Outdoor

Emmely Elgersma

London, United Kingdom

"Emmely is an artist and football coach based in London, UK."

Surrounded by buckets of PVA glue and stacks of newspapers, Emmely Elgersma uses her studio like a surreal kitchen, concocting wonky sculptures and wobbly objects that look good enough to eat (but probably don't taste very good). Creating clay from kitchen products and papier-mâché out of household chemicals, Elgersma's work is rooted in her formal training as a ceramicist, just with a couple of jokes thrown in. The result is an exploration of what objects mean to us as human beings, be it turning an old tennis ball tube into a luxury functioning lamp or turning piles of disused packaging into a 14ft shark for a brewery in Scotland. Emmely is currently an artist in residence at the Sarabande Foundation established by Lee Alexander Mcqueen and has been awarded with a studio connected to the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Using the recycling bin, Facebook marketplace or the streets of Stamford Hill to source her art materials, she has collaborated with brands such as IKEA, Adidas, Tiktok, Paynter Jacket and Clerkenwell Design Week. Currently, she's waiting to see if she's made it into the Guinness World Record books for making the biggest ever papier-mâché sculpture. It was very, very big. Too big, if anything. She received her FA Level 1 coaching qualification in 2020 which has resulted in her working as a coach for Spurs, Juventus and managing The Tate Workers football team so will happily tell you why 4-4-2 is more effective with a diamond and inverted wingers. The result is a joyous collision of colour, football, interiors and sculpture.