Creative Catra
Papercutting, creativity, and Italian inspiration with paper Artist Emily Hogarth
PUGLIA, ITALY
25th to 31st January 2027
Join renowned paper artist Emily Hogarth for a week of creativity, inspiration, and paper play in beautiful Puglia, Italy.
This immersive retreat invites you to explore the art of paper cutting and paper collage in a relaxed, supportive, and inspiring environment. Through a series of carefully designed workshops, Emily will guide you in developing your own paper cutting practice, helping you build the skills and confidence to create original designs and tell your own visual stories through paper.
Together, we will experiment with positive and negative space, light and shadow, shape, colour, and texture, drawing inspiration from the beauty of our Italian surroundings. The earthy tones of the landscape, ancient olive groves, charming villages, and the winter sea will provide a rich source of creative inspiration throughout the week.
Alongside the studio workshops, Emily will encourage you to see the magic in the everyday details around you and discover how these observations can be translated into designs for your own artwork. Whether you are new to paper cutting or looking to deepen an existing practice, you will leave with fresh ideas, new techniques, and a collection of work inspired by your time in Italy and new friends.
This retreat offers a welcome pause during the winter months—a chance to reconnect with your creativity, immerse yourself in the tactile joy of working with paper, and become part of a welcoming and supportive artistic community.
ABOUT EMILY
Emily Hogarth is a Scottish paper artist, designer and illustrator based in East Lothian, Scotland. Inspired by her surroundings and guided by her motto "making the everyday magical", Emily's work celebrates the beauty of nature. From wild coastlines and rolling hills, to the birds, animals and seasonal details that often go unnoticed.
Working primarily with papercut illustrations, Emily loves the balance of bold shapes and delicate details that paper offers. Her intricate paper artworks combine stylised florals, wildlife and landscapes, capturing a sense of place and storytelling through layers of paper, colour and texture.
For over a decade (almost two decades), Emily has created commissions for private clients and collaborated with a wide range of brands and organisations. Alongside her studio practice, she is passionate about sharing the joy of papercutting with others. Through workshops and her three books on papercutting, she encourages participants to slow down, look closely at the world around them, and help them with their own creative voice.
Emily's teaching style is relaxed, supportive and inspiring. With a focus on experimentation, creativity and building confidence. Whether you are completely new to papercutting or looking to develop an existing practice, she aims to create a welcoming environment where everyone feels encouraged to explore, play and create.
She is delighted to be sharing this creative week in Italy and looks forward to exploring, making and finding inspiration together.
PUGLIA, THE RETREAT LOCATION
Puglia or Apulia, is the southernmost eastern region of Italy. Its coastline, the Adriatic in the east, the Ionian south and west, is one of the most beautiful in all of Italy, with silvery olive orchards stretching all the way to the long sandy beaches touched by the one of the clearest and cleanest seas in the Mediterranean. It is an ancient land, and one which was invaded many times in its history. One can still see towers built to ward off invaders centuries ago.
MASSERIA SPECULA - THE VENUE
Carved into a gentle hill, our Masseria is surrounded by 20 hectares of exclusive private land, offering a tranquil retreat just 1km away from the enchanting shores of the Ionian Sea.
Masseria Specula is an exclusive retreat venue in Puglia, Italy, set within a beautifully restored 17th-century farmhouse dating back to 1611.
Website:
Instagram:
THE ROOMS
Private bathrooms | Wi-Fi | AC & Heating | Double beds or single beds
THE FOOD
Our kitchen staff is made of grandmas from Puglia who cook authentic local recipes that their mothers taught them. We use seasonal ingredients grown in the neighbouring fields.
THE PROGRAM
-
![A white building with multiple stories and small windows, illuminated by sunlight, located near a stone wall and arched in the foreground, under a clear blue sky.]()
DAY 1
Welcome drinks and tour of the venue
Group dinner with Emily
-
![A calm body of water with a few birds floating on it, bordered by green bushes and trees, with a distant hilly shoreline under a cloudy sky.]()
day 2
Breakfast
Workshop – Introduction into Papercutting
Emily will introduce you to the world of papercutting, exploring its history and how contemporary artists use it in their practice. You'll learn the fundamental principles and techniques of papercutting, including an introduction to papers, tools, and how to use a knife or scissors as your drawing tool.
