Blanche Tilden

Blanche Tilden’s distinctive use of clear glass in the creation of contemporary jewellery explores the ever-present use of glass in objects and the built environment. Throughout her practice, Blanche has developed a unique visual and material vocabulary, referencing mechanical technology, industrial modernity and architecture. Being both a solid and a liquid, strong and fragile, and a ubiquitous element of every digital device and city landscape, the material and paradoxical qualities of glass are explored by Blanche in necklaces designed to be worn and to move with the body.

"During 25 years of practice in the fields of contemporary jewellery, glass and design, I have developed a unique visual and material vocabulary through an innovative use of glass and metals, creating jewellery and objects that reference mechanical technology, industrial modernity and architecture."

Blanche Tilden began tertiary training at Sydney College of the Arts, in both the glass and jewellery workshops in 1988, and graduated from the School of Art, Australian National University, Canberra, with a Bachelor of Art in glass, 1992, and a Graduate Diploma in gold and silversmithing, 1995. She went on to complete an Australia Council-funded traineeship with goldsmith and designer, Susan Cohn, and was a member of Workshop 3000, Melbourne, 1996–1998.

Consistently practising in the fields of contemporary jewellery and glass for more than 25 years, Blanche has exhibited in solo exhibitions in Australia and significant curated group exhibitions nationally and internationally. Her work has been acquired by all major Australian public gallery collections, and international museum collections including the Corning Museum of Glass, Corning, New York and the Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris. Blanche has received a number of awards including the inaugural ANU Stephen Procter Fellowship, the Pilchuck International Glass School Scholarship, and a State of Design Victorian Premier’s Design Mark. She has received project and development funding from the Australia Council for the Arts, Arts Victoria, Asialink, City of Melbourne and Arts ACT.

In 2016, Blanche returned to study, receiving an Australian Postgraduate Award scholarship, and commencing a PhD in the School of Art and Design, Australian National University. She is represented by Gallery Funaki, Melbourne.

Image: Blanche Tilden, Flow 03, 2016. Photo: Grant Hancock. Image: Courtesy the artist and Gallery Funaki.

Graded Palais, 2015
Waterjet cut, coldworked and flameworked borosilicate glass, oxidised 925 silver.
Price: $3,000

Circularity, 2017
Waterjet cut, coldworked and flameworked borosilicate glass, oxidised 925 silver.
Price: $3,000

Flow 03, 2016
Kilnformed and flameworked borosilicate glass, titanium.
Price: $1,800

Arc, 2017
Kilnformed and flameworked borosilicate glass, anodised titanium, 925 silver.
Price: $1,800