TIA VELLANI, B.Sc., M.Sc., Ph.D.

Jewellery Designer

Playful and contemporary, the colourful jewellery designed and created by Tia Vellani, Artist by Night, is a fresh addition to the art world. The artist exchanged a successful academic career in molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics for more time to pursue her deeper passion for designing jewellery. Her work was most recently featured in an invitational exhibition in one of the hottest galleries in the USA, where the opening night performance was choreographed to showcase her jewellery. Her pieces have been included in invitational exhibitions from Florida to Washington state and have made several movie, television and print media appearances in Canada and the USA.

She won a monetary award for her graphic art in 2005 from the largest scientific organisation in the world, the American Society for Microbiologists. She has written for Step-by-Step Beads magazine and been interviewed for Nature magazine, Georgia Public Television and Radio Kilkenny. Through her participation in the art show circuit, she has acquired a following of enthusiastic collectors.

The artist derives inspiration from her belief in the healing strength of love, and her aesthetic from the colours, forms and textures of all things organic and inorganic, corporeal and ethereal. She devotes her artistic efforts to promote the common good, contributing her creations to charitable auctions aimed at helping children and the mentally ill. She designed a line of Mardi Gras jewellery and donated 100% of the money to impoverished victims of Hurricane Katrina. To support cancer research, she designed a series of bracelets to commemorate the life of Francis Crick, one of the scientists responsible for recognising  the double helix structure of DNA, once again donating all of the money.

While she does incorporate precious metals and gems, she typically favours non-traditional art materials, currently concentrating on fine silver in clay form and the vibrant and durable material, polymer clay. She routinely includes a few surprises: refrigerator tubing, nuts and bolts, drywall support mesh and poetry stamped onto copper plates. The value of her pieces resides in the artistic vision motivating their creation as well as in the materials themselves.

She has recently set up a studio workshop in the Castlecomer Estate Yard, housed within the gates of the Discovery Park, where art lovers can purchase her jewellery and watch her work alongside her partner, Dani, a photographer, sculptor, master raku artist, published novelist, videographer and retired restaurant owner, in their newly founded enterprise, Artists by Night.