Dr Emma Powell

I am a printmaker, bookmaker and graphic designer. I am also a 0.4 Programme Tutor in Graphic Design (specialising in illustration, bookmaking, printmaking and papercrafts) at OCA, UK. My full CV is here.

I have a PhD in Sustainable Design from Kingston University, UK. My practice-led PhD was concerned with the use of Rejectamenta (“Things thrown away” – Webster’s 1828 Dictionary) by selected contemporary creators. I completed this in 2009. The intent of the PhD research was to challenge preconceptions about the use of waste materials. It shows (through a variety of examples of contemporary creative practice) that items that initially hold negative value can be transformed, through the creative process, to objects that have a positive aesthetic value.

I am the co-founder and co-curator of we love your books. This was a collaborative venture with book artist Melanie Bush. We ran a yearly open experimental books exhibition over 2005–2018. In these themed exhibitions we showcased inventive book structures from around the world.

My current visual work is underpinned by my PhD research and I apply the principles of sustainable design to as many aspects of my practice as I can. I am particularly interested in greener methods of printmaking. I love to combine different processes in my book-works and prints and I am drawn to colour and texture.

Email me: emma AT rejectamenta DOT com (replace the @ and . respectively)