'Carte Blanche marks a new direction. I have given myself 'Carte Blanche' - permission to move out of safe territory to explore the contradictions and ambiguity that can be achieved using glass as a material for jewellery.

This new series of glass and metal jewellery explores the visual rhythms made by repeating a single element, and continues my enjoyment of working with subtle shifts in colour and form.

If asked to describe glass your first response might be that it is transparent and reflective, but glass can be the opposite. It can be dense matt black, absorbing light rather than reflecting it. Glass should feel hard and smooth and cold, but this glass feels soft and velvety. It looks like rubber, or plastic or maybe even carbon fibre. It warms against the skin, appealing to the senses of the wearer.

I enjoy challening the preconcevied ideas of glass as a material for jewellery, denying the obvious qualities of glass, and gving it new, unexpected qualities.'
Blanche Tilden, 2006

SABBIA GALLERY
Main Gallery
72 Campbell Street, Surry Hills
Open Tues-Fri 11.00am-6.00pm, Sat 11.00am-4.00pm
Tel: (02) 9281 4717

Sabbia Gallery
Blanche Tilden's work is also featured in the forthcoming exhibition Smart works: design and the handmade which opens 30 March at the Powerhouse Museum.

Search the Powerhouse Museum collection for more examples of Blanche Tilden's work.