She takes litter and creates astounding sculptures out of them. She’s half-European. She loves the ocean. She helps organize the Malasimbo Music Festival in Mindoro. She’s young but knows what she wants to do. And she has that cool pixie haircut. What’s not to like about sculptor and designer Olivia d’Aboville? Here are six things you need to know about her:
1. She’s half-French, half-Filipino
But she was born and raised in Manila, regularly vacationed in France, and considers Puerto Galera in Mindoro her home.
2. She’s been painting since she was three
Olivia studied at the Ecole Supérieure des Arts Appliqués Duperré, specializing in tapestry and textiles.
3. She earned her PADI scuba diving license at 13
“I remember struggling with the scuba tanks because I was so tiny and skinny, I couldn’t even carry it.”
4. In 2010, she mounted her first solo art exhibition
In “Chasm of Fantasies” at the Ayala Museum, the audience viewed her three-dimensional and brightly illuminated studies of sea creatures made of flotsam and jetsam like plastic spoons and forks, water bottles, and cocktail stirrers.
5. She’s branching out
In 2012, Olivia joined Kenneth Cobonpue’s design house Hive. Recently, she designed a jewelry collection for De Novo Diamonds.
6. One more thing: We love that she’s a fan of local weaves
Olivia says, “I’ve always been amazed by Philippine textiles. Weaves in the south from the T’bolis, the art of Inabel weaving in Ilocos, even the Mangyans in Mindoro have beautiful weaving techniques. I wanted so much to learn that art and be a part of it.”
Read “From the ocean to the stars and back‘” on Manila Bulletin. Photo by Milo Sogueco from Olivia d’Aboville’s Facebook page.
