Mieke Dierckx

Mieke's atelier. FASHIONCLASH likes!



What is your name? Mieke Dierckx

What is the name of your label? Mieke Dierckx

Where did you study and when did you graduate? From 2002-2005 I studied Interior and Furniture design at the Lessius University College in Mechelen. Thanks to the Erasmus project in Leeds, I got introduced to the course Jewellery Design and decided to follow the Jewellery Design and Gold-and Silversmithing programme at the PHL University College in Hasselt. (2005-2009)

What inspires you as a designer? I am inspired by spaces. Several contexts of a space can be interesting, for example the history, the social aspect, the architecture, the atmosphere of the space…

My jewellery enters the dialogue with its environment by using this space as inspiration for my designs. In this way jewellery goes beyond the obvious, lends new meanings to spaces and draws attention to small unseen details. I applied this way of designing in several projects like my graduation project “High Tide”, inspired by the swimming pool of Hasselt and the collection “Private Courtyards”, jewellery designed for a project of Design Platform Limburg and z33 (situated in a formal beguinage). Also for the FASHIONCLASH project I will design a jewel that is inspired by a location.

Mieke's work in progress

Who is you favourite designer and why? I don’t specifically have one favourite designer. But there is a lot of designs I like. I like objects which include a nice concept. Which makes you think about the design or makes you laugh with it (for example the work of Lachaert - d’Hanis, Ted Noten,… ). But maybe I like even more objects which have a good design. A design can be strong without people having to know the underlying concept, for example the jewellery of Katja Prins.

What will you present during FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? I will show my “private courtyards” (“Besloten Hofjes”) collection. For this collection I was inspired by the exhibition space of z33 (house of contemporary art in Hasselt), the formal beguinage of Hasselt. During the design process most of the research concerned the history of the space. As a result, handicraft and bobbin lace-making became the starting points for this work. Traditional materials and techniques have been used and combined with other materials or techniques which are unconventional within the context of handicraft.

Also I will show some new work inspired by the exhibition space of FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011, the old decoration factory, Mosa (tile production).

What do you expect from FASHIONCLASH Maastricht 2011? I hope to reach a broader audience. As a young designer it is not usual to show your work in the Netherlands or other foreign countries. I hope to meet interesting people and to see inspiring work. I’m also curious to see how it is to present my jewellery in a fashion related exhibition and what the reaction will be (previously I only exhibited in a jewellery or design context).

Mieke's work in progress

How did your fascination with jewellery and design started? When I was young, I was already very creative. Most of the time I was designing hats.

Previous to the course of jewellery design, I studied interior design. In these curiculla design is an important issue, but in jewellery design I learned to make things myself, not only the designing. The craft itself appealed to me.

I don’t really often wear jewellery myself, but in order to make it you have to work with different materials and techniques, and that’s just my thing. The fact that I can experiment with materials and techniques on my own and combine them, ensures that the design changes or adapts according to the used materials and techniques. They complete the design and bring new ideas for next designs.

Jewellery for me are small objects where many details can be applied or added to.

What are your ambitions for the future? My ambition is to have an own studio, wherein there is enough variation between free and assigned work , between jewellery, objects, paintings,… and try to make a living of it.

Inspirational spaces for Mieke:

Edited by Natalia Serwanska