Bic Tieu: Objects In-Between

New works by designer, maker and researcher Bic Tieu, exploring cultural identity and architecturally described objects.

Bic Tieu is a Southeast Asian Australian designer, maker, and researcher interested in how traditional crafts methods and contemporary technologies can shape new perspectives of contemporary jewellery and object making. Her practice uses Vietnamese and Japanese Lacquerware in objects and wearables designated for the hand and body. Recent projects have used geographical mapping and graphic language to explore cultural identity and transnationalism in the form of jewellery and objects. 

Tieu’s new body of work moves away from wearable form and into architecturally described objects. 'Objects In-between' explores notions of hybridity as a third cultural space informed by her experience negotiating multiple cultures, and how objects can shape and reflect identity. The five rectangular prisms in the series are formed from intersecting plant-based motifs made from semi-transparent metal alloys. The motifs are charged with meaning through the process of hand manipulation, defragmentation, and reassembling, resulting in a visual language that expresses ideas of interceptions, transgression, and intercultural negotiations.