Dr Bic Tieu

Bic Tieu is a designer/maker, researcher and education creating objects and wearables designated between the hand, body relationship. Her work of contemporary jewellery and object practice utilises a multidisciplinary approach in the designing processes. Often facilitated through the workings of graphic language and animation. Bic’s works draws on traditional crafts methods and contemporary technology, inspired by Asian sensibilities to communicate narratives based on personal cross cultural concepts. Recent projects have used geographical mapping and graphic language to construct explorations of cultural identity, transnationalism interpreted in the form of jewellery and objects.

Bic began her design and jewellery education at the University of NSW Art and Design, where she completed both a Bachelor Design and a Masters of Design(honours) degrees. Her practice further developed through professional training at the world-famous Japanese lacquer studio Kitamura Koubou, more recently Hikoju Maki-e and Japanese contemporary metal master Toru Kaneko. Bic is currently a Phd candidate at the Australian National University (ANU) with the Jewellery and Object, School of Art & Design. Bic’s research at ANU investigates the synthesis of cross cultural identity and object collections as design strategies to traverse and create new perspectives on contemporary object making and meanings.

Bic continues to work on exhibition projects and gives talks and workshops at various local and international conferences, cultural institutions and education. She has conducted studio Masterclass and workshop, completed various local and international residency programs and received awards and grants. The awards and grants are from the National Association of Visual Arts, Asialink, The Ian Potter Cultural Trust, The Australia Council for the Arts, The Australian Design Centre, The University of NSW-COFA (former name) and The Australian National University.

Alongside exploring the realm of the contemporary jewellery and object scene, Bic maintains a parallel practice as a freelance commercial jewellery designer and maker. Bic has over five years’ experience in jewellery designing and manufacturing processes. Working at the production scale, utilising computer-aided design and large-scale production methods to facilitate the commercial jewellery world. Known for her attention to detail, Bic renders meticulous designs in 1:1 scale using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to articulate designs ready for production. In 2013, Bic started the Bic Tieu Studio. Consisting of small run, studio production base of contemporary jewellery design, honing in to reflect her specialty skills.

In 2017 Bic was appointed associate lecturer at UNSW Art & Design where the culmination of her practice and skills are passed onto students. She is also a committee member on the Jewellers and Metalsmith Group of Australia (JMGA-NSW). For more information please visit www.bictieu.com.