French wooden oyster buckets hold different kinds of shells being used for the mirror-frame commission Mel and Ella are working on, sourced by. them from local beaches and supplemented by restaurant discards.
Mark Anthony Fox
The next day, we head to one of the island’s oldest sites. The three-metre-high Penrhos Feilw standing stones, framed by the brooding low hulk of Holyhead Mountain Mynydd Twr, probably date back to the Bronze Age. Their ancient, mystical appeal has a parallel with her own work, says Mel, since, in pagan times, sites of worship were often decorated using shells.
There is also a long tradition of using exotic shells as signifiers of wealth and taste. In the 18th century, the scions of stately homes used rare, imported specimens to line the walls of their grottoes, follies or hermitages. Nowadays, in more ecological times, makers like Mel source their shells closer to home. Venus clams, whelks, cockles, or local Menai mussels – byproducts of the food industry – lend themselves to creative use.
We pay a visit to Chris Neill, who has been farming oysters on the island since the 1970s (at the peak of the business he was supplying around 10,000 oysters a week, mainly to bars in Blackpool). We meet him on a jetty overlooking a peaceful stretch of inland sea, where he is sifting through piles of crustaceans. Any rejects are given to Mel. ‘Look at what nature made,’ she says, seizing a gnarled, knobbly example.
Mark Anthony Fox
Ella is a friend of Chris’s three sons, who have all inherited their father’s entrepreneurial streak. Digby, who runs music events such as Gottwood Festival on Anglesey, Toby, the restaurateur behind Michelin-starred St Barts, EC1, and their brother Hamish have also joined forces to open The Stores in Trearddur Bay. The colourful Italian-inspired deli and restaurant is a popular meeting place. We stop to pick up lunch, while Mel and Ella trade island gossip with friends.
Back in the studio, they don their boiler suits and get back to work. Their latest commission, from designer Ken Fulk, is for a shell-encrusted cabana in a Barcelona hotel. The loose brief here was ‘bold and big’. ‘The possibilities are infinite,’ says Mel. ‘Like nature.’
Campion & Daughters: campionanddaughters.com