Bibi Van Der Velden

Bibi van der Velden’s jewelry is fashioned from haute precious materials such as 18k fair trade gold, diamonds, and baroque pearls, but there’s also a very human quality to her intricately crafted designs. Bibi believes that jewelry should inspire the wearer with energy, with her pieces offering a playful, personal, and highly artistic take on fine jewelry. This personal touch comes from a jewelry-making process that’s grounded in traditional craftsmanship. Bibi herself describes her jewelry pieces as “miniature sculptures.” Working with sustainable and unexpected materials, among them 60,000-year-old mammoth tusk, ostrich eggs, and scarab wings, as Bibi hand-sketches and hand-carves the initial idea for each piece in wax.

The artistic sensibility comes from Bibi’s background; born in New York and raised in both England and the Netherlands, and her mother, Michèle Deiters is a sculptor. Bibi studied fine arts in Florence, Italy, before honing her eye at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy in Amsterdam and the Royal Academy of Arts in The Hague. Bibi van der Velden launched her namesake brand in 2006 and now creates jewelry and sculpture from her studio in Amsterdam. Bibi’s Dutch heritage can be found in her jewelry today, with the country’s rich art history one of the many influences on her work. Nature and the animal world other constants that inspire Bibi’s designs, from earrings fashioned as swirling tornadoes to statement alligator earrings carved from mammoth tusk and gold to a noble mammoth unicorn that sits on a gold ring.

No. 62 | Bibi van der Velden

Jewels in Residence