about
Photographer: Nina Hamilton
Emma Bugg (b. 1981, lutruwita/Tasmania) is a contemporary jeweller, artist, and futurist who reimagines connection through storytelling objects and tech-infused craft. Her practice merges traditional metalsmithing with unconventional materials and emerging technologies, embedding NFC tags, QR codes, and AI to create jewellery that carries memory, message, and meaning. With more than fourteen years of experience, she creates work that bridges the personal and philosphical, the physical and digital.
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Emma’s works have been exhibited nationally and internationally and acquired by institutions including MONA and the Galley Museum. In 2025, she was awarded the inaugural Bridge Arts Prize for Bridges and Bloodlines and has been named a finalist in the MAKE Award. She was also a finalist in the 2024 Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize with NugBot, an AI-chatbot jewellery set, and in 2023 received a fellowship for the Women’s Art Prize Tasmania. Notable commissions include a QR-activated brooch for David Walsh, and her locket A Moment to Reflect, embedded with Thylacine DNA, was shown in Not Natural at Science Gallery Melbourne.
In 2020, Emma co-founded State of Flux Workshop, an artist-run studio and gallery in Hobart that supports contemporary jewellery and object makers. She holds a BFA and a Diploma of Jewellery Design, has studied with Karl Fritsch and Lisa Walker, and completed a mentorship with Susan Cohn through Arts Tasmania in 2016. In 2024, she was a guest presenter at Women in Design: Agents of Change, and she is regularly invited to speak on art, ethics, and the future of design on platforms such as ABC Radio.
At the heart of her practice is material curiosity, ecological thinking, and radical storytelling. Whether working with communities in Queenstown, collaborating with scientists on de-extinction projects, or experimenting with digital interfaces, Emma creates artefacts that reflect this moment in time while imagining what future generations might percieve the past.
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Galleries and Stockists:
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Employment
2023-2024 Peer review panel, RANT arts, Arts Tasmania
2011-2017 Museum of Old and New Art (MONA) Gallery invigilator, performance artist
2011-present Practicing artist, self employed
Education
2015 University of Tasmania, Foundations of Technology for Healthy Living
2012 Postgraduate Master class, Contemporary Art Jewellery- Karl Fritch and Lisa Walker, University of Tasmania
2009-2010 Tasmanian Polytechnic. Diploma of Art, Craft & Design in jewellery design
2000-2002 University of Tasmania, School of Fine Art. Bachelor of Fine Art (BFA) degree
