic of it, the transformation when it is fired and the surprise when it comes out of the kiln. It appeals to the painter in me and I do use it in quite a painterly way. I don’t tend to follow the rules too much either, mixing transparent and opaque colours and dropping powdered painting enamel on top of wet jewellery enamel, I like to experiment and see what happens. It’s such a beautiful material, with depth of colour and a lovely glossy tactile finish.

How does material choice influence your work and the pieces you create?

I use fine silver for all my enamel work at the moment, as I find the enamel works better on it and I don’t have to worry about firescale. It is of course softer than sterling so I need to take that into account when designing a piece, but I have to think more about the enamel, so I always design pieces that don’t require too much soldering if any, and I also design them to showcase the enamel so it is centre stage and not just a medium to add colour to a piece.

What is next for you this year?

Later this year I am contributing a selection of jewellery to a jewellery showcase over Autumn and Winter (which I can’t tell you about yet), and I am taking part, along with many of my studio mates at Deemouth Artist Studios, in NEOS or North East Open Studios which covers the whole of North East Scotland and includes over 250 makers. I’ll also be re-stocking some of my lovely stockists and perhaps looking for some new ones.

What are your career highlights so far?

Well, apart from being selected for Elements Emerging Makers obviously, I was thrilled to win a silver award in enamelling at the Goldsmiths Craft and Design Council Awards this year for my hand raised fine silver and enamel bowl. It was the first time I had entered so it was a great surprise to be awarded silver!

What does taking part in Elements mean to you?

Taking part in Elements certainly feels like an important milestone in my career so far. To know that my work is seen as good enough for such a prestigious show is really validating and I feel truly honoured.