An Afternoon at Emma Boomkamp’s Studio
Emma Boomkamp’s studio gives away a sense of curious juxtaposition in just a single glance. Even before you have started exploring, studying her wide range of craft work, it is a space that commands attention, demanding that the viewer follow the lines, patterns, and layout of her designs like a traveller hiking through a forest trails born out of human footfall. Emma today falls in the club of artists and designers who are changing the design scene in Mexico that has deservingly emerged as a global spot of young talents. What makes her work interesting, just like these contemporaries, is the unstaggering commitment to traditional roots yet the unassuming nonchalance of new age experimentation.
The urban has quite a large presence in Emma Boomkamp’s work; it is evident not only in her range of rugs that employ sharp geometrical patterns and a colour palette that evokes quiet sensations, but also in the way she chooses to have the pieces photographed. A lot of being communicated through the pieces and their composition and textures - it is without doubt. In addition, the design style has been stitched together by her sociocultural background – she being half Dutch and half Mexican – that combines two contrasting cultures and geographies. The cool spontaneity of geometry that dominates the otherwise traditional form of Mexican rugs stands on opposite ends to the intense mesh of patterns in her macrame and sisal work that seem reflective of community ethos and tropical landscape.
Emma also frequently refers to her travels as another source of inspiration for her work. There is a unique simplicity in her craft pieces, blending with her diverse use of colours and combinations. It seems to us like a reminiscence of her two heritages, bringing together the aesthetic of the tropical and the temperate with full gusto. Born and raised in the Netherlands, the designer currently lives and works in Mexico City. Emma’s working studio is located in the beautiful area of Chapultepec in Oaxaca, which is where she fell in love with the local artisan community that eventually led to her finding her unique creative voice. She works with artisans in Yucatán to create pieces with sisal, which is extracted from the leaves of plants belonging to the agave family.
She has been experimenting with the spatial possibilities of the sisal pieces and often uses this Mexican local material to honor and celebrate local deities. For instance, one of her pieces represents the Mayan goddess Ixchel, the goddess of fertility, medicine, the moon, and textiles who is sometimes portrayed as weaving on a backstrap loom. Emma’s interaction with local elements is also evident in the studio’s courtyard that is surrounded by the native Jacaranda trees full of purple flowers.
A small bookshelf comprising books and archives on fibers and natural dye catches our eye. Natural dye is a significant part of her works and is responsible for the beautiful earthy tones of her rugs and other craft pieces. When working with the medium of glass, Emma plays with metals like copper and incorporates them in the hand-blown glass pieces. That she chose to work with four mediums as diverse as rugs, macrame, sisal, and glass, her individual expressions in each of them are standalone yet united. Like in a holy commune, or in the repertoire of folktales and folk motifs that embrace the spirit of difference and diversity.
Like her studio space that is inviting and smells of novelty.
Photos by emmaboomkamp.com