Ella Merriman

Art, Design, Craft

Ella Merriman is a London-based artist and designer working with the endangered craft of rush basketry. Her work explores the disconnection between humans and nature, drawing on her fascination with plant-human relationships. She combines rush with found objects from London streets, seeking harmony between urban and rural life. Rooted in slow, tactile processes, her practice is guided by intuition and her materials.

A Furniture & Product Design graduate (First Class Honours, 2018), she has exhibited across the UK and Europe. In 2024, she received the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers’ Award and is based at Cockpit Bloomsbury.

Below you can find a selection of Ella’s recent works. She describes them collectively as ‘love letters to nature’. As no human is the same, neither are the rush stems and Ella chooses to respect each one, working symbiotically with the plant to craft her works. As a Londoner with minimal access to the great outdoors, she believes that her practice reunites her with the land and she finds a deep sense of belonging and grounding within her making process.