Jewelrassic Park by Felieke van der Leest in Beijing

Artist list

Felieke van der Leest

Felieke van der Leest was born in Netherlands in 1968 and moved to Norway in 2008. Her fascination with animals nurtured from her childhood, when she lived near a zoo in Emmen. With her lifelong interest in textiles and her goldsmithing skills, she creates jewelry which reimages the secret life of animals as jewels. Her unique jewelry objects bring delight and magical worlds to the imagination of the viewer. Van der Leest uses plastic toy animals to convey the thoughts and ideas behind her pieces, sometimes in a recognizable role - often pointing to fairytales or proverbs- sometimes quite outspoken, touching on subjects such as environmental issues or animal abuse.

The jewelry art she produced for more than twenty years, has been displayed all over the world. She had numerous solo shows in art galleries and major retrospective exhibitions in museums. Her works are among collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, US; Victoria and Albert Museum, London, GB; Stedelijk Museum ‘s Hertogenbosch, Den Bosch, NL.