A LENS ON TIME

2O18

BLANCHE TILDEN
DESIGNER AND MAKER

MARY FEATHERSTON
DESIGNER

IN 2015 I COMMISSIONED BLANCHE TO CREATE A CONTEMPORARY NECKLACE FROM SMALL GLASS PARTS MADE IN THE 1940S BY MY LATE HUSBAND GRANT.THE A LENS ON TIME NECKLACE WAS CREATED FROM OLD SPECTACLE LENSES COLLECTED BY MY LATE MOTHER, PEG CURREY. SHE WAS FOR MANY YEARS A REGULAR VOLUNTEER IN AN OP SHOP AND USED TO BRING HOME ALL SORTS OF TREASURES— STYLISH CLOTHES, INTRIGUING OLD TOYS AND EXCELLENT HOME-MADE JAM FROM HER CO-VOLUNTEERS. I KEPT THE LENSES IN THE HOPE OF ONE DAY CREATING A NECKLACE WITH THEM, EACH ONE IS A SLIGHTLY DIFFERENT SHAPE AND SOME ARE COLOURED, THEY WOULD HAVE ORIGINALLY BEEN FITTED INTO FINE WIRE FRAMES. I HAD IN MIND SIMPLY LINKING THE LENSES IN LINE BUT WHEN I PUT THAT TO BLANCHE SHE TENTATIVELY ASKED IF I HAD CONSIDERED OTHER ALTERNATIVES AND THIS LED TO A JOYOUS DAY OF CREATIVITY IN HER WONDERFUL WORKSHOP, TRYING OUT MANY IDEAS, MATERIALS AND TECHNIQUES.