Meet Emma Agersø, the ceramics designer loved by the likes of Elsa Hosk and Trine Kjær
When Odense-based maker Emma Agersø walks into a room, she can’t help but see sculptural opportunities. She might imagine a curvy stool in an empty corner, or an undulating bench placed at the foot of a bed. These visions – and a lifetime of creative practice – have led Emma to start Papier Mâché, an emerging sculpture and interiors brand breaking the mould and stirring up Instagram.
Emma’s proclivity for visualisation and expression was nurtured early on by her family then developed by her fine arts studies at Denmark’s Design School Kolding. For as long as Emma can remember she’s been making things, experimenting and evolving her creativity. After graduating with a BA in fashion, Emma found herself drawn to the organic and imperfect nature of the papier-mâché method and it just clicked. “I loved forming concepts at fashion school, more than the sewing,” she says.
While papier-mâché might seem an unusual material choice for a fashion graduate, Emma observes “there are organic silhouettes just like with fabric – there is movement and flow.” After beginning with a few modest papier-mâché forms and getting comfortable with her new medium, Emma saw opportunities to scale up to interior objects that could fill the gap she often felt when standing in a space. She started with a small pedestal, then a chair, then a bench. Emma wanted her pieces to be useful, but also engaging and intriguing. “It’s important to me that a sculpture never gets boring. If you turn it around a little bit, you should experience a new form," she explains.
Emma’s unique pieces are made my hand with no fixed agenda. The process begins with a sketch and is as free form as the final result. Emma embraces “whatever my hand does in company with my head” and to her, “the imperfect is perfect.” She enjoys the simplicity of being led by her intuition and of being surprised by the results.
This open-minded approach allows her to find inspiration all around her. “I see colour combinations in daily life, like when watching my son play with Lego bricks... I have experimented with wood salvaged while renovating my home,," she says. “I might take note of a weird tree during a walk in the forest.”
Emma typically spends about a week producing each piece through a very slow process of layering and a lot of drying time, and the work isn't without its challenges. “I’m my own biggest critic, and I have had to learn how to trust my gut and my process. Sometimes I need to step away from a project, go out and find new energy and good thoughts, and then return to the work when I’m ready. If the process stops being fun, the creativity dies.”
The sense of fun and interactivity of Emma’s work has earnt her a loyal following since she began documenting her process on Instagram in 2019. And among Emma’s taste making fans are Elsa Hosk and Trine Kjaer. She explains how when Hosk got in touch with her over Instagram, she and the Victoria Secret model “had a long conversation about some pieces for their homes…I’m so inspired by these women and it’s amazing that they see beauty in my sculptures.” For Emma, collaborations like these are a great way to evolve her practice and try new things. “Keep exploring,” she says, “remember that if you don’t make mistakes you don’t grow – it’s not meant to be easy, but it is meant to be fun.”