Oltramar

Valen­ti­na is the foun­der of Stu­dio Oltra­mar. She is an Ita­li­an-Cro­ati­an inte­ri­or desig­ner from the Istria regi­on of Cro­atia. After living, studying and wor­king in dif­fe­rent pla­ces in Euro­pe, in 2019 she moved to the south of Fran­ce and the­re she dis­co­ve­red the wor­ld of natu­ral dyes, and the ances­tral tec­h­nique of indi­go dye­ing that imme­di­ately fas­ci­na­ted her. After 2 years, than­ks to the people she met, the appren­ti­ce­ship with gre­at dyers from all over Fran­ce, and her hard work, in Sep­tem­ber 2022 she cre­ated the first Oltra­mar gar­ment collection.

Alt­ho­ugh today in her stu­dio in Pro­ven­ce (Fran­ce) she wor­ks alo­ne, behind the Oltra­mar brand the­re is the passi­on, the skil­ls and the smi­les of many pro­fe­ssi­onals, fri­en­ds and col­le­agu­es of Valentina. 

Oltra­mar gar­ments are dyed with pig­ments from Pro­ven­ce, grown in the South of Fran­ce by Laura and Aman­di­ne of Le Champ des Coule­urs. Two sis­ters who grew up in natu­re, clo­se to the work of the far­mers, and who today are hap­py to repre­sent the gro­up of far­mers who pro­du­ce enti­rely in Fran­ce. They fol­low the tra­di­ti­on of the­ir ances­tors and cul­ti­va­te dye plants in the Pro­vençal vil­la­ge of Roque d’An­t­he­ron in an eco­lo­gi­cal and res­pon­si­ble way.

The gar­ments are made by Anne and Cora­lie, two fri­en­ds with a com­mon passi­on and the same ethi­cal visi­on of the sewing craft. Toget­her, they deci­ded to cre­ate a small arti­san wor­k­shop in Mon­t­pel­li­er cal­led Ate­li­er Cats, whe­re people are at the heart of the­ir acti­vity and whe­re they main­ta­in a clo­se rela­ti­on­ship with each other. 

Natu­ral indi­go dye­ing is what makes Oltra­mar a spe­ci­al and dif­fe­rent brand.

For Valen­ti­na, indi­go dye­ing is a won­der­ful teamwork whe­re the arti­san, her dye bath and the envi­ron­ment aro­und them col­la­bo­ra­te wit­ho­ut pre­va­iling over each other, but in balan­ce and in con­ti­nu­ous listening.

Orga­nic indi­go dye­ing is a vivid colo­ur that needs pauses and time to rest betwe­en the dif­fe­rent dye­ing acti­vi­ti­es. Tec­h­ni­cal­ly the skill of the arti­san dyer lies in knowing how to con­trol, mana­ge and mas­ter all the fac­tors that affect the dye bath and being able to repro­du­ce the same tones regu­lar­ly over time. But Valen­ti­na loves to work with vari­abi­lity, enhan­cing the con­cept of ephe­me­ral and unrepeatable.

Only cel­lu­lo­sic fabrics (cot­ton, linen, hemp, net­tle, etc.) and pro­te­in fabrics (silk, cash­me­re, wool, etc.) can be dyed natu­ral­ly due to the affi­nity betwe­en the­ir che­mi­cal and physi­cal pro­per­ti­es. For this reason, Oltra­mar wor­ks with net­tle, hemp and linen fabrics. The­se mate­ri­als are hard-wearing, requ­ire no pes­ti­ci­des to grow and feel won­der­ful aga­inst the skin.

Some­ti­mes, they also use cot­ton, espe­ci­al­ly when sour­cing fabrics from Ita­li­an and Fren­ch upcy­cling sup­pli­ers.

At Olta­mar they don’t was­te lef­to­ver scraps of clot­hing. Valen­ti­na uses the lef­to­ver scraps to cre­ate new pieces and the smal­ler pieces are given to a fri­end who uses them to make the felt/​capote paper and cre­ate new pro­duc­ts, such as cushi­ons or tapestries.

In addi­ti­on, some of her gar­ments are made from unu­sed stoc­ks of fabrics from the most exclu­si­ve Fren­ch sewing houses, thus enco­ura­ging the cre­ati­ve reuse of exis­ting resources.

Oltra­mar is a mul­ti­cul­tu­ral and Medi­ter­ra­ne­an stu­dio, sup­por­ting local com­mu­ni­ti­es!

All fabrics are sour­ced from Italy and Fran­ce in a con­s­ci­ous way to sup­port quality pro­du­cers and are dyed with pig­ments from Pro­ven­ce, grown in the Pro­vençal vil­la­ge of Roque d’An­t­he­ron from eco­lo­gi­cal­ly res­pon­si­ble dye­ing plants. The gar­ments are made in a small arti­san wor­k­shop in Mon­t­pel­li­er, a vil­la­ge in the south of France. 

Cur­ren­tly Oltra­mar does not use ani­mal mate­ri­als in its col­lec­ti­ons. Perhaps in the futu­re it will start to use ethi­cal silk or wool from nati­ve she­ep, but always knowing very well the pro­cess used to obta­in the fabric and res­pec­ting the wel­fa­re of the animal! 

Oltra­mar’s gar­ments are not limi­ted to tren­ds or seasons. They want to be worn all year round, to last for cen­tu­ri­es and to deser­ve to be cared for.

They cre­ate limi­ted gar­ments and each gar­ment is num­be­red. In addi­ti­on, each gar­ment is ava­ila­ble upon requ­est and can be cus­to­mi­sed. They also give you the possi­bi­lity to have the gar­ment total­ly adjus­ted to your body, with the­ir made-to-measu­re ser­vi­ce.

As we are all unique, so are the gar­ments and objec­ts offe­red at Oltramar!

Oltra­mar is a tran­s­pa­rent brand! On the­ir web­si­te you can find infor­ma­ti­on abo­ut who dyes and manu­fac­tu­res the­ir gar­ments, and even more infor­ma­ti­on abo­ut the­ir dye­ing pro­cess.

COSH! has spo­ken to Valen­ti­na, the cre­ator of Oltra­mar, and with total tran­s­pa­ren­cy she has pro­vi­ded us with the name of her sup­pli­ers, so we can assu­re you that Oltra­mar is a tran­s­pa­rent brand.