Isla Cruickshank

My practice encompasses a range of ideas and skills derived from my experiences as cook, host and maker.
The processes leading to the designs for this collection involve an immediate correspondence between the kitchen and studio; an acknowledgment of the transferable craft skills required in making meaning from natural and sustainable produce.

This is no easy assimilation and my collection, Féasta, challenges specific values inherent in the possibilities of food as material, as well as sustenance. Féasta recognises deeply-embedded cultural significance in food sourced from remote, Scottish estates, farms and kitchen gardens,reflecting social habits surrounding the cultivation and preservation of the production of food over many generations. The collection, in the form of functional and sculptural pieces, captures an eternal life-cycle, from produce, plate, object and experience.

Since Féasta, I have launched my brand, &ILC as a development of my work with food as a material.

&ILC is Jewellery for the conscious consumer; Using raw egg shell from Scottish kitchens I create pieces with delicate egg shell inlay, forming intricate yet minimal designs. I want to challenge our ideas of waste and make people appreciate the beauty in these unique and in abundance materials. My dyeing methods are devised from vegetable compost allowing for my whole process to be organic, inspired and made with food. I work with Brass, Jesmonite, wood and Cotton, a further conscious decision to maintain this sustainable stance on materials.

Practicality meets aesthetic to create statement yet minimal jewellery.