Meet the Scottish illustrator cutting plain paper into works of art
Paper cutter and illustrator Emily Hogarth won her first art prize aged ten, after she entered a Christmas card competition run by National Museums Scotland and saw her work sold in gift shops across her home town of Edinburgh and beyond.
She has since designed cards for Marks & Spencer, created fabrics for Jasper Conran and drawn illustrations to transform part of Edinburgh’s children’s hospital into a “magical city”.
But the artworks that bring her the most pride are paper snowflakes cut by her own children. “I love that ‘wow’ moment when they unfold it and see what they’ve made,” says Emily, who lives in Musselburgh, East Lothian. “Children’s imagination has always inspired me to create work that brings magic to the everyday.”
Through floor-to-ceiling kitchen windows pasted with paper snowflakes, Emily can see the larch-clad garden studio that she and her husband, Conor, built when they renovated their house nine years ago.
Crossing the small lawn and opening the door, she steps away from being mum to Maggie, 12, Finn, nine, and Rupert, five, into “the best sanctuary anyone could ever have”. The walls, surfaces and ceiling are decorated with paper cuts and prints of puffins, hares, squirrels, stars, flowers and foliage, all inspired by the nature Emily observes on daily dog walks with 13-year-old Mary. The West Highland terrier curled up in the corner is the only family member allowed in this cosy workspace. “She’s the love of my life,” Emily jokes.
Propped up behind her desk is a framed deer cut from a single large sheet of black paper. Beside it sits one of the limited-edition, three-colour screen prints made in black, gold and amber inks using the same paper cut. “This deer jumped out in front of the car one morning when I was driving to Yellowcraig beach,” says Emily, who takes Mary to one of the dune-backed shores along East Lothian’s sandy coastline every morning after the school run. “By the time I got home, I’d designed the drawing in my head.”
Emily describes her craft as “drawing with a knife”. Sitting at her desk, she picks up the scalpel she’s had since art college, inserts a fresh blade and works on a small section of her latest project. “It’ll look like a piece of lace when it’s finished,” she says, as she cuts tiny, delicate shapes into thick white paper. They’re the needles and cones of a sprig of Scot’s pine that will intertwine with holly, acorns and sea buckthorn in a two-dimensional seasonal wreath. “What I love about paper is that it’s such an ordinary, everyday material, but with a single tool you can turn it into something that creates shadows, tells stories and makes people feel an emotion when they see it on their wall.”
Amazingly, there are no marks to guide her: “I have an idea of the overall shape, but I don’t know where all the leaves, stems and berries will go.” Emily works in silence as she jots down a rough outline in a sketchpad, but once the scalpel is in her hand and a fresh piece of paper in front of her, she switches on some jazz or an audiobook (Jane Austen is a current favourite) to transport her to a different headspace: “I stop thinking about the laundry, emails and school admin and start doodling. My knife just draws.”
Emily got into paper cutting at art college, where she chose printed textile design over fine art. “I thought at least I’d come out of college with a practical skill,” she laughs. The skill was screen printing, which introduced her to paper cutting because she had to cut the stencils for printing her designs onto fabrics. She won an award at New Designers, an annual London graduate showcase, and while studying for a masters took on freelance work. “Marks & Spencer invited me to spend a month making stencils for cards and wrapping paper,” she says. “That was 20 years ago and I’ve been cutting paper ever since.”
Emily’s hand-cut designs have appeared on deodorant bottles, chocolate wrappers and single malt whisky boxes, the subtle imperfections of hand on paper – a nick here, an irregular curve there – lending an authentic human touch. These days, commissions often come from individuals who want to invest in unique artworks. Laying a work in progress for a 50th wedding anniversary across her desk, Emily points out the words and pictures – flowers, trees, animals, food, books, buildings, mountains – that she’s carved into an intricate pattern. “Every single element has a meaning to this couple and their family,” she says. “I feel honoured that people share the most precious details of their lives with me, so I can tell their stories in a picture.”
If Emily were drawing her own family story, it would be full of snowflakes, stockings and fir trees. “I love Christmas,” she says. “I play carols from early December, hanging twinkly lights, making decorations with the kids.” Throughout the year, Emily often leaves her studio when the school day ends and goes back to work until midnight once the children have gone to bed.
At this time of year, however, she takes two weeks off so she can host a family get-together and get out every day onto the beach with Conor, the children – and Mary. “An empty beach in winter is my happiest place in the world,” says Emily, who always packs a flask of hot chocolate. “It’s a moment of magic, all to ourselves.”
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