Hypnerotomachia: A Collection Guide
Explore the New Hypnerotomachia Collection
Introducing Hypnerotomachia, a new demi-fine collection by Olivia Cummings. It’s a dream spun in metal, where 18K gold and sterling silver hold stories older than language. Think jewellery that doesn’t just accessorise. It speaks.
The collection takes its name from a Renaissance text otherwise known as A Strife of Love in a Dream, about a dreamer in pursuit of love, wandering through strange gardens, forgotten temples, and cryptic ruins.
It’s less about finding someone, more about finding meaning. Each piece is a chapter from that dream, told through metal, stone, and symbol.
"Hypnerotomachia is my homage to the dreamlike blend of ancient histories, symbolisms, and cultures. This collection represents a journey through time, where Roman, Greek, and Ottoman influences meet in a contemporary maximalist vision. Much like the protagonist in A Strife of Love in a Dream, the collection invites you to cross paths with beauty, longing, and transformation, bridging eras in an imaginative and timeless way."
Olivia Cummings
Ancient Source Material
The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili or A Strife of Love in a Dream has been called the most beautiful book in the world and the most unreadable. Written in Renaissance Italy by a mysterious author, it tells of Poliphilo, lover of many things, who enters a dream and then a dream within a dream, all in search of his beloved Polia.
The world he moves through is strange and layered, a place where nature and artifice blend. Gods, humans, nymphs, paintings and plaques all speak in an arcane mixture of Greek, Latin, French, Arabic, Hebrew, hieroglyphs and rebuses.
Marvels rise around him: thousands of white marble stairs, an elephant bearing an obelisk, a Pegasus beset by cherubim, tombs and arks, ancient groves of cypress and screeching bronze statues. Into this oneiric landscape of symbols he is cast, searching for meaning in its splendour
Stones with history.
Pieces with presence.
Garnet once adorned Roman royalty. Agate sealed letters in ancient Greece. Lapis traced the stars on the religious domes of Istanbul. These gems are rarities with ancient weight.
And these stones weren't simply chosen, they were summoned. Set in bezels, cut in cabochons, and placed where they catch the light just right.
Craft You Can Sense and Feel
Ancient Techniques Explored
This is history made by hand. Lost wax casting forms the lion-headed studs. Braided chains echo techniques passed through millennia. Coins sourced in Istanbul are pressed into pendants that feel unearthed.
The Parian (1) is a sterling silver relic component with geometrical etching was sourced by Olivia in Istanbul.
The Columna Hoops (2) were textured with adornments by Olivia's own hand, using traditional moulding techniques that emulate granulation found in ancient Etruscan jewellery from 6 BC.
The Cipresso Necklace (3) features a hand-braided chain stitch that links us back to our ancient design lineage. You don’t wear these pieces, you carry them with you.
Symbols with a Pulse
Decode the Collection
Birds mid-flight. Columns carved in miniature. Cypress groves and domed stars. These motifs aren’t decorative, they’re directional.
Each one drawn from Olivia’s time in Istanbul, Naples, and Melbourne. Each one a signal of something more.
Hypnerotomachia is jewellery with a past, but it’s made for your present.
Dense with meaning but light on the body, these are talismans for everyday longing, memory, and transformation.
Put them on and feel the centuries hum upon your skin.
