Burberry conveys the art of balance in latest Olympia push

August 16, 2021

In a new campaign, the Olympia bag takes on balance. Image credit: Burberry

British fashion label Burberry is using its Olympia bag to explore the theme of balance in its latest campaign.

In a unique collection of videos, Burberry showcases four artists who each explain their approaches to utilizing balance to make art. In every video, balance is analyzed and utilized in a different way, as every artist uses the Olympia bag to accent their installation piece.

“On its own, the Olympia bag illustrates balance and playing with proportion. It’s a bag that allows you to have your essentials and is known for its great design,” said Kimmie Smith, cofounder and creative director of Athleisure Mag, New York.

“By wearing it, you exemplify its artistic design and it becomes a focal point to your person,” she said. “This series also shows how people who work in various jobs have incorporated that balance with the bags and how it is truly an artistic endeavor when all the elements work together.”

Beauty of balance
In individual videos, Burberry spotlights four artists with immensely different approaches to making art with balance as its focal point.

The artists have different professional techniques and use different materials and objects, but they all manage to include the Olympia bag as a prominent feature of their art.

In “The Nature of Balance,” viewers meet Shen Li, an artist who discusses the connection between different types of materials in his art. The video is intimate and suspenseful, as his installation features an amalgamation of supplies including cinderblocks, glass, planks of wood and more.

A cinderblock, a crane and an Olympia bag: all balanced

Olive and taupe Olympia bags are featured in the installation. The video highlights the thoughtfulness behind balance, a thoughtfulness that can also be translated into fashion.

“Balancing is all about precise measurement,” the artist says in a voiceover.

In a cinematic moment at the end of the film, when a crane removes the olive handbag, the entire installation falls apart.

In another video,“The Beauty of Balance,” viewers meet still-life photographer Lyu Xiaohe, who uses focus and simplicity in her installation.

As she assembles an installation with wine glasses, plates, ice and the Olympia bag, the artist discusses her reverence for using everyday objects in her art in a voiceover.

“This is my way of expression,” she says.

The artist uses her work to represent herself and her tendencies, similar to the way many consumers use Olympia bags and other Burberry products to express themselves.

In “The Chaos of Balance,” viewers meet the artist who uses the most vibrant colors in her work, Yang Jiaxi. The film opens with random objects of vibrant colors including yarn and eggs with gold accents.

“I like to explore the concept of balance in my art, but I usually don’t consider the feasibility,” Ms. Yang says.

Artists Yang Jiaxi and Han Suining embrace different artistic approaches

Han Suining, an artist and professional surveyor and star of the final video about assembly, talks about his vastly different approach to art, saying feasibility is the first thing he is concerned with.

In “The Assembly of Balance,” the surveyor talks about decimal points and his precise approach to installment art using balance. He says that for him, there is no room for error.

Each video speaks to a different approach, method or priority of an artist, something that can be reverberated in the different kinds of Burberry products consumers fashion, including the Olympia bag.

Olympia focus
Burberry has released several Olympia-centered campaigns, featuring the new signature handbag in pop-up shops and films with famous ambassadors or pop-up shops.

In May, Burberry launched an augmented reality experience to complement a pop-up series centered around the signature handbag.

Leveraging AR technology from 8 Wall, Burberry’s experience allowed visitors at its World of Olympia pop-ups to make classical statues “come alive.” The label has been using AR experiences to boost ecommerce engagement, but this offering could only be accessed in-stores as Burberry and other retailers welcome back shoppers (see story).

In June, Burberry continued its Olympia handbag push with a celebrity-fronted campaign.

FKA Twigs and Shygirl, two British recording artists, appear alongside American model Kendall Jenner in the Olympia campaign. The women are described as modern muses and contemporary goddesses, reflecting the Grecian ethos of the handbag’s rollout (see story).

This latest effort highlights the Olympia by encapsulating how viewers can understand and utilize arts and objects in different ways.

“The series encourages them to think about the power of the Olympia and why they gravitate towards it,” Ms. Smith said. “It allows each person to think about the structure of what they carry and why they have opted for this one as opposed to one that has a standard shape like a square or rectangle.”

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