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Solo Exhibitions
2021 Seeing in the Dark, Handmark Gallery, Hobart
2020 Still Life, Handmark Gallery, Hobart, Tasmania
2019 Explorations in Concrete, Moonah Arts Centre, Tasmania
2016 Exhibition of new work; Emma Bugg. Handmark gallery, Hobart, Tasmania
2014 Let’s get Metaphysical, Handmark gallery, Hobart Tasmania
2012 Hear my voice before it is spoken, Handmark gallery, Hobart, Tasmania
2011 Unearthed, 146 Wallspace, Arts Tasmania. Collection of new jewellery
2010 Emerging Artists show; Emma Bugg & Blair Waterfield. Handmark gallery, Hobart, Tasmania
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Group Exhibitions
2025 Crown exhibited at Ladies Lounge, HOTA, QLD
2025 There are no Straight Lines, Poimea Gallery, Launceston TAS
2024 Woollahra Small Sculpture prize, Sydney, NSW
2024 Namedropping, MONA TAS
2024 Absolute Piston Gauges, Contemporary Art Tasmania
2024 Not Natural, Science Gallery, Melbourne
2023 Difficult Terrain, Schoolhouse Gallery, Rosny Farm
2023 Precious- Excellence in Contemporary Jewellery. QVMAG, Launceston Tasmania
2022 Certain Women, Soggy Brolly Gallery, Queenstown, Tasmania
2021 Radiant Pavilion, The Boroughs, Melbourne, Victoria
2020-2023 Crown exhibited at Ladies Lounge, MONA
2018 Triple Parade, HOW Design Centre, Shanghai, China
2017 Toowoomba Contemporary Wearables '17- Biennial Jewellery Award & Exhibition
2017 In-house, Moonah Arts Centre, Tasmania
2017 Material: Concrete, Artisan Gallery, QLD
2016 The Contemporary Jewellery Exchange International online exhibition
2015/16 Sweet Tribology, Area Recreativa Monte Deva, El Pinar, France
2015 Earthcode, Plimsoll Gallery, University of Tasmanian School of Fine Art
2015 Connected, 146 Art Space, Arts Tasmania
2015 Earworms, GAFFA gallery, Sydney NSW
2013 Fabricate Contemporary jewellery exhibition, Design Centre, Launceston, Tasmania
2013 Art Takes Miami, Miami Art Fair, Miami Beach, USA.
2013 Toowoomba Contemporary Wearables, Toowoomba QLD (Nationally Touring Exhibition)
2013 Pushing the Boundaries, School house gallery, Rosny Tasmania
2013 Tactical Magick, workshop participant and exhibitor, CAT gallery, Tasmania
2010 Design by 10, contemporary jewellery. Side Space Gallery, Salamanca Arts Centre Hobart (curator and exhibitor)
2009 Explorations jewellery exhibition. Gaffa Gallery, Sydney & Guildford Lane Gallery, Melbourne
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Professional Development​
2024 Guest speaker, Agents of Change: Women in Design 2024
2018 Undisciplined conference, Hobart, Tasmania
2015 Parallels design conference, Melbourne
2015 Parallels design camp. Selected to attend five day camp with national & international artists & designers
2015 Women in Design. Design Centre, Launceston
2015 LINK festival-Design, technology and social change. Melbourne.
2015 Earthcode | core litany Selected to participate series of field trips, discussion panel & create responsive artwork
2014 Transmediale festival. Attendee and technical assistant for Nancy Mauro Flude, Haus der Kulturen, Berlin, Germany
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Awards and Major Projects​​
2025 Inaugural winner, The Bridge art prize, Bridges and Bloodlines necklace. 9B Studios, New Norfolk
2024 Woollahra Small sculpture prize finalist- Nuggets of Wisdom & Fries with That
2024 Private commission, David Walsh and Kirsha Kaechele-10th Wedding anniversary bespoke jewellery.
2024 A Moment to Reflect, Thylacine de extinction collaboration with Prof. Andrew Pask. Not Natural exhibition, Science Gallery, Melbourne
2023 Gilded Memories, Charm Necklace for Queenstown. Unconformity festival
2023 Women’s Art Prize Fellowship Recipient -Established Artist, RANT Arts & Bell Bay Aluminium
2023 Commissioned project 2023 Unconformity Festival, Queenstown TAS
2019 Decay concrete bangle Finalist Footscray Art Prize
2017 Shrapnel necklace Finalist in National jewellery award Toowoomba Contemporary Wearables
2016 Awarded development grant to explore use of concrete. Arts Tasmania
2014-2016 Awarded studio residency, Arts Tasmania Connected program
2015 LINK festival, Melbourne. Fellowship awarded. Granted RAF Quick Response funding to attend
2014 Commissioned by Artist Hubert Duprat to make gold chips for caddis fly artwork, MONA
2014 Crown Commission for wedding of Kirsha Kaechele & David Walsh
2013 Love Brooch Project Selected for Toowoomba Contemporary Wearables, (AUST/NZ)
2013 Observatory necklace chosen for international publication in Lark 500 series book ‘500 Art Necklaces’
2012 Selected as Top 5 Tasmanian artists, 30 & under Nicole Durling, Senior curator at MONA
2011 Commissioned to design brooch featuring QR code technology for David Walsh, owner MONA museum)
A R T I S T C V