Emma Louise Wilson in her studio in Aberdeen | Photography © Lydia Smith
Emma Louise Wilson
Silversmith & Enameller
Emma Louise Wilson’s work beautifully captures the quiet power of nature and the deep, personal connection she feels to the sea. Through her mastery of enamel and metalwork she reproduces the experience of seeing light reflecting on the sea, playing on the waves. The shapes of the bowls are inspired by the shapes of pebbles and how they feel in the hand.
Light Reflected is a collection of seven hand-raised silver bowls with vitreous enamel and fine gold inlay. Within each bowl Wilson aims to distil aspects of the seascapes around her home and studio in Aberdeen – capturing the moment when the sun rises from behind vast, northern clouds, or evoking the elemental forces of the forbidding, steely grey skies.
Wilson transforms raw materials into pieces that hold both the vastness and intimacy of the natural world. Her hope is that the work will bring to mind the feeling or a memory of standing on a beach, pebble in hand, looking out to sea.
Biography
Emma Louise Wilson is an Aberdeen-based maker and Gray’s School of Art graduate working in silver and enamel to create jewellery and bowls inspired by walks at Aberdeen beach. Wilson draws inspiration from the dynamic seascape, capturing the essence of stormy skies and the rich colours and textures found along the coastline. Wilson’s enamel work is informed by abstract watercolours, echoing the unpredictable but beautiful nature of water and paint in the opaque and transparent glass, creating fragments of the seascape.
Wilson has presented her silver and enamel work widely at various selected events and exhibition, including Collect, Somerset House, London (2024); Goldsmiths’ Fair, London (2024); Future Icons Selects, London Craft Week (2023); SHINE: New Talent Showcase of Jewellery and Silversmithing, The Goldsmiths’ Centre, London (2023); and Elements: Festival of Jewellery, Silver and Gold, Edinburgh (2022).