Beading Shines in Norwegian Jewelry Designer's Whimsical Animal Creations
Guest Blog Friday, October 12, 2012 at 9:00AM 
Klimt02 is a website that provides an international forum for contemporary jewelry in a creative space that offers knowledge, information, debates, and exchanges - all within the artistic realm of jewelry. Based in Barcelona, Spain, Kilmt02 inspires everyone interested in the selection, quality, art, technology, and creation of art jewelry. Sheffield School has kindly been given permission to share works of global designers here on our website; in keeping with the strong beading instruction given in our Jewelry Design: Beading & Wire Working course, it's a pleasure to feature the imaginative, humorous work of a gifted designer from Oystese, Norway.
Felieke van der Leest
Felieke van der Leest
Necklace: Yellow Kelly 2008
Glass beads, textile, gold, plastic animal, cubic zirkonia
10 x 10 x 3.5 cm
Felieke van der Leest
Ring: Squaw Kitten 2011
Silver, glass beads, textile
12 x 7.5 x 0.5 cm
Felieke van der Leest
Brooch: McPufff 2009
Textile, gold, plastic animal, glass beads, cubic zirkonia
9.5 x 9.5 x 3.5 cm
Felieke van der Leest
Necklace: Sven Svanson the First 2008
Textile, plastic animal, gold, glass beads
15 x 11.5 x 5 cm
Felieke van der Leest
Brooch: McPufff 2009
Textile, gold, plastic animal, glass beads, cubic zirkonia
9.5 x 9.5 x 3.5 cm
Felieke van der Leest
Necklace: The Spinster Sisters 2012
Textile, plastic animals, glass beads, gold, cubic zirconia
27 x 16 x 4 cm
Statement
Animals have a special place in Felieke van der Leest's heart. She provides many animals with a busy social life as ornaments, gives a select group a nice home in museums, and she placed a few oversized specimens in the center of everyone's attention in meeting rooms and stairwells. Jewellery, object or light fixture, the scale or function is not the aspect what inspires Van der Leest: the telling of unusual stories is always her main motivation.
Van der Leest has enriched jewellery design with the introduction of textile techniques. Combining this with gold, silver and plastic, in ten years time she developed her own idiom. She drew from her childhood in Emmen, Norway where she would visit the local zoo and also from her metalsmith education in Schoonhoven. Her unbridled imagination later came to full bloom at the Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam. For someone who normally works with hand sized pieces, it is remarkable to develop monumental installations. Nevertheless, Van der Leest has already produced some 'jewels' for public spaces, cooperating with her cousin in Neef Nicht Design.
A continuous flow of her work now finds its way to numerous exhibitions. In addition, it is happily collected by individuals and museums through the galleries that represent her in Amsterdam, New York, and Tokyo. A great milestone was the 2006 exhibition Jewellery Fables: the museum in Middlesbrough (mima) exhibited an overview of all her work and also published an accompanying catalog.
Apart from the obvious fun her work sometimes shows an unexpected serious side. Contemporary issues such as the environment, dealing with animals, and all kinds of social problems are touched upon. In this way Van der Leest, like Jean de La Fontaine in his famous fables, shows us the other side of the coin. But her most important quality continues to be her unstoppable enthusiasm for making new pieces and the joy they give us, the spectators.
Ward Schrijver
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artist: Felieke van der Leest |
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email: felieke@feliekevanderleest.com
On sale at: Gallery Rob Koudijs >> published by & more info at Klimt02 |
If you're interested in learning more about jewelry design, we encourage you to explore the Sheffield School, New York, NY. Sheffield began as an Interior Design school in 1985, and then expanded our course offerings to train people in other design-related fields, including Feng Shui, Wedding and Event Planning, and Jewelry Design. With thousands of active students and more than 50,000 graduates, Sheffield has trained more design professionals than any school in the world.
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