OKO OLO is the creative partnership of Juliet Ramsey and Genevieve Hromas. With 50 years of combined design and art-making experience, working across disciplines; from functional sculpture, textiles and printmaking, to interior architecture. Both are fascinated by the possibilities of re-imagining new purposes and combinations of found objects, through the exploration of materials from the natural and manufactured world. In conversation since childhood, Genevieve and Juliet’s growth as creatives stems from a long, deep shared experience. This common ground gives the collaboration a shorthand, fluidity, and strength. Whether in reverence to past makers, or a fascination with contemporaries, this constant discourse informs and inspires their practice.

OKO OLO is a multidisciplinary creative studio that produces functional art objects and limited edition design pieces. With salvaged and found materials such as volcanic rocks, ceramic, ocean stones, stainless steel, timber, mirror, fabric, paper, marble and more, Oko Olo leans into the possibilities of re-use, limiting waste and utilising a mindful archaeology of materials. An instinctive approach to materials allows them to combine fine hand crafted elements with raw found natural forms. The inclusion of natural materials within each piece pays homage to the traditional Japanese appreciation of“objects born, not made.”

Every furniture piece is made using a combination of industrially produced materials and objects acquired from natural terrains. These distinct entities sit contiguously with each other, almost as if in dialogue, balancing the crudeness on one end with clean edges on the other. When placed together, they exhibit a playfulness and absurdity reminiscent of Dadaism. The juxtaposition of various materials in the furniture designed does not make sense. They even appear unusable from afar, bearing semblance to parred-down animatronics built and decorated for satirical purposes. Upon closer inspection, however, they are deemed worthy of usage as functional furniture.