Taline Temizian is an Armenian British artist, designer, and creator. with versatile projects and collaborations that span many disciplines and areas both academically and aesthetically.
She describes herself as a universal quantum thinker and a transhumanist who wants to create art that heals our memory and trauma and design that is about beauty, love, and optimism.
Liann Skies: Turquoise cut from one stone and gold knuckle-duster ring, 2017
Homage to Faberge. Made in Venice, Italy.
The Private Royal Collection
Double Portrait Triptych, 2021.
Oil, pigments, and mixed media on canvas
Private collection Michael Portillo, Spain
When you see any of the artworks and designs by Taline, you are faced with a situationist moment—an event frozen in time and space. You see thoughts that translate into unpredictable color and unfiltered emotions, all appearing like a fine cocktail drink that brings you to the verge of happiness, tears, memories, dreams, order, chaos, and laughter all at once.
From her early jewelry designs back in 1998, The Paris Collection in 2002, to the impressions of Las Meninas back in 2012, to creating the most whimsical, avant-garde yet Neo-Victorian jewels for royalties, Taline’s designs take you on a journey into the heart and brain. It can take you to places you have never been or take you someplace deep within, but even the darkest moment is filled with hope and humor.
Mon Amour et Mon Dieu . 2013 Private collection Pierre Lagrange
Las Meninan lll. Private collection Michael Portillo, Spain
Visionnaire had the pleasure of talking to her at her home in London.
V. What is the connection between art and high jewelry?
High jewelry is another medium of artistic expression. A work of art or "objet d’art" that triggers a certain feeling, a memory, or a thought These are forms of expression of the sublime, of the soul, and of nature; they use different "languages," but "all roads lead to Rome," in this case to the heart.
Artist-jewelers historically were artists who used ceramic, gold, textiles, paint, metal, film, and any medium to express an idea, an emotion, etc.
Medium is also often a way to explore new transformations. The process becomes both the medium and the message at the same time.
Cardiology Bracelet, Gold & Enamel COBALT CARDIAC
The Cardiology Collection 2014 Private Collection, Rome, 2008
T: What is your practice about?
I have an art and design practice. They are two separate entities; I am different people in both; however, they both have parts of my heart and brain in them, and they both work with certain systems, principles, and methodologies of thinking and developing that combine years of studio life as well as my constant research practice.
In my life, I have been formulating thoughts and emotions through the means of creating art.
Even in design, whether jewelry or other works, it always goes back to the essence. It connects art to life through science and math.
It is about deconstructing what we perceive as truth and reconstructing it through love and transcendence.
BLUE BRAIN RECOGNITION SYSTEM 1
V. How did it all start?
I was sent to an art school at the age of 4. It was an Armenian school in the ancient city of Aleppo in Syria called "Sarian Academy". There I was tutored by classical fine artists from Soviet Armenia. Contemporary art and conceptual thinking were very foreign to that place at that time. I suppose this is how I started in art...
They asked us (and expected us) to paint the classic landscape with a hut, a sun, a bird house, etc. Instead, I painted buildings, an urban surround, a heart, imaginative places, and Cubist flowers. We were taught to paint "Nature Mort"—dead nature, fruit bowls, Roman sculptures, classical imagery of nature, musical instruments, etc. I learned the rules through all this education; however, I broke every one of them. Since then, I have painted metallic square flowers and melting suns.
The way of seeing the world in a completely unique and new way has never been an intentional one, but it is how I perceive the world. In the later years at St. Martins, this vision took yet another flight, leading to a much more complex twist in the way I perceived things, or even more how I observed the world around and within. We can never undo this transformation.
A Private Collection of Floral Century L 2012. Paul Smith, London
Above: Pink Khamajig, 2002, Paris "The Paris Collection". Armenia, 2002, Paris, The Paris Collection
Oil, stylization, and collage on card. Oil and acrylic stylization are cut from canvas paper and mounted on card.
While doing this, I was also in elementary school, ballet school, and a classical choir in addition to the piano lessons! This went on for at least 10 years. Here is where I learned the principles of classic fine art school. As well as learning sculpture, life painting, water color, oil, etc. Later, it was time to break all the rules. This appeared clearly in my Paris collection, also called "Burlesque at the Backstage of Theatre Gothic" and also influenced by the iconic Armenian couture duo, the Tarloyan brothers, who designed for Galliano, Lacroix, etc. This was my first figurative expressionist attempt (post-couture school). These works were inspired by the couture jewels that Coco Chanel created, but also by the Armenian Christian relics—Kachkars are crosses—which are historic tombstones that are very particular to Armenian history and Christian heritage.
It was the name that I liked, and I called it burlesque, not really understanding its’ meaning. I was only 20. Fast forward to 2004 at London's Central St.Martin’s School, where I learned to unlearn everything, and something changed in the way I saw the world, which changed my art forever.
THEATRE IMAGINAIRE + DRONES 2019
New media video and painting sculptural installation.
Oil, acrylic, velvet, micro controller, wires, screen and other in Perspex enclosure
CARDIAC LAST SUPPER 2015
Mixed media, graphites, sepia, oil and vinyl on canvas
1.8 m H x 2.5 m Wx 3 cm D
Private Collection, Hamburg
How did the jewelry come about?
Since I was a child, back in Aleppo, my mother took me with her to buy jewelry pieces for her, and occasionally I got to have my own jewelry pieces too. In later years, she used to commission very unique pieces for her concerts. She had a great stage presence; she was a classical singer with a unique soprano coloratura voice, and her jewelry was a subtle work of art and self-expression, not a commodity.
