Josephine Gomersall’s work aims to capture the beauty, fragility and preciousness of the British plants found ‘at the wayside’: that is, growing wild on the edges of main roads and country lanes. Based in Sheffield, her work is inspired by the environment in which the city sits, with beautiful green valleys and rivers providing wildlife corridors right into the city’s heart. 

Gomersall’s designs narrative jewellery, using imprinting and drawing techniques to capture the essence of various plant specimens. She uses porcelain for its tactile quality, imprinting then embossing to capture memories of the impermanent natural materials she collects. Through this process, she makes these materials permanent, contained and embedded, rather like a fossil or the silhouette of a cameo. Her work is imbued with a sense of calm and serenity, and aims to comment on the importance of connectedness to nature for health and wellbeing, and to encourage people to nurture the biodiversity we have left.