Olivia draws upon the European New Jewellery tradition of the later 1960. During this period, some jewellers broke many of the boundaries that existed around jewellery. Olivia is particularly interested in how they have open jewellery to other disciplines such as fine arts and performing arts; the incredible variety of materials never used before, and how they changed the scale at which we look, wear and appreciate jewellery. Her work wishes to perpetuate what they have started, by exploring the body as a sculptural site, reinvigorating approaches through forceful emotional movement and by exploring sustainable practices.




The discipline that Olivia engaged with to most outside jewellery is dance. She always has been fascinated of the beauty of bodies moving through space, and the incredible precision in control that dance have over the bodies. Therefore, in her current work Olivia wanted to see how she could transmit this beauty and precision of dance in jewellery pieces.

Through experimental dance, Olivia Barthe is suspended, dancing in the air, as she draws on the paper below. These drawings become the basis for her jewellery designs.




To find the way to transform these almost invisible lines into physical ones, Olivia started to trace, to map and to analyze this large scale drawings, looking for patterns as a starting point for her designs. Then, she found that aluminium was the most appropriate materials to transmit her ideas in 3 dimension. Its malleability, lightness and flexibility allow her to translate her the harmonious movements into aluminium sketches. Once the models are formed, Olivia tested and adapted them on various bodies.