ABOUT

Rachael Linton is a New Zealand-born artist living in the UK. She works as a gilder laying pure gold leaf on frames, furniture, and fine art, as well as interior and exterior architecture. As a sole trader, under the name Tilia Gilding, she works on a commission basis restoring and creating all manner of gilt objects from her studio in Wimbledon, London. Using traditional water-gilding and oil-gilding techniques, achievements include gilding the Queen's robing room at Westminster Palace, gilding the Cutty Sark, and teaching at the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths. Rachael became a gilder in 2013. During her Master’s degree in Digital Media Artistry & Design (2008), she researched the ways in which electromagnetic frequencies interact with the human body to produce therapeutic outcomes. Since gold, silver, and copper conduct energy and have many therapeutic uses within the body, she began applying gold and other precious metals to her artworks and voilà, she was hired by a renowned furniture maker as a gilder. Freelancing brings Rachael the opportunity to keep working on projects that mean something to her. As an environmentally aware and health-conscious creative, she is well known for her thought-provoking interactive art installations that explore the alchemical balance between man and matter using pure gold, light, and sound resonance. A visionary at heart, Rachael contributes to the art world with lustre, uniting history with the present and art with science. She is fascinated by watching what happens when we allow time and space for nature to do its magic, allowing patina and decay to seed into objects which we consider valuable and precious. Rachael Linton MDes, established Tilia Gilding for her gilding work in 2020. After providing gilded surfaces for 7 years we needed  a new name.                 'Tilia' is Latin for Linden Tree, Lime tree. The linden flower is at the top of the logo.             Tilia wood has always been a popular wood for carving and was the original wood used to make panels for gilded icon paintings in the 17th-19th centuries. Tilia wood is lovely to carve and was also  used to make a lot of ornate water-gilded frames you might see in museums and galleries.                         Academic Qualification  Masters in Visual Communication Design Graduating in 2008 from Massey University in Wellington New Zealand. Bachelor of Visual Communication Design (Hons) from Massey University in Wellington New Zealand.