Emmely Elgersma on what tables can hold
The sculptor and football coach on papier-mâché, process, and the joy of building things that don’t behave — ahead of co-creating our July soirée installation
Photo by Sarabande Foundation
Her studio feels more like a hardware store than a gallery
Glue, plaster, stacks of newspaper, maybe a little sawdust. On any given day, Emmely Elgersma might be building a lamp from tennis ball tubes, a papier-mâché coat, or a sculpture that only exists because the air-dry clay didn’t crack.
“For me it’s whatever is on the menu for the day,” she says. A piece for a show, a commission, or just something new she wants to test. The approach is fast, playful, and intentionally off-kilter — and that’s exactly the point.
“I love walking around hardware shops and checking out new materials or inspiring forms and then turning them into something new.”
She makes from what’s around
Papier-mâché is her go-to. It’s fast, forgiving, and found everywhere which makes it ideal for someone who works across countries and residencies. “I like materials to be accessible and malleable,” she says. “I can think of something I want to make and then a couple of days later it exists.”
When glue isn’t an option, she makes do. “Back when I was in uni and had very little money I would use flour and water to create a paste which replicates glue…”
That kind of inventiveness isn’t just part of the process — it’s the point. There’s a sense of freedom in using what’s at hand, and in trusting that the work will take shape as it goes.
Wherever she’s working, from Portugal to South Korea, the ingredients are the same. “Everywhere in the world has newspapers, cardboard being thrown away and glue.”
Photography by Sandqvist
She’s not breaking the rules — just rewriting them
What does it mean to challenge taste? To question what belongs in a gallery or what art should even look like?
“I wouldn’t say it’s a rebellion as such more of a redefinition,” she says. “I’m interested in how play, resourcefulness and emotional honesty can be just as valuable as polish or traditional art.”
Her practice invites people in. “I feel like art should be accessible to anyone,” she says. “And I feel like through my practice I reject snobbery and elitism and what art ‘should’ look like.”
The shark says it all
Photography from The Dots
Her practice stretches across scale and context: from gallery installations to brand commissions, from delicate ceramics to a 14-foot papier-mâché shark. The work adapts, but the voice stays consistent.
Emmely has built a shark for Brewdog, coached football for Spurs and Juventus, and now finds herself working on a television show.
“There never is a dull moment and I am forever learning new skills,” she says. “But it requires a lot of determination, discipline and self-care.”
She runs her creative life with the rigour of a coach. “I have been self-employed all my adult life, keeping an up-to-date physical diary and a Notion board,” she says. “The making element is my treat after the end of a full-on day, which makes me extremely lucky considering it feeds into my day to day.”
Everything connects
Emmely doesn’t separate out the different parts of her creative life. Fashion, sport, sculpture, interiors — it’s all connected, and it’s all feeding the same instinct to make.
“I feel like I move away from fashion then end up making paper mache clothing... and the same goes with me concentrating on football but then merging it with art,” she says. “I don't think you ever really narrow in on one venture of your life — everything sort of crosses paths and weaves within one another.”
The overlaps aren’t distractions, they’re essential.
From object to environment
Lately, she’s been thinking less about the objects themselves and more about where they live.
“I have created so many functional pieces of furniture and products and now I am looking at the spaces they are put in.”
She’s thinking about how objects shape a room, and how rooms, in turn, shape the way we move, gather, and pay attention.
It’s a shift, but a natural one. Her work has always moved — between disciplines, materials, and ways of seeing. “I guess I have never taken [the rules] so seriously,” she says. “All creatives are here to break the rules a little — otherwise nothing new and exciting would ever be made!”
What’s next
Emmely has a packed season ahead: a project for London Design Festival, a new TV series, and perhaps a third attempt at the Guinness World Record for largest papier-mâché sculpture.
“Let’s just say we need someone to lend me a huge space after that holiday and we try again for the THIRD time!”
But first, she joins The Last Soirée as our artist in residence for on 20 July at The Nook Studio in Hackney.
Together, we’re co-creating Playscape, a sculptural dining experience built around her love of form, texture, and joyful unpredictability. Think edible geometry, oversized still lifes, and a table that feels more like a sketch than a set piece.
And if it all starts with a bit of glue and some good instincts — even better.
