Nic Bladen Botanicals is a range of hand-made silver and bronze jewellery made in Kommetjie, Cape Town. In fusing his knowledge of the ancient technique of lost-wax casting, together with his training as a dental technician, artist and jeweller Nic Bladen has pioneered a way of developing perfect castings of organic matter. This involves creating molds of actual leaves, flowers, twigs and seed pods, which are baked in a kiln at high temperatures, before the molten metal is poured into the negative spaces left by the plants. Thus, each casting is absolutely unique, in that every leaf, even in a pair of matching earrings, has been individually cast.
Much of Bladen’s jewellery is an ode to the fynbos of his beloved home in Cape Town’s peninsula. This area represents one of the world’s smallest Floral Kingdoms, yet it is also the richest.
Bladen’s jewellery range perfectly complements his full-scale plant sculptures, which have been exhibited in Cape Town, Johannesburg, New York and London, and are to be found in many important local and international collections. Bladen’s sculptures are represented by the Everard Read Gallery.
