Scarab beetle wings and mammoth tusks are not appealing themes for fine jewellery, but Dutch designer Bibi van der Velden is undeterred. Able to manipulate their peculiarity into striking pieces, she has connoisseurs from around the world take notice. van der Velden’s keen eye for details and mastery of unconventional materials have garnered a strong following in the international fashion scene, from the likes of English fashion designer Natalia Kills, to actress Sienna Miller and rap artist Kanye West.
Art piqued van der Velden’s interest early on, having grown up watching her mother, sculptor Michèle Deiters, at work. Born in America and brought up in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, van der Velden often sourced and collected works of art. Museum visits and trips to the art gallery slowly formed the base of her vast knowledge of the arts. She was encouraged to further explore her interests, recalling her earliest childhood memory of coming into contact with a freshly cut stone. Along the way, she found herself leaning towards Mother Nature as the inspiration for her designs. “I find it fascinating that nature is able to make these wonderful things,” she says. Her Cloud Tassel earrings, for example, feature two carved smokey quartz clouds dabbed with white diamonds, with strands of yellow gold tassels mimicking a shower from beneath. A thunderstorm complete with golden lightning bolts and pillows of dark clouds form the Cloud earrings.
van der Velden’s passion to reinstill life into products that are easily overlooked was rekindled when she came across a National Geographic article on mammoth tusks uncovered in Siberia. She jumped at the chance to design a collection around the tusks, and collaborated with the British Museum to obtain a pair. Wanting to immortalise the extinct elephant of the Pleistocene epoch, van der Velden decided to reference mythical creatures such as beasts and dragons. “I have always been interested in recycling and giving old materials a new life. Why make and use completely new materials when there is already so much around that tells stories,” van der Velden says.
Modelled after the fabled Chinese dragon, the Silver Dragon Mammoth ring features intricate details of a dragon’s horns, wavy mane and beard. Its eyes gleam with green tsavorites and 18k gold. Resilient reptiles such as alligators, crocodiles and sea snakes also make an appearance in the 56-piece collection, which comprises rings, bangles, earrings and bracelets. Each of the pieces took between four and six weeks to complete. As only the inner core of the tusks was strong enough to be carved, van der Velden decided to entrust a small Chinese village known for their ancient hand-carved techniques to bring her designs to life.
Even on vacation, van der Velden tries to source new materials for her pieces. She enjoys “being somewhere with a reason” and gets excited about visiting sustainable gold mines while taking a break in the Amazon. In Thailand, she stumbled upon scarab beetles, a local delicacy. The green and blue translucent wings, deemed inedible and left untouched, inspired van der Velden to give the parts a new breath of life. Wing earrings take the form of a three-dimensional tooth with graduated colours. Blue and green sapphires enhance the scarab’s opal-like sheen, and the earrings dangle from the droplets of mammoth tusks dotted with tsavorites. Equally impressive is the Scarab ring, wherein she immortalises a crouching scarab beetle perched atop intertwining vines. Its wings reflect a kaleidoscope of colours, catching the eye of the wearer with every movement. Yet another statement piece in the collection is the Scarab Bunch earrings, where van der Velden cleverly layers the beetle wings, each backed by 18k yellow gold, to form feathers.
As a mother of two, van der Velden feels a motherly sense of pride each time she sees her creations being worn on the street, especially if they are paired in unexpected ways. “I actually really like it when someone matches their clothes or accessories with my jewellery to create their personal and unique style,” she shares. Even as she chooses from her treasure chest of unique designs, van der Velden spends time trying to combine pieces from different collections, finding “something more interesting to mix and match”. She is excited to design new collections this year, continuing to create wearable works of art while shifting her focus to fair trade and sustainable gold.
