Birta Ólafsdóttir designs bold, sculptural objects that are handmade in France. Shaped by the rawness of her Icelandic heritage, her objects are brutalist in form with a level of stylized refinement steeped in her exacting obsession with geometry and appreciation for the Art Deco era. Working with bronze as a singular material, the pieces hold an intended function while their sheer weight brings the intensity of a statement jewel.

With over a decade experience in the design world as an interior designer and curator, Birta launched her eponymous collection in January 2026. Born in Reykjavík, Iceland and raised in London and Switzerland, Birta has lived and worked between New York, Milano and Los Angeles. Today Birta is based between Switzerland.

The debut Ephemeral Collection presents four distinct objects designed to hold smoke; a transient element that is fleeting and not easily contained, like a prayer or a passing thought. In choosing smoke, Birta paired the most sacred of rituals with the most permanent of materials.

For Birta, process is as important as the work itself. Each piece was hand-carved from ancient stone; material that has absorbed centuries of ritual, silence, and devotion. Its pores left their mark on the mold and every bronze cast that followed. The rawness visible on each finished piece is not applied. It is inherited.

Working with a family-run foundry in France, generations of bronze-casting expertise go into every pour. Birta opts for a slow fabrication process, producing small batch runs, made-to-order items and numbered limited edition releases. Each piece is hand stamped with her signature, numbered and dated with the year it was made.