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Sunday is Rosemary's twenty-fifth birthday. Having spent more than half of her twenty-fourth year living in Brooklyn and working at a graphic design firm in SoHo, she now finds herself at home in Glenborrodale, Scotland. The village claims the westernmost point of the Scottish Highlands, but Rosemary tells me that it’s really just five cabins, not even a village. Her change in environment has resulted in a period of incredible creative flourish and motivation. One of my strongest and most driven friends, Rosemary also has an acute eye for color, texture and design. Translating both her personality and her aesthetic into what has become an impressive portfolio of prop styling and set design, Rosemary has harnessed the "madness" of New York City that she is so fascinated by to produce a body of work in a new field that is, this time, entirely for herself.

Tell me about what brought you to New York City the first time. What made you love the city?

I first came to New York in August of 2011 with my friend Gabby who was studying at Pratt for a semester. I know it sounds super cheesy but I remember seeing the city for the first time from Newark Airport and thinking “This is it!” That was the moment I fell in love with New York City.  Since then, I have been back several times to visit, intern, and most recently to work and live there for a full year.

I think that a lot of people relate to that instant infatuation, myself included. After spending so much time here since 2011, what do you think of when you think about New York? What have you taken home with you as a source of inspiration?

The energy and the madness in New York is what I love and now miss the most. There is nothing like it anywhere else. When I lived there this past year, I used to walk from the apartment in Crown Heights to work in SoHo everyday and, without fail, I would arrive at the studio with a story to tell. In the Highlands there is not as much happening and I definitely do not go to a lot of drunken Sunday brunches. It’s just sheep and trees here! Also, the color of the sky - that real blue sky! I think about that when I think about New York. 

Color plays such an important part in your work, what is the role of color for you?

I really like working with objects around the home, especially in the kitchen. I love working with the strong shapes and intricate details of cutlery that contrasts with the forms and colors of fruits and vegetables. I want people to see my sets and feel inspired to look at the things around them, even just in their home, differently. Color plays a big part in changing the context of the objects I am working with to make them appear more desirable and fun.

I remember you were already planning to create an interior set with orange walls before you left New York. Color was always integral to the thoughts you would share about what you wanted to make. How have you gotten to this point where you are dealing mostly in objects, color and composition? 

When I arrived back in Scotland, my head was buzzing with ideas from all the things that had inspired me in New York. I was not too happy to be back but I just felt that I had to take advantage of the space and resources that I am fortunate to have here in Scotland and that I had to use my hands to physically make things. In the past, my work was primarily in Graphic design, but I realized that wasn't for me and that I was becoming really interested in interiors and styling over the past several months.  So I started making interior spaces in an unused room in my house here, but my work unconsciously moved towards set design as I kept finding myself more and more drawn towards objects. 

And where are these household objects from that you use in your sets? It seems like your house is actually a museum of the most amazing artifacts!

Luckily my Grandpa collected silverware - much to the annoyance of my Granny who doesn't care for spoons and forks and wished he collected jewelry instead. I go up to my Granny's house every so often and leave with bags full of great teapots, spoons and glasses to photograph. There are also a lot of really great resources around my home where I can easily find flowers, wood and even good surprise pieces on the shore. I make some of the objects in my sets, like tree-branch shelves, and I paint and build the walls and surfaces that I shoot everything on. 

So what is a typical day like for you?

Currently my normal routine starts with an extra large mug of extra strong coffee. Then I go on the hunt for things that I could use in my set. I build or resume working on a set and then I move on to doing too much Adobe for my liking. I finish the day with some quality time hiking in the hills with the boy - Archie, the collie dog. I spend about 4 hours a day working on my portfolio at the moment, whether that be research, sending my work to to publications, sourcing props, photographing the sets, or editing the photographs I take. 

Is the photography also part of the work or do you consider photographing your sets as documentation?

I would say I am definitely not a photographer. I see it only as a way of documenting. I feel like photography is something that I need to and want to improve on, but it is the making of the set itself which is my main focus. 

Do you have anything you are working towards next in terms of projects? You described starting with building and decorating rooms and you are now on to all sorts of food styling. Where is all of this leading?

I have been shooting meat - not with guns - all week which has been fun. The kitchen looked like a murder scene! I am starting to pick up some freelance work too, my first project is for La Monda Magazine. Right now I just want to make work for people and see where that takes me. Hopefully that will lead to a new career - one that I am passionate about, one where I am always learning and always challenged. But at the moment I just want to build a portfolio that I am happy with.

Do you think you would have been able to make this kind of work here in New York?

I would have never been able to make this kind of work if I still lived in New York. Now I have space and access to so many different materials at little cost, which would have been almost impossible in New York. 

How do you stay motivated and inspired to work on your portfolio every day? How does this time of working for and by yourself compare to your experiences working with a team for a client as a graphic designer? 

I actually much prefer working for myself - keeping to my own schedule, setting my own guidelines and limits, and most of all, having creative freedom! Although I do really miss being a part of a team where you can bounce ideas off of one another and watch YouTube videos from the 90s during lunch. I listen to music while I work on the sets, which keeps me motivated. This week I was listening to Rod Stewart, but I don't only listen to Scottish people! Last week it was Kanye. Next week, who knows. I have watched Vance Joy’s ‘Riptide’ over 100 times. Actually, I think half of the 15 million views on YouTube are probably just me. I love it; there are so many fun ideas in there! I also bounce ideas off of my friends and am most inspired by what they are all doing. My friends from Visual Communication at The Glasgow School of Art are the people who I have learnt the most from and will continue to learn from until the end! We spent every day together for four years and now we are all over the place in different countries doing completely different things.

Do you think that your location affects your identity? It seems like you derive a lot of inspiration and motivation from New York, but your creative resources and a focused environment in which you work and learn are in Scotland.

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Latest release - coming to you via the new and amusing medium of Gacha... from the 23rd at The 24... and already blogged by Darkley Aeon, Chic Aeon (picture linked above) and Gabe Bookmite.