Ethical Making @ The Glasgow School of Art

Workshop access and degree shows are back! It’s been a busy academic year in Scotland’s art colleges, we are thrilled to see motivation from students and educators to incorporate ethical making into their studies remains strong.

We spoke with our Ethical Making Student Ambassadors Lindsay Mahood, Sarah McQuarrie, Militsa Milenkova and Bea Miotto at The Glasgow School of Art to learn more about how they and their college have incorporated sustainable practices into their workshops, jewellery making and silversmithing.

Within your college workshop, what collective efforts towards more sustainable and/or responsible practice have been made?

Sarah: We keep each other in check daily! Whether it’s using and borrowing tea towels, turning off someone’s gas and air when they’re not using it, sharing our scrap metal, or researching eco-friendly alternatives to materials and suppliers – it’s a team effort! We are reducing waste and these small improvements are becoming second nature.

Lindsay: The lifts in the Reid building have been switched to eco mode, so they use less power. The university coffee shop uses biodegradable cups but encourages bringing your own cup.

How has your college integrated themes of ethical making into the curriculum? (This could be through lectures, briefs, workshops or other)

Bea: Year 3 students participated in the Cop26 project and were taught how to turn silver grains into ingots. I now have the knowledge to do this with all my scrap silver, collected throughout the academic year. There is a lot of amazing work shared on the @gsa_sj Instagram, if you would like to have a look.

Bea: We were taught how to make our own scoring and chasing tools and how to use gold for Keum Boo (a technique involving thin gold on a silver surface). A small amount of gold goes a long way, it can be used so sparingly, Keum Boo technique is more eco-friendly than gold plating, it doesn’t create the same by-products. All the casting grain used in the workshop is 100% recycled and, in 2020 the department became Fairtrade gold registered!

Lindsay: We also took part in the Radical Jewellery Makeover!

Lindsay Mahood’s RJM earrings

Have you (or any of your classmates’) addressed themes of ethical making within your creative practice? 

Sarah: There are a few graduates this year whose work is focused on themes of sustainability and the climate crisis. Sam Galloway, who was shortlisted for the GSA Sustainability Prize, uses a range of found materials from the coastal landscape, as well as process such as casting, to create a hybrid of old and new experiences of the landscape; Liz Willoughby utilises marine plastics washed ashore to provide new futures for discarded materials, emphasising human impact on the landscape; and Lucy Pearl Petts uses biodegradable 3D printed filament in her collection, which takes a light-hearted approach to the pressures faced by modern society, such as the climate crisis and civil unrest. My own work does not have a narrative around ethical making, but my making process is very much centred on ethical practice. For me, ethical making is not necessarily at the forefront of my work, but is normal, everyday practice. When I began working with resin as part of my graduate collection, I found the Ethical Making Resource very helpful in directing me to a supplier of bio-based resin!

Militsa: I love working with found objects. I believe it gives them a second chance and reduces waste. I always use recycled silver and melt down my scraps. I use copper and brass scraps from the workshop scrap boxes.

Lindsay: I use ‘Eco Jewellery Handbook: A Practical Guide for a Healthy, Safe and Sustainable Studio’ by Christine Dhein and I encourage others to read it.

What progress do you envision your college making over the coming year? 

Lindsay: encouraging new students to start, straight away, with a sustainable practice and to find more ways to make my practice sustainable, to continue to learn from others.

How has your experience as Ethical Making ambassadors been?

Sarah: I have been an ambassador for most of my time as a student, not long after the programme was first implemented. It has provided me with a wealth of knowledge about the impact that the jewellery industry has on the planet – both far-reaching and local. It has given me the confidence to talk about these topics with understanding to other students and share what I have learned from being a part of everything the Ethical Making Programme has offered. I think that it is integrated well within the universities, and I have seen it become a core part of the learning experience within the department. I have thoroughly enjoyed the whole experience of being an ambassador, what I have learned will carry on as an integral part of my practice!

Lindsay: I appreciate all the advice from other ambassadors. I feel that ethical practices are no longer just done by a select few but have become everyday practice within the studio, it’s becoming the norm.  I like to share what I have learned with my peers. 

Thank you to the GSA Ethical Making Student Ambassadors, Lindsay Mahood, Sarah McQuarrie, Militsa Milenkova and Bea Miotto for kindly providing the information in this blog on sustained commitment to ethical practice at GSA.

A further, special thank you, and congratulations to graduating student ambassador Sarah McQuarrie. Sarah has been our longest standing student ambassador, joining us while studying at the City of Glasgow College, then continuing her commitment while further studying at the Glasgow School of Art. Sarah has been such an enthusiastic and active student ambassador, we look forward to seeing where her ethical making journey takes her next.