Tassia Joannides received her Bachelor of Fine Art with Honours from Monash University in Melbourne in 2004. She then moved to Adelaide where she was selected to complete the Design Associate program at JamFactory Contemporary Craft & Design, followed by a residency in the Metal Design Studio. While in Adelaide, Tassia began her exhibition profile by making jewellery, objects and installations from her signature material rubber. During 2008 she travelled to the U.S.A. where she undertook a short residency at Rhode Island School of Design and also exhibited in San Francisco.
In early 2009 Tassia relocated back to Melbourne where she continues to make work for exhibitions and has commenced her Masters by Research at RMIT University. Her Masters research will investigate the notion of desire within the intimate connection between materials and the human body, through object making as well as through an exploration of photography, video and performance.
Tassia’s work has been exhibited both nationally and overseas and has been featured in publications such as 500 Necklaces, and exhibited in Talente 2008 in Munich, Germany, and more recently in Itami, Japan.
Why were you drawn to participate in
Once More, With Love?
I saw the Ethical Metalsmiths talk
about their work at a seminar a couple of years ago and was inspired
by their project. When I heard about Once More, With Love I thought
it would be a great opportunity to get involved and participate in
the recycling jewellery revolution!
What was the most interesting/weirdest
thing in your mystery bag?
A corny peace sign pendant with the
words “Peace, Love, Hope” printed on one side. My own work is vey
simple so I was thinking “what on earth can I do with this to make
it contemporary?!” I ended up taking out the center and using the
outer circle as a casing for a group of beads, and painted the whole
piece with a high black gloss. I like that you can still read the
words on the back of the piece, which I hope retains and respects the
meaning of the iconic peace symbol.