Tillie Burden

This degree project begins as a love letter to the historical glassmaking region of Glasriket and examines the regions’ evolving identity using nostalgia, the power of memory and the cultural legacy of craftsmanship to bridge past and present.

I navigate the fine line between homage and critique, using traditional glassmaking techniques to honour craftsmanship while ensuring they remain relevant. Nostalgia preserves but also transforms, allowing historical methods to engage with contemporary artistic discourse. By utilising these attributes, works can be produced not to merely repeat tradition but to actively converse with it, bringing historical glassmaking practices into a dialogue with my own artistic practice.

Romanticising the ordinary, I blend nature and everyday objects with playfulness and simplicity, weaving nostalgia for a collective past with my own childhood memories and identity.

My work aims to reflect on the endurance of craft, reimagining Glasriket’s heritage as a source of inspiration, continuity and artistic renewal.