Having a famous surname has been a great motivator for a woman called dove, writes Keilie Hush... Making a splash, John Olsen and Paloma Picasso meet for the first time at the Tim Olsen gallery in Woollahra.
Extract: Family ties are tough things to break. Paloma Picasso is in Sydney this week with her blue Tiffany & Co hat on to launch her new conection. The trip is awhirlwindvisit, yet one of her first stops was the Tim Olsen Gallery. Paloma Picasso, the world renowned jewellery designer, has a passion for contemporary art. She inherited it from her artist father, Pablo. So on her visit to Sydney it was John Olsen she wanted to meet most.
Upstairs at his son's Woollahra gallery, Olsen senior presented new and old works to Picasso and her husband, Dr Eric
Thevener. Also there for the gathering were Olsen's children, the gallery owner, Tim, and his daughter, Louise, the jewellery designer of Dinosaur Designs fame. It was a good chance to compare notes. Picasso, 61, who lives in Lausanne, said: "I was talking to Louise and I was very much able to relate to what shewas saying when you have a father who stands out so much you want to
do your own thing because you know when you come out everyone will be watching…
"When I was young, people talking about Picasso, it was like 'Ah! I don't want to be apart of it.' But so many people would
die to have the family heritage that I have.And1 have always said I was veryluckyto have such a wonderful Christian name. My father gave it to me, and it means dove, for the peace dove. I was very fortunate to have something that was my own. It was something I could identify with."
