Founder of Jess Wheeler Studio

We speak to artist and designer Jess Wheeler about preserving beauty and the ingeniousness of nature.

Rooted in both instinct and intention, Jess's multidisciplinary practice is shaped by her reverence for natural forms, slow craft, and the relationships forged through making. Her surroundings, from the wild landscapes of North Wales to her farm-side workshop in Dorset, deeply inform her process, as does the knowledge passed down from local craftspeople.

Working across materials like bronze, brass, steel, and plaster, Jess creates intricate sculptural lighting and functional artworks that bridge art and craft. Through her practice, she invites us into a world where beauty and utility inform eachother, and where community and collaboration are as essential as the materials themselves.

Can you tell us a bit about yourself and how you started your multidisciplinary practice?

After a degree in art history and illustration, I spent most of my twenties as a roving maker, working across set design, floristry, and decorative arts. Unwittingly, I was learning everything I would need to start my own standalone creative practice.

Then, in 2019, I went to live on a farm in North Wales. Suddenly, I had access to workshop space, tools, materials, and endless, inspiring nature. My current practice started because I wanted a set of oak leaf candle sconces to flank my fireplace and it felt obvious that I should make them myself – so that’s what I did.

How do your surroundings, walks, or encounters with nature in North Wales or Dorset feed into your creative process?

We have a few studios and workshops in the West of the UK; West Dorset, Somerset, and North Wales. The landscapes surrounding these places are varied, expansive, and wonderful all in their own ways.

I spend most of my time in our West Dorset workshop with my partner Eddie, on a farm close to where we live. We try to walk most days; a stomp up the hill behind our village first thing in the morning or an evening walk near the workshop. We like to encourage this practice across our team in their various studios, as being connected to what is growing around us is central to our practice.

Being connected to a landscape is endlessly inspiring, experiencing the seasons in the same place means you become attuned to what is growing around you and the changing light over the months.

What draws you to immortalise ephemeral materials?

I never ever tire of the ingeniousness and beauty of natural forms – everything I do in the studio is ultimately inspired by plants and a want to preserve a moment in time. I’m also driven by tactility, so experimenting with materials and methods is often the starting point for new ideas and designs.

I love art that sits at that same intersection – between materiality and preserving nature. For example, the artist David Nash is definitely an inspiration. We share a bronze foundry, and I’ve been fortunate enough to glimpse some of his work in progress as well as his completed pieces. I admire his willingness to let natural forms speak for themselves, and his determined use of fine materials to magnify their beauty.

How do you navigate the balance of creating functional objects and sculptural artworks in your designs?

I find that I’m inspired and motivated by the challenge of making something that looks beautiful, is made using good materials and techniques, and works effectively.  

But I’m not sure that we balance form and function - I think, rather, that we bring them into conversation with one another.  I usually start making a piece with a good idea of how I want it to look, and the functional aspect of the piece sets constraints –  for example, it may need to produce a certain kind of light; or perhaps we want the lamps to be hidden or positioned in a particular way – which in turn influence the design decisions we’ll make - often improving the final form of the piece in the process. So the form and function co-evolve and influence one another.

In some ways, I suspect creating a sculpture that has an everyday purpose is actually easier than making a purely aesthetic artwork, because these constraints can be so inspiring.

You credit local makers for teaching you craft skills. How important is that sense of shared knowledge and community in your practice?

I love to learn about new materials and processes – and I’m also a sociable person. I find I’m drawn to people who are experts in their craft, and I have been lucky enough to spend enough time with some of them to pick up the rudiments. 

I learned to work with steel from a local blacksmith, who walked me through the process of making the first oak leaf candle sconces which I made for my home. Later, I encountered the talented metalworker Stan Jankowski, who lived close to me in North Wales. I basically hung around his workshop until he took me on as a sort of informal apprentice!

Now we work with a team of expert metalworkers, blacksmiths, plaster casters and a wonderful foundry, all based in the UK between our different workshops. Working in a team of bright minds makes every day so much more exciting: we all bring our different skills and ways of thinking to the table which makes the outcomes diverse and inspiring. We all take great pride in all of our pieces being made by hand in the UK.

I’ve always learned through doing and over time I’ve developed the skills and methods that characterise my practice. Today, that includes lighting, sculptures and chandeliers made in brass, cast bronze, plaster and iron.

FOLLOW JESS

@jesswheeler.studio | www.jesswheeler.com