Similarly, my aunt used to take me with her to other jewelers, where she ordered bespoke fancy jewelry pieces for her and her daughters; these were more pearls or sapphires. My aunt was value-savvy, not so much into the art side. I absorbed both outlooks towards jewelry. Art jewelry, even when it is high jewelry, is quite different from what we see in the current luxury market. I love both, but somehow it influenced how I inherently challenge that difference. Art Deco, the Bauhaus, and what I call "gallery jewelry" are not necessarily what the great jewelry maisons are doing. There is a huge spectrum, although different cultures and purposes inform the art and commercial jewelry. Is it a design masterpiece? Or an object of investment—a "financial statement"?!—or rarely both.
Great jewelry houses like Van Cleef & Arpels, where I briefly studied a few courses and explored their history, Cartier, and Bvlgari often have a great balance of all the elements that make a piece great, which involves great design, artistry, and value. Van Cleef & Arpels being on top in terms of creativity
It is also worth mentioning one of my favorite jewelers in recent history, Paul Flato, who continuously inspires my design process. We can feel the art and story through his pieces. They hold meaning and an independent life of their own, beyond carats and market value.
Every design starts with an idea. Some ideas take their spark from a stone, a diamond, an architectural monument, a color, etc.
When I first showed my art to Mark Evans, the managing director of Bentley & Skinner, he looked at one of my artworks and said, "This is art, but it is also jewelry." Only recently did I fully understand the weight of his words.
At the time, I was always feeling "judged" for doing both artwork and jewelry design. As if one of them was not serious enough. But the more I dove into researching and learning about jewelry throughout history, auctions, and the world of collectibles, the more this connection became apparent.
And it all comes down to my main philosophy: everything is connected.
21st-CENTURY TAKE ON A FAMILY CREST
Private Commission - Padova, Italy – 2012
David Bailey in action. Photograph at the David Bailey studio
All rights reserved. London in the photoshoot session, 2013.
How do you come up with all these ideas? Where do they come from?
To begin with, the question that pauses itself is "What is an idea"? and "what is an artwork"? An idea is an invitation to perceive and feel in a certain way. An artwork is the means by which an artist tells their version of the world. It can just be an experience, like we see in new media.
An idea comes from everywhere, yet there is always a system behind the creative process. It is more accurate to ask, "What is the reason and system behind an artwork or an idea? Why rather than where? An artwork or object of art reflects our internal and external worlds, a result of the connection between the heart and the brain and all that happens in between.
Pavillions of Memory 2018 CCA Montreal New Media Time-Based Sculpture
Painting, electronics, screens, cameras, codes, interfaces, sound systems, wires, metal sculptures, Perspex sculptures, latex, and interactive video content
Supported by Gluon, Bozar Lab, and Printemps Numerique
What is the relationship between art and life? Does art imitate life? Or vice versa?
It always starts with the heart. Even the idea is first an emotion, a feeling.
And without a happy heart, there is no art, no creativity. It all becomes meaningless. This is why the heart—love—is of utmost importance to me. More than any art or design I create.
2012, FRAGILE CARDIAC, oil, mixed media, and stencil on canvas paper
Private Collection, Germany
How do you describe your designs? Both jewelry and rugs?
I somehow strive to bridge the gap between form and content, realism and poeticism, originality and classicism, east and west, bohemian and noble, the spiritual and the glamorous.
In 2007, when I launched my first and only couture collection "Bright Young Things" at Kensington Gardens in London, my slogan was "Minimalist expression of a maximalist decadence". In art as in design, it is all about creating an idea and presenting it within a space (both physical and imaginative) and a time (that captures the L’air du Temps, yet it remains timeless), and dealing with aesthetics—the external world and the depth of the internal—with a certain obsession that creates the complex relationship and balance between the minimalist and maximalist.
"Royal jewelers and royalties who wore my pieces have the same playful expression as those who collect my art. There is always an element of surprise, an unpredictable moment that gives the subject "Delight". A term specifically expressed by Professor Koen Kas in the innovative and advanced medical industries."
Everything in our universe is connected. Science, art, technology, the divine proportion, architecture, and design/archaeology—even future cities. These are also some of the sources of her inspiration when creating artwork or projects. Research is the basis of everything, coupled with imagination, meditation, passion, and love!
Emerald and Heart Earrings 2008
Emeralds and heart-shaped diamonds
Made by The Royal Jewellers Bentley & Skinner, London
Private Royal Collection, Qatar
ROSE OF MY LIFE – Diamond Ring 2015 AQUA SPACESHIP RING – 2014 – Private Royal Collection
CABINET OF CURIOSITIES: Bentley & Skinner dollhouse cabinet with jewelry. Sketches of the jewelry—from The Love Collection. ©Taline Temizian 2011
SPACESHIP RUG
Wool, silk, viscose, Hand-Tufted rug
View in space – 1 of 8, Private collection – Munich 2021
It’s Overkill: New Media—Video and Painting Sculptural Installation
Oil, pigments, electronics, screen, video content, wires, microcontroller, graphite
In a perspex enclosure
Private collection: Hamburg 2020
Q: What are your upcoming projects?
In art, I am working on a science-related project with Belgium and Sweden. This involves my lifelong project and my interest in the brain and the heart. I am also planning a new body of work that explores the theme of "happiness." In jewelry, there are great surprises in the pipeline. I'm working with some incredible household names for the next year. Watch this space. Same for the rugs: I will produce and showcase some exciting things; however, my bespoke projects are my focus in this area.
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