Get Together 2025 | Panel One: Ethical Making

Lecture Theatre, 10am – 11:15am

This panel will highlight artists, craftspeople, and designers working with sustainable materials, techniques and processes, from sculpture and jewellery to fashion and textiles. The discussion will emphasise responsibly sourced art materials with archival longevity as a key consideration.

[Lead]: EMMA HISLOP is a multidisciplinary artist working with sculpture across metal, glass, ceramics, and plant life. She engages traditional craft techniques, such as foundry casting and basket weaving, which carry ancestral knowledge, reflect sustainable rhythms of making, and deepen her connection to land, labor, and storytelling. Hislop has received awards from the Sustainability in Action Group, Edinburgh Sculpture Workshop, and Royal Scottish Academy. She has worked with the British Society of Scientific Glassblowers, GENERATOR projects, Central Saint Martins, and Creative Carbon Scotland.

DR KAREN WESTLAND graduated from the silversmithing and jewellery course at Glasgow School of Art before completing the Bishopsland fellowship in traditional silversmithing. Their PhD research combined applied physics and responsible craft practices, which continue to be central to their work. Karen lectures part time at GSA and firmly believes in skill and knowledge transfer – continually learning from master craftspeople – and reciprocates through volunteer work within the creative industries. Their silverware and jewellery are recognised for their sensual, decorative surfaces and responsibly sourced materials.

KATERINA GRIBKOFF is an artist and researcher based in the Burren, County Clare. She has a BFA from the Pratt Institute in New York and is currently a PhD candidate in practice-based artistic research at the Burren College of Art, where she maintains a dye garden and grows plants for pigment. Her work includes quilting, sculpture, and film photography. She has recently exhibited at Galway International Arts Festival 2024, The Irish Embassy in Indonesia, and in Saarbrücken, Germany.

OLANA KUCHER is an interdisciplinary designer, researcher, and educator with over 25 years of experience in interior design, fashion, and applied arts. She holds a Master’s degree in Fashion and Design and is the founder of Art Silk Ball studio in Kilkenny. Her practice blends traditional craft with sustainable innovation, working with silk, biomaterials, textile waste, and circular design principles. She is a member of the Design & Crafts Council of Ireland and the Irish Guild of Weavers.

SÍOFRA CAHERTY founded the award-winning sustainable design studio, Jump The Hedges, after working for brands such as Adidas, Levi’s, and Portwest. The studio has a material-led approach to product creation, as opposed to the fashion industry’s ‘design-led’ approach. Bags are created from reclaimed truck tarpaulin, aeroplane seat parts, and waste leather; and clothing is created from regenerative and organic materials. The studio recently launched an innovative Farm to Garment project, which tracks the complex journey of a t-shirt from field to factory floor.