Emma Thistlethwaite
A Floral artist’s Love for Folklore and Wild Spaces
Emma Thistlethwaite is a passionate florist, artist, and Morris dancer with a deep appreciation for nature and its rich folklore. In this interview with Ellie Gill, she shares insights into her floral journey, the importance of seasonal flowers, and her fascination with plant symbolism and traditional uses.
I know that you prefer to use seasonal flowers when possible. How do you go about finding your flower suppliers or growers?
I guess to start with upon my move to a more rural life I googled my local flower growers and then connected with more and more via Instagram, one of my regular growers that supplies me now lives just on the next road up so its perfect!
A lot of flower growers work on a mixed bucket basis where they provide the best of what’s on the plot that week in a specified colour palette, if I want to be more specific and design led in my choses or am after larger quantities of a specific flower and I want it British grown, there are larger farms further afield that grow on more of a mass and specialise in certain flowers that will send product in the post!
An exploration into conceptual botanical design centered around the apple with Emlyn Bainbridge.
What is your favourite plant folktale or example of botanical symbolism?
I love the symbolism where you can draw links from the plants traditional uses, medicinal properties, its folk names and folk & magical uses, it’s like one big giant web.
For example, Poppies are used a lot in line with dream magic, one of my favourite being writing your problems/worries on a piece of paper and slotting it inside a poppy’s seed head and sleeping with it under your pillow, solutions should then be revealed to you in a dream.
Another example being, st john’s wort, hailed as the sunshine herb and the very encapsulation of summer's height; a plant to ward off evil spirits. The plant is still widely used today to treat seasonal affective disorder & depression.
The buttercup was used as a way to increase a farmers’ butter yield for the season ahead by rubbing the plant on their cows’ udders on May day morning, a possible hint to the origin of its name.
Elder is another good example of folk tales transcending into more practical realms, in a few different cultures, the spirit of the elder tree is said to be a female force, sometimes linked to witches or mother earth, one that can become angered if chopped or interfered with without asking. Its wood is actually a poor wood for burning, it burns fast, lets out little heat and gives off a thick smoke, it even hisses in what feels like a tangible depiction of that anger.
I love how ambiguous and non-black & white it all can be, who knows what side of that understanding of elder came first, I think that’s where the real magic is.
A project for Under the ancient yew shot by Emlyn Bainbridge.
After stalking your Instagram I saw that you were living in a yurt, do you still live there? If so how are you finding the winter?
Yes! For about 9 months a couple of years back I had a lovely little home in a managed woodland and it was beautiful!
Sadly I had to leave there and the yurt is now in storage but it’s the plan to one day get back in there, hopefully in the not so distant future! I’ve always felt attracted to a more stripped back, raw way of living, closer to nature and even closer to the seasons.
A photographic collaboration with Emlyn Bainbridge at Stanton drew stone circle.
Will you exhibit at Chelsea Flower Show again? How did you find it last time?
Maybe! I don’t have any plans to at the moment but if the right variables came along then never say never.
Chelsea was such an experience for me. I’d never been before even on a normal ticket so it was incredible to see all the work that goes into the show, the gardens were jaw dropping. I was really proud of my floral installation at Chelsea, it felt like an incredible opportunity to create something completely self led, no brief to follow or client to consider, just an expression of my interests and approach to floral design, it felt very special and a pivotal moment in terms of taking my practice into a more creative & concept led realm.
Photographic collaboration with Jordan Rose inspired by spring folk customs & plant lore.
We both crossed paths at Charleston festival of the garden. Which other places help to inspire your creativity?
I do love a garden for inspiration, especially old ones with really established perennials! It’s amazing to notice how certain plants naturally interact with each other when planted and using what I notice as a way to inform my design.
Mainly though I look to wild spaces for inspiration, I love seeing how the elements affect a landscape, like when bracken becomes wind beaten and raggedy on a blustery exposed hillside.
I love the landscape where I live in Stroud for inspiration but also the wildness and openness that the Welsh landscape holds.
In terms of non-natural spaces that inspire, I love an old building and finding plants & flowers in the architecture or decor in things like stone & wood work, stained glass, tapestries & paintings.
I love working at wedding venues like old manor houses and stately homes for this reason!
Ffern window shop installation.
You seem to have lots of creative outlets and interests, which is great. Are there any other crafts or art forms you’d like to explore more?
I like to try and find ways I can combat the waste involved in the floral event industry by using leftovers or just things on the allotment destined for the compost heap to create something new. This has led me to try things like natural dyeing, making cordage from plant fibres, making soap & botanical infusions. I like finding ways I can use these processes in tandem with floral design and I’d love to learn more about weaving with natural fibres & plants. I grew a small amount of flax last year and am slowly working on processing it to the point it can be spun hopefully!
Boss Morris creative female dancing group.
I love Boss Morris, how did you become involved with the group?
A friend and fellow bosser invited me last minute to a practice after we’d had a drink at the pub, I’d known of boss Morris for a few years beforehand and really admired what they did so I was chuffed to be invited along.
Now two years in I cannot imagine my life without Boss, in equal parts it feels like a Morris side, an artist collective and a sisterhood. Everyone is so talented in their artistic endeavours outside of dancing, that it makes for a unique and creative approach to Morris.
When we dance outside in celebration of seasonal customs throughout the year, it feels like a further extension of my practice of noticing & feeling the landscape.
Interview - Ellie Gill @ellie_gill www.elliegill.co.uk
Featuring - Emma Thistlethwaite @thistlebynature www.thistlebynature.com
Pictures - Emlyn Bainbridge @emlynbainbridge - Jordan Rose @joro115 - Hollie Fernando @holliefernando