Felieke van der Leest was born and raised in the Netherlands, but since 2008 lives in West Norway. She got her jeweller diploma in 1996 when she graduated from the Jewellery Department at Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam.
\nContemporary jewellery artist FELIEKE VAN DER LEEST in her artworks uses such techniques as knitting, crocheting, and beading \u2013 using special, extremely fine yarns and tailor-made needles and hooks. Connecting the precious metals with textiles and toy animals, the artist creates a witty, attractive and colorful jewellery that brings out a smile and leaves no spectator indifferent.
\n\u201cWhen I work with colors, I feel like an artist when I am working with metal, I feel like a constructor , and when I am working with toys , I feel like a child, \u201d the artist comments on her creative process.
\nPlastic fish, seals, bears, giraffes, elephants, gorillas, dogs, birds and other animals live in the author\u2019s works of art. Toys are dressed up, cut and assembled, decorated and adorned. Transforming then both visually and conceptually, the artist manages to get them incorporate in her surreal world, discovering a new life for them.
\n\u201cI think my work rather be called wearable sculptures rather than jewellery, \u201d the artist explains.
\nDespite the witty approach to the jewellery making, Felieke, with her work also touches upon such social and serious issues as animal rights and environmental protection.
\n\u201cOften the carriers of my jewellery tell me stories about my artwork that I would not have been able to see in my jewellery, \u201cexplains Felieke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

http:\/\/www.feliekevanderleest.com\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n