INTEGRATED JEWELLERY OBJECTS
UNSW - COFA Final Year Project
Bone, Ebony, 18Y Gold, Red Acrylic Inlay, Silk Cord and Sterling Silver

Object New Design Award
(selected graduate exhibition)
Object: Australian Centre for Craft and Design, Custom House
Winner: 2003 Object New Design Award for Studio Base Practice

1000 Rings: Inspiring Adornments for the Hand (A Lark Jewelry Book)
by Marthe Le Van
Published on Page 174

ADORNED SURFACES
Cofa Magazine, Issue 07, April - July, Winter 2003, page 6
Author Jonathan Rez

Bic Tieu believes that to achieve something creatively significant requires a vision, concentration and a dedication to learning. One look at her award winning pendant series reveals why she holds this opinion. Her work is concentrated, detailed, refined, elegant and compelling. It combines the skill sets of a woodworker. a jeweller, a painter, a metal smith and a cultural historian into one.

"My life builds outward around each new thing I learn, ' she says. "Because I know that every new skill is a chance to make more of myself and more of my design, I learn it completely."

A recent work placement with well-known jewellery Sabine Pagan allowed Tieu to experiment with new materials and techniques and hone in on the methods that most suit her own type of jewellery design. During her stint, Tieu concentrated on mastering the technique of acrylic inlay, which has been critical in the production of the Integrated Box Pendant Series.

The Integrated Box Pendant Series underscores Tieu's fascination with East-Asian dress customs and the role body adornment plays as a system of coding in ancient societies. The pendant series demonstrates Tieu's finely tuned carving and inlay abilities, using as the subject traditional Chinese court insignia. Each of series she produces features three powerful motifs of dragons, phoenix, and flowers.

Bic Tieu is currently completing a postgraduate degree in the School of Design Studies at COFA examining the process and application of Vietnamese lacquering. Her lecturers Leong Chan and Wendy Parker, both of whom are supervisors for the project, agree that Tieu's research will provide an important body of knowledge on an ancient art, the use of which is quickly diminishing in traditional societies around the world.