From The Land |
Tracing the roots of Ellis' work—shaped by artefacts found on the family farmland, and the quiet weight of history beneath the soil.
About Ellis
Ellis Mhairi Cameron creates sculptural gold and diamond jewellery, rooted in her Scottish heritage and shaped by a deep connection to landscape, memory and place.
Born and raised in the Scottish Highlands, Ellis grew up surrounded by mountains, open water and ancient landscapes; places marked by time, weather and history. Their rawness and permanence became an early and enduring influence on her work.
Her jewellery explores the beauty found in imperfection and erosion: softened edges, irregular forms and surfaces shaped as though by natural forces. Gold is treated as something tactile and elemental, with each piece carrying a sense of movement and time.
At the heart of the practice is Topophilia - the deep emotional and sensory bond between people and place. Ellis is interested in the way landscapes become embedded in us; how the places we grow up in shape memory, identity and a sense of belonging.
These ideas continue to inform every collection, resulting in jewellery that feels both ancient and contemporary; pieces designed to be lived in, gathered over time and carried forward.
In 2010, Ellis left the Scottish Highlands for Glasgow to begin an Art Foundation, initially drawn towards sculpture and painting. It was during this time that she discovered jewellery and its rare ability to bring together material, form, narrative and the intimacy of something made to be worn.
Jewellery became a natural meeting point between art and storytelling. Her creative process continues to begin away from the bench, through collage, painting and sketchbook studies, gradually evolving into tactile, sculptural forms designed to be lived in.
Ellis went on to study Jewellery & Silversmithing at The Glasgow School of Art, before moving to London in 2015 to complete an MA in Jewellery Design at Central Saint Martins.
In 2018, she established her eponymous studio with a vision to create jewellery grounded in heritage, craftsmanship and the enduring beauty of the ancient.
Today, that philosophy remains at the heart of the work. Drawn to imperfection, texture and the marks of the handmade, Ellis creates pieces intended not simply to be worn, but to gather meaning through a lifetime of wear.
Today, Ellis and her team work from a private, by appointment studio at The Goldsmiths’ Centre in London, where each piece is made with an emphasis on traditional craftsmanship, considered design and materiality.
Ellis’ jewellery is now collected internationally, presented through leading showcases including Goldsmiths’ Fair and Melee, and stocked by a carefully selected network of independent retailers including Esqueleto, Twist, ætla and Liberty London.
Her work has been featured in The New York Times, VOGUE, HTSI Financial Times, Times LUXX and Forbes, alongside editorial and commissioned shoots celebrating contemporary jewellery and Scottish design.
Her commitment to craftsmanship and continued technical exploration has also been recognised through a Gem X Scholarship for engraving in 2023, followed by a Goldsmiths’ Centre Business Catalyst (Large) Grant in 2024, supporting her ongoing development of hand and pneumatic engraving.
To learn more about Ellis, read Felicia Craddock's Profile on Ellis for The New York Times, listen to Ellis interview with Blogger A Thousand Facets here, or read Ellis' interview with Liberty London.
The jeweller Ellis Mhairi Cameron has always been captivated by the Scottish rural landscape in which she grew up. The scudding, ever-changing skies and eroding land had worked their way into her previous collections even before last year, when she discovered a five-century-old treasure hoard on her family’s ancient farm.
The Cameron clan has lived on the same site in Oban, the unofficial capital of the West Highlands, since 1502. Cameron grew up with her parents nearby and spent much of her childhood running in and out of the farm. In 2022, a set of standing stones was uncovered when an area of long-overgrown land was cleared. Historic Environment Scotland confirmed them to be significant and suggested that the family hire some metal detectors. So, on a rainy day in April, Cameron and two detectorists struck, if not gold, then certainly a rich vein of history: ancient artefacts that have gone on to inspire Legacy, Cameron’s latest collection of fine jewellery.
- Kate Finnegan, Financial Times HTSI