We caught up with the wonderful Elinor Makin, @elljmie, in her South London studio for a cuppa and a chin wag to discover more about her practice ahead of our inaugural exhibition.

Ell's work has this knack for making you look twice at things you'd normally walk past. There's something quietly subversive about how she approaches materials, as if she's conducting experiments in plain sight, testing what happens when you remove objects from their intended context and let them breathe in new spaces.

After studying BA Fine Art Painting at Camberwell, Ell's practice has leapt headfirst into sculpture, though drawing remains the backbone of her thinking. We love her balance of soft succulent forms against synthetic materials - these works are tactile yet gentle, inviting touch while maintaining an air of mystery. Her drawings weave through urban sprawl and egg-cured landscapes, creating worlds where scale becomes wonderfully fluid.

What aspect of art-making keeps you coming back despite all the challenges?

“I think realising how much of a privilege it is. Not only practically, like having a studio and having time to do the making. But also a privilege to get to make sense of the world through art, to get to discover new materials or new ways of using materials, to get to watch how ideas unfold and turn into physical, tangible things.”

How do you know when a piece is finished?

“I tend to make sculptures that require a mass of material that have been processed in different ways, often quite laborious processes so a piece for me starts and finishes quite quickly once I’ve finished with the making of materials and I assemble it for installation. It’s hard to know when something is finished and I would argue it never is, especially as sometimes I will recycle parts of a sculpture into something new.”

What practices or rituals help you reconnect with your inspiration?

“Drawing everyday, listening to artists talking on podcasts/ videos/ livestreams when I’m doing something repetitive in the studio, making work in silence sometimes, writing a page of thoughts first thing in the studio, running to the studio, having multiple pieces ongoing at the same time, visiting other friends studios, taking photos of materials/ objects I find interesting out and about.”

If you could have any piece of art, what would it be and why?

“Definitely a Franz West Passstücke, not fussed on which one. Learning about these little sculptures that were made to be physically interacted with felt revolutionary to me. I also think a lot about how they are dealt with today, whether in private collections or museums. And how it’s probably far different to what West had envisaged for those works.”

Makin’s installation at Safehouse in 2024

Makin with her work at Pelican Peckham in 2024

We loved hearing more about Makin’s processes and practice ! Her pieces sit somewhere between the archaeological and the alchemical, as if she's been collecting fragments from our constructed world where tools sprout polka-dot ribbons and everyday objects hold secrets we've forgotten how to read. Makin's work asks us to consider the stories that everyday objects might tell if we gave them the chance. We are absolutely thrilled to be hosting Ell’s work in our upcoming show AT THE DOOR at Safehouse in Peckham.

Big thanks to Ell for having us visit !

@elljmin

#coatcatches