Bic Tieu ✿ A cultural alchemist combining East and West
Having learnt from Japanese lacquer masters, Bic Tieu applies her intricate metal knowledge to forge storied objects from Eastern traditions.
Growing up in a migrant family and living between cultures, the things that have sparked my curiosity often find their way into my writing. Through writing, I gain the opportunity to learn more about my personal culture, history, and sense of place. It allows me to reflect on rituals marked by the lunar calendar, the festivals we celebrate through food, and, importantly, the material culture that has significantly informed my practice. I find expressing myself in words difficult, so the subject must resonate with me—there needs to be a connection and an opportunity to learn from it.
I’m drawn to authors who connect with their cultural histories and take readers on a journey through time and place. Recently, I started reading the historical fiction novel Pachinko by Min Jin Lee. It traces the story of a Korean family who immigrates to Japan, exploring their struggles, emotions, and hardships—narratives that resonate with my own family’s experiences. Another book I’ve just begun is the non-fiction Craft Culture in Early Modern Japan: Materials, Makers and Mastery by scholar Christine Guth. What caught my attention is her reference to the practice of lacquer in early modern Japan, which is both relevant and insightful to me. One of my all-time favourites is Edmund de Waal’s bestseller The Hare with Amber Eyes, perhaps because it revolves around the mystery of inherited netsuke—miniature carved Japanese objects. I admire this book for its universal themes of family, migration, and world history.
I live in Erskineville, a tiny village-like suburb that I suspect has more pets than people. I visit Foodcraft every day—mainly for their coffee, but sometimes for lunch and dinner too. It’s owned by Christian and Wil, who, along with their wonderful team, serve delicious modern cuisine to the community. I’m currently making a set of matching earrings and a pendant for Christian’s mother, who lives in Austria.
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Bic Tieu is a designer, object maker and jeweller. Her works draw on traditional and contemporary craft and design methods inspired by her Asian and Australian cultural lineages to investigate themes of personal and cross-cultural narratives. Specialising in metal technologies, manufacturing processes, and traditional Vietnamese and Japanese lacquer, her practice often utilises a synthesis of these materials to create new perspectives on contemporary object-making and meanings. Follow @bictieustudio and visit www.bictieu.com.
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Takashi Wakamiya ✿ Lacquer master and founder of Hikoju Makie - Bic Tieu pays tribute to Takashi Wakamiya, who was a key part of her own lacquer journey.
Cabramatta: The nostalgic poetry of Asian shops - Bic Tieu casts her childhood memories of a Sydney Indo-Chinese suburb.
Hydroponic ✿ Transplanting roots through migration - The Hydroponic Garden is a place to appreciate the root system of plants, just as the migrant experience exposes cultural roots to be transplanted.
The box: A magic object of objects - Beginning with the Japanese animation Spirited Away, Bic Tieu traces her fascination for the magic of the box in Japanese craft and discovers how it connects humans and nature.
An orchid in the desert – the lacquer journey of Bic Tieu - Kevin Murray explores how Bic Tieu uses the medium of lacquer to tell a unique Australian story,