ABOUT
Creating Joy & Happiness
Jariet Olabimpe Oloyé; a born and bred Nigerian-British contemporary jewellery and objects artist. Her work is rooted in culture, heritage, and history.
Jariet inspiration to weave came from her childhood lived experience in the midst of Yoruba community of artisans in Nigeria, where many were engaged in different crafts, utilizing locally sourced natural materials and narrating spoken traditional stories, being passed from one generation to the next. Jariet was thoroughly inspired to be a creative that brings joy and happiness through materials, processes, and Storytelling.
Growing up, Jariet grandmother played an important role as one of the artisans and an avid collector of artwork. Jariet was culturally trained; played with different natural materials, asked questions and participated in the arts of hand-woven Yoruba renowned colourful traditional high textiles Asò-oké, basketry and other crafts. These handcraft skills; manipulation of materials, techniques and a strong desire to learn more led Jariet to study Design & Make, Jewellery and Silversmithing at The Cass School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University. It was there she obtained HND Design and Make - Jewellery, Silversmithing and Allied Crafts, and followed with a BA Hons., Silversmithing and Jewellery. All the knowledge and special skills she gained equips Jariet artistic ability to develop a registered looped form repetitive design pattern that become her trademark.
Jariet contemporary sculptural hand woven loop form are abstract portrait faces of people, in a group telling stories of communities and places. As says in Yoruba philosophy, “Ife eniyan san ju owo” — meaning genuine love of people is greater than money.
Each of her jewellery pieces is a wearable art, with a view to how they look on the body and the owner’s display cabinet. Crafted individually by hand, using traditional craft skills of weaving and silversmithing. Special attention is given to the shape, form, scale, depth, unity, rhythm, and texture, examining the relationship between touch, memory, and craftsmanship.
Fusion of Glass & Metal Alloy
Glass is light, Glass is Colour, Glass is Magic.
One cannot talk of glass as material without honouring the ingenuity of the craftsmen working in glass in Mesopotamia; the land between Tigris and Euphrates Rivers around 3500 BC. They discovered the art of mixing sand, soda, and lime to make material glass, heating it in open moulds and cast into objects.
Curiosity of these materials and captivating power of glass led Jariet to take courses in Kiln-formed Glass at Westminster Adult Education Service in London, where she explored the intrinsic relationship of metal and glass. ‘The alchemy, parallel and hot fusion of both mediums’. Jariet researched, experiments and developed own metal alloys which she successfully mixes with glass, using mould and lost-wax techniques to create aesthetic pieces of artwork, depicting the beauty of nature and the natural world. These are unique to each piece.
“The pleasure of making lies in its ability to magically transport you back to a different space and time; and for me that’s one of peace and serenity”. — Jariet Oloyé
Jariet uses earth-friendly recyclable materials, with both traditional and modern techniques in all her work.
