Celebrating Welsh makers: Bronwen Gwillim and her journey from waste to wearable art
Listen to our special three-part podcast series, The Decarbonisation Dialogue, celebrating Wales Climate Week
As we celebrate Wales Climate Action Week, we’re delighted to catch up with artist and maker Bronwen Gwillim, whose Welsh ancestry and deep sense of place continue to shape her creative vision for a more sustainable future.
Bronwen, who studied at both Goldsmiths and Camberwell College of Arts in London, now works from her studio on the glorious Pembrokeshire coast - a homecoming after years of community work across the country.
She has built a thriving jewellery practice creating one-off pieces of wearable art made entirely from waste plastic. Each piece begins life on the local beaches - within a mile of her home - where Bronwen collects, reuses, and upcycles beach plastic by hand.
Bronwen explains that her approach is rooted in sustainability: she aims to keep her carbon footprint low by using mostly reclaimed materials and hand tools, ensuring the very minimum is ever thrown away.
Her environmental consciousness began early, inspired by her father, a craftsman and boatbuilder, who believed that there was a second life for everything.
She said: “My dad had this thing about collecting materials. He wasn't a hoarder because he was very selective, and he always knew the value of materials.
“Our garage was never for putting a car in - it was always for storing amazing materials. Sadly, he died a few months ago and so it's been fascinating just going through all the stuff that he's collected, but I think that gave me a real fascination and an insight into the value of materials.”
That love of what has been discarded followed Bronwen throughout her artistic journey - from Camberwell, where she was drawn more to scrap copper and brass than to silver, to her present work transforming what is considered “low-grade” into something precious.
“It’s this love of transforming something that's considered to be ‘low-grade’ to something that's considered ‘high-grade’ which is what led me to jewellery.”
Community, creativity and empowerment
Bronwen’s work has always been rooted in community. Over the years, she has used art as a tool for empowerment, including a decade working in hospitals and even driving a double-decker play bus across Bristol, taking art directly to children and local communities.
“I've spent large amounts of my career working in hospitals and schools, mostly in settings where I've been using creativity as a tool to empower people.
In hospitals, for example, I was working with patients and staff, involving them in designing new buildings or re-looking at their environment - and how having an uplifting environment can make everyone feel better, patients and staff. But what I always tend to do is come back to the making and that's been a constant. I think that comes from my family.”
Living with the landscape
Although surrounded by stunning beaches, Bronwen’s studio sits opposite an oil refinery - a daily reminder of the fossil fuel industry and the urgency of climate change.
“I'm constantly reminded about the fossil fuel industry really,” she said.
This awareness shapes her approach to consumption and creation.
“How can I justify creating more things for people to consume? I think that's so completely linked to climate change - this overconsumption and overproduction, so I need to make sure that I am actually reusing what is already there.”
Her jewellery celebrates women and explores our perceptions of value.
“I think there's a thing about jewellery being precious, and you may not like a piece of jewellery, but you'd find it much harder to put it in the bin than you would a bit of plastic food wrapping. Our associations around value and what's precious are different when it comes to things like jewellery.”
Finding strength and colour
Bronwen’s personal journey has also shaped her art. After being treated for breast cancer, she turned to bold, colourful designs as a source of strength and positivity.
“I had a time when I was very low, I’d had breast cancer, and after that experience I really wanted to wear something very bright. Making a piece of jewellery that was bright and bold, but also environmentally sensitive, made me feel better about myself. It was also a way of saying something positive about my values and the environment too.”
A studio in harmony with nature
Bronwen takes pride in maintaining planet-friendly studio practices.
“I have a small waste bin in my studio, and I have a thing that every time I put something in the bin, I really question whether that's the right thing to do and how I can work that out of my production process.”
Locally, she is known for her beachcombing habits, often seen exploring the sands and mudflats of East Angle Bay.
“I have a terrible reputation locally. I can always be seen either in the mud on East Angle Bay or on the more windswept sandy beach on the other side.
“I also live in a house that gets cut off when there's a very high spring tide - but those very high spring tides are also really exciting times because it means you can walk out onto the mud and across the bay, an area that's normally completely covered by water, and that reveals the most incredible underwater worlds.
“I'll come back, and my pocket will be full of this weird mixture of things - a nice bit of seaweed, a funny bit of plastic, an old clay pipe and a beautiful shell - so I think that is an inspiration.
The Decarbonisation Dialogue
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