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Meet the Bloggers

Blanche Tilden

• Contemporary jeweller, Victoria
• Email: blanche@blanchetilden.com.au
• Web: www.blanchetilden.com.au

In the Pathways Blog, Blanche blogs about mentorships.

I am a craftsperson and designer, making jewellery that is of this time and place. I use everyday materials, precious materials and materials made originally for another purpose.

I live in inner city Melbourne, and share a workshop with Phoebe Porter. We set up the workshop last October and called it Studio Hacienda. The workshop is in a big old factory space, which was once called Hacienda Homewares. The name is painted in huge letters on the building, so we decided to keep it - we were also inspired by the design philosophy of English graphic designer, Peter Seville, Factory Records, and the famous Hacienda night club in Manchester, the birthplace of British dance culture.

The factory was built in 1922 as a bootmaking factory, and part of the building still houses "Harold's Boots" - we can hear the stamping, hammering and stitching from the factory while we are working.

I began studying glass at Sydney College of the Arts in 1988, transferred to the ANU School of Art (SOA) in 1990, and graduated from the Glass workshop in 1992. I went on to complete a Graduate Diploma in Gold and Silversmithing at the SOA in 1995.

In 1995 I was awarded an Australia Council traineeship, and relocated to Melbourne to work with Susan Cohn at Workshop 3000.

I have exhibited nationally and internationally since 1990, and gradually built up a significant and recognised contemporary jewellery practice. My work is in the collections of most Australian public galleries. I have exhibited with Gallery Funaki in Melbourne since 1995, and I also show my work through Worksop Bilk in Queanbeyan in New South Wales.

I have developed a unique approach to materials, along with a focus on repetition. I am continually inspired by a fascination with mechanical devices, fuelled by a desire to understand how things work. Sometimes I make use of ready-made machine chain to discuss relationships between the machine made and the handmade, design and craft, and the qualities that make jewellery valuable and valued. My work has allowed me to travel overseas to Osaka, Japan, and Seattle, USA.