Ari Athans is a contemporary jeweller living and working in Brisbane Australia. From her studio in West End Ari creates bespoke pieces as well as an evolving range of contemporary jewels.
Ari works primarily with stone and precious metal with a strong preference for unusual gemstone cuts and raw geologic samples such as basalt, rough diamonds, emerald crystals, natural coral, quartz crystals, serpentine, hematite, black tourmaline and pearls. She sources her stones from around the world and locally through gem fairs and likens this process to fossicking. Her minimalist approach to design enhances the raw geologic samples and gemstones in each piece and reflects randomness and order in crystal growth.
Ari studied geology at the University of Technology, Sydney and worked in the mining and exploration industry. She then went on to study jewellery and object design at Randwick TAFE, Sydney and never looked back. Geology to jewellery was a very natural progression and is almost always the starting point for all projects outside of jewellery. Her practice spans jewellery, painting and sculpture.
Ari’s jewellery has appeared in solo and major group shows in Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Edinburgh, London, Munich, Singapore and Tokyo and most notably ‘Australian Freestyle’ at Triennale Museum in Milan. Her work is held in public and private collections. Ari also exhibits her paintings at Edwina Corlette Gallery.