ABOUT
Joy & Happiness
Jariet Olabimpe Oloyé is of Yoruba heritage, British-Nigerian contemporary jewellery and objects artist. Her work is rooted in culture, tradition, heritage, and history.
Jariet inspiration as artist came from her childhood lived experience in the midst of Yoruba community of artisans in Nigeria, where many were engaged in different crafts, utilising locally sourced natural materials and narrating spoken traditional stories; the poetic and metaphor way of expression being passed from one generation to the next. Jariet was thoroughly inspired to be a creative that brings joy and happiness through materials, process, storytelling, and craftsmanship.
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, with appetite to engaged and participated in the arts of Yoruba prestigious colourful traditional hand-woven fabric, Aso-Oke, also known as Aso-Ofi; the symbol of Yoruba tradition, identity, and social status. Jariet also participated in the art of basketry, and other crafts. These handcraft skills; the manipulation of materials, techniques and a strong desire to learn more led Jariet to study Design & Make, Jewellery and Silversmithing at one of the best institutions - 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. The knowledge and special skills Jariet gained equips her artistic ability to develop handwoven wirework design pattern that become her trademark.
Jariet uses woven wire to tell stories of communities and places. Each of her handwoven jewellery 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 and innovative craft skills of weaving and silversmithing. Special attention is given to the shape, form, depth, unity, rhythm, and texture, examining the relationship between touch, memory, and craftsmanship.
Besides metal, another material that inspired Oloyé for amazing light and colour is glass.
Jariet admired and honoured 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 two noble materials 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 plaster mould and lost-wax techniques, to create aesthetic pieces of work of art, depicting the beauty of nature and the natural world. These are unique one-of-a-kind pieces.
Jariet uses earth-friendly recyclable and ethically sourced materials, with both traditional, modern, and innovative techniques to create beautiful works of art.
