The story begins in Costa Rica, where Juli grew up on a mango farm. The tropical childhood landscape gave her a palette and the culture of repair. Edinburgh College of Art added a third influence. Arriving for her MFA 15 years ago, she was drawn to the flaws others discarded. Her hand-cut marks draw on the patterns of traditional whisky tumblers, which ties her Scottish training to her signature.
As Amy Bradford writes, her sourcing is methodical. Flea markets, charity shops and recycling banks all feed the studio. A collaboration with a Czech glass-blowing factory rescues rejects from its production line. Her Wee Birds – Pajaritos series came entirely from those leftovers: 11 tropical birds shown at Sotheby’s as a finalist for the inaugural House & Garden Craft Prize.
She is clear that current use of raw materials cannot continue. Her response is practical:
My work is about listening to what the material wants to become, and about how we’ve lost our connection to waste, as it gets picked up and taken away out of sight. But we can’t continue to use raw materials as we do. It’s insanity. Instead, I try to make something beautiful from broken pieces.
Wee Birds – Pajaritos. Photography by Murray Orr for Juli Bolaños Durman
Wee Birds – Pajaritos. Photography by Murray Orr for Juli Bolaños Durman
The same ethos shapes her home, La Casita, a Leith apartment designed with fellow Custom Lane resident Alexander Mackison of Architecture Office. Its kitchen, built by Silvan Studio from surplus Scottish timber, has featured in Dezeen, Elle Decoration and Dwell.
Resourcefulness and generosity run through all of it. Juli treats collaboration as part of her material: a factory’s rejects, a joiner’s surplus timber, a perfumer’s vision. She values Scotland’s close-knit craft scene, and it returns the favour. Her home came together through conversations with local makers, drawn in by her work and keen to take part. She also shares that work beyond collectors, through printed books and short films with Costa Rican animators Estudio Shout.
Read Amy Bradford’s full article, Meet Juli Bolaños-Durman, the artist turning broken glassware into objects of desire, in House & Garden.
Photography by Murray Orr