The Z List: Amy Isles Freeman’s labours of love

- words by Amy S

We at Zetteler could feel Valentine’s Day approaching like a freight train full of chocolate hearts. You can’t not mention it, as if you’ve simply not noticed the pink foil wrapping everything in Tesco that wore red foil a couple of months ago and orange foil in the months before that. Yes, it’s a capitalist behemoth that uses your undying love - or lack thereof - to sell you stuff that makes you fat so you’ll buy more stuff to make you thin BUT all that aside, why not take the opportunity to celebrate love?

It’s lovely stuff love, it comes in all shapes and sizes and colours and is bumpy and weird and kinky and sweet, and it does feel good to have an opportunity to express it. On our cherished online shop the Z List, we sell things we love made by people we love, not for our own profit, but to show them off to the world and in the process raise some money for a charity we believe in (right now that’s Hackney Foodbank and you can give them a Valentine’s Day gift in the form of a donation).

One of the makers we’ve had on the Z List since the very start is Amy Isles Freeman, and we simply can’t keep up with the demand for her hand-turned bowls, each also hand-painted by Amy in her Cornwall studio. Last year we asked her to make us an exclusive Z List item and were blown away when she came back to us with the magnificent Ladies and Birds bowl. Given that it was inspired by freedom and love, and that it has a special place in our hearts, we thought it would be befitting of the season to have Amy tell us a little about what those themes mean to her and her practice.

Themes of love and freedom recur in your work – what appeals to you about these?

Freedom and love recur in my work as a positive reinforcement of a feminism that I hope for. I want to live in a time where women everywhere have freedom of choice and can feel love for each other and themselves. Idealism at its finest, but if I can't express idealism in art where can I.

Why does your work lend itself well to theme of love?

My work lends itself to the theme of love for many reasons. Each bowl is a labour of love- hand turned and hand painted, sometimes taking hours and hours in my little studio. The bowls are made to be coveted, cherished, loved.

Love and freedom are things that we all (pretty much!) desire. How important is it that your work is positive and optimistic?

It's really important to me that my work is positive and optimistic. I want to create work that promotes love and kindness, and use joyful images to carry my feminist messages. Humour is the most effective means of communication, I think. I make work that makes people smile, if the feminism gets lost amongst the pretty pictures, then that's okay, it almost makes it better for the person who finds something in it.

You say that naivety is one of the best starting points. Tell us a little more about this? Does this apply beyond your practice and into other areas of life?

Naivety is a glorious starting point. When I said that, I wrote it from the point of view of a new maker, coming into the craft arena with little skill or experience, seeing a few other new makers making some really interesting things. When you approach something with new eyes and hands you can make something that an experienced maker often can't, something that is totally free. It's like children's drawings, and folk art, two very important influences for my work.

We start off naive in Everything, so if naive is your starting point, then you must be doing something new, and that's no bad thing. Accepting your naivety is one of the most important lessons I have learnt in the last year or so. You don't have to know how to do everything.