Elise Brimer: meet the artist

Elise Brimer’s fritter earrings are the latest addition to our Mooma store. Elise’s work is unique and oh-so-colourful. We love the whimsical dangle of the fritter and the playful colour combos. We asked Elise a few questions about her and her fritters.

Tell us about yourself, who are you & what do you do?
I’m a recent textile design graduate living in Wellington. I’ve worked as a screen printer in the costume department for an upcoming New Zealand film, and I make earrings and bracelets on the side. My contract on the film has just ended so I’ve accidentally ended up making jewellery full time…

How did the fritter earrings come about?
I started playing around with clay a couple years ago, originally making bracelets, which led me to start experimenting with different shapes and layering clay with paint. Earrings seemed like a logical end use for something that I wanted to be wearable because you can hang pretty much anything of a hook and a jump ring. The decorative part of the earring doesn’t have to have any form or function and that really appealed to me. On a night out, one friend noted they looked like corn fritters, and the name has stuck since then.

You recently graduated from Massey University, congrats! How have you found the transition from studying to now having to work?
It was a pretty tough transition! Because I finished uni one day and started working long film hours the next. I noticed there were a lot of similarities between work and what we were taught at uni, in terms of the processes applied in both the initial design and the production of textiles. It’s a lot harder nowadays to find the motivation and justification to put money into working on my own stuff without assignments and deadlines to fulfil.

Your work and aesthetic is a combination of vibrant colours and patterns, who or what influences your creative practice?
The places I’ve been able to visit, fake flowers, real flowers, party decorations, Japanese textiles, two-dollar shops... and all my friends who are doing cool stuff. Colour and colour combinations excite and influence me the most and I’m looking for different combinations of colours everywhere I go, even in the most mundane places.

What kind of person do you think wears your jewellery?
Someone that doesn’t care too much! Someone who gets a bit excited by colour and unusual combinations of colour.

When you’re not making jewellery, what are you doing?
I’ve been trying to work on the textiles side of things a bit more, developing my own prints and fabrics to hopefully sell some time in the future! I’m also interning for a New Zealand label and doing some odd jobs at the moment while I’m waiting on another contract.

If we were to walk into your workspace/studio what can we expect to see?
A really cramped, messy bedroom! My desk is crammed at the end of my bed and is usually covered in paint, clay and some fairly neglected plants.

What’s next for you?
Good question - still working that one out for myself! Short term, I need another job… But long term I’m really keen to move overseas to gain experience before hopefully coming back here and expanding on making my own stuff

Mooma stocks a range of Elise Brimer’s beautiful pieces.

Photography by Evangeline Davis