MEET THE TEAM
The Blue Magpie Team at Elmslie House
The Blue Magpie team is made up of several part-time staff, and volunteers.
Anna Taylor
Anna has had a love of craft and design her whole life, starting by learning to draw and paint with her aunt as a child. Anna then became a silversmith herself, and is therefore passionate about craft and supporting other makers.
Following the completion of an M-Phil in Publishing Studies at Stirling University, Anna worked in publishing at Oxford University Press. After re-locating to the Midlands, she started working for various printers, ending up running teams of Customer Service Executives.
After taking a break to have a family, Anna and her husband Bernard bought Elmslie House in 2013. After extensive renovation, they opened part of the house to operate as a small family-run business, mainly as an independently-funded community arts centre.
Despite a full and busy family life, running Elmslie House as a venue, hosting the craft fairs and baking, Anna always puts the time aside to visits craft fairs and exhibitions all over the UK.
As Anna has always been a bit of a magpie, and her favourite colour happens to be blue – this is why ‘Blue Magpie’ was born.
Louise Ross
Louise moved to Malvern from Edinburgh, to live here with her now husband, a born and bred Malvernian. It was a big change to leave both friends and family in the wilds of Scotland, but she’s very much come to love Malvern. Before working for Elmslie House (and before becoming a mother to a boy and a girl), Louise was an Event Producer, working for American Express, Nokia, SXSW, the UN, and running her own events pop-up company. Louise also loves attending gigs, experiential events, author talks and foodie events.
Crafting is a big part of her life; Louise loves knitting, cross-stitch, embroidery and needle felting. She is also currently trying to learn crocheting and punch-needling. Over the years, she has taken classes in wood-carving, pottery, macrame and screen printing. When Blue Magpie rolls around, you’ll find Louise eyeing up the ceramics and silver-smithing!
Louise loves being part of the awesome Elmslie House Team, as well as being involved with a community of artisans and artists.
Charlotte Hern
From an early age, Charlotte has always been a maker, after falling in love with the colourful world of Fimo. Inspired as a teenager by Wallace & Gromit, she completed a model-making degree in 2007. Moving to Bath, she spent over nine years working for the artist Timothy Richards as head model-maker, project manager and product development lead. Over the years, her work has been used for iconic British brands including: Burberry; English Heritage; and The British Museum. Internationally, she has completed work for clients across Europe, the UAE and USA.
After establishing her work as a sculptor on returning to Malvern in 2012, that Charlotte first came across Elmslie House.
Charlotte feels very much at home at Elmslie House, enjoying being involved in the vibrant local art community of Malvern and saying yes to cake at every opportunity!
Ruth Dodwell
Ruth has a background in events and marketing, and with a life-long love of jewellery trained as a silversmith and launched her contemporary jewellery business in 2017.
She designs and creates her silver jewellery from her home-based workshop, and has exhibited several times at Blue Magpie.
Ruth loves spending time with her family, but is never happier than when she is mooching around a market! With her eldest child now away at University, Ruth is delighted to have joined the vibrant team at Elmslie House and be supporting the Blue Magpie events.
Amanda Jackson
Originally from Canada, Amanda moved to the UK in 2001 and studied Photography at Hereford College of Art. She is now based in Malvern, and also frequently enjoys spending time in a cabin in Pembrokeshire, sitting reading by a roaring wood burner.
Amanda is passionate about sustainable living and environmental issues and is at her happiest with either a camera around her neck, or surrounded by spruce trees.
Venla Freeman
Venla’s love of Malvern began with her schooldays here, and she moved back in 2020, having spent the intervening years living and working in London. She was a trade and consumer exhibition organiser, staging events in major venues around the country, including ExCel in London Docklands, the NEC in Birmingham, and G-Mex in Manchester. Venla’s specialism was in wine events, which resulted in her becoming part of the UK promotional and marketing representational body for the California Wine Institute.
Venla really enjoys her role here at Elmslie House, working alongside Anna and the rest of the Team, keeping them all in check with her regular ‘tactful encouragement’ homilies. She also previously considered herself immune to bribery, but Anna’s constant production of delicious cakes has proved conclusively that this is manifestly untrue!