Lunch with the group
Building on the morning session, Emily will explore positive and negative space, designing in a single colour, and the key elements of creating a strong papercut composition. We'll also discuss finding inspiration, developing ideas, and translating them into your own creative work.
Dinner with the group
-
![A corner of a room with a black wooden table, a small wooden chair, a basket, and a framed picture on the table. There's a bottled water and an upside-down glass on a tray on the table. The wall is white with textured stone details, and sunlight creates shadows on the floor and table.]()
day 3
Breakfast
Workshop – Design & Development
We'll continue exploring inspiration and creative development, focusing on creating designs that reflect your interests and artistic practice. Emily will work individually with participants throughout the morning, helping each person develop and refine their own papercut designs.
Lunch with the group
This session will introduce layering techniques in papercutting, while allowing dedicated time to continue working on the designs developed earlier in the day.
A little slice of Italy pasta making class
Dinner with the group
Bonfire
-
![Historical stone church with round clock and dome, surrounded by colorful flowers and a courtyard.]()
day 4
Breakfast
Day Trip to Lecce - Enjoy a day of exploration and inspiration away from the studio. Lecce, known as the “Florence of the South”, is a stunning Baroque city in Puglia famed for its ornate architecture, vibrant culture, and rich history.
Dinner with the group
-
![Watercolor painting of a forest scene with trees, birds, a fox, and a sitting figure, created on a sketchbook page, surrounded by art supplies on a wooden table.]()
day 5
Breakfast
Workshop – Paper college.
Spend the morning exploring paper collage techniques, including tips, tricks, methods, and sources of inspiration. We'll create our own coloured and patterned papers to use in the afternoon session.
Lunch with the group
Afternoon Workshop – Create a series of playful paper collages while incorporating papercutting techniques to produce expressive and imaginative artworks.
Relax time
Dinner with the group
-
![Scenic view of white cliffs with caves along a turquoise harbor, ocean with boats, and clear water revealing rocks beneath.]()
day 6
Breakfast
Studio Day
A full day in the studio to build on everything we've explored throughout the retreat. You'll have dedicated time to develop your own artwork, with Emily on hand to offer guidance, support, and inspiration as you refine your ideas and create pieces you feel proud of.
Lunch with the group
Studio Time - Continue working independently or experiment with new ideas and techniques.
Dinner with the group
Closing Reflection
We'll come together to celebrate the work created during the retreat, share what we've enjoyed and learned, and discuss how we can continue developing these ideas and practices beyond the retreat.
-
![]()
Day 7
Breakfast
Departures
BOOK YOUR SPOT
Single room at the main venue: € 3000 per person (3 spots remaining)
Shared room at the main venue (shared with 1 other person): € 2600 per person (4 spots remaining)
Shared room at the main venue (shared with 2 other PEOPLE): € 2400 per person (3 spots remaining)
Reserve your spot with a €1000 deposit.
The remaining balance is due by the 31st December 2026
PLEASE DO NOT BUY AIRPLANE FLIGHTS UNTIL WE CONFIRM THAT THE MINIMUM NUMBER OF PEOPLE FOR THIS RETREAT HAS BEEN REACHED, AND THEREFORE THE RETREAT IS CONFIRMED TO TAKE PLACE. IF THE MINIMUM NUMBER OF PARTICIPANTS IS NOT REACHED, A FULL REFUND WILL BE ISSUED.
What’s included:
Art classes.
Art materials included.
Exclusive use of the entire property including all common areas, workshop spaces and gardens.
Accommodation at Masseria Specula.
All meals (freshly prepared breakfasts, home cooked lunches & dinners).
Complimentary water, coffee, tea.
Pasta making class.
Self guided hikes to the beach or to a natural salt lake where flamingoes live.
Roundtrip airport transfer from/to Brindisi Airport (BDS) at one prearranged date and time with 1 minibus for the whole group.
All tourist taxes and fees.
What’s not included:
Airplane tickets.
Travel insurance.
Airport pick-up / drop-off from airports other than Brindisi Airport.
Anything not listed in the “What’s Included“ section above.
Send us a message to reserve your place: