Rheinland brooch | Hazelnut, grape, coral fossil | Private collection, UK

Making Home
For Making Home, Willemstijn created a series of brooches formed from fragments of materials found in the house and garden of a ‘second home’ in the German countryside. This long-standing renovation project, set in an idyllic location in the hills, offered Willemstijn the opportunity to reclaim and use materials such as slate, zinc, wood and fossils; all of which had a direct connection to the past and present life of this cherished place. In doing so, meaning and memory have been captured within each brooch – these items of jewellery are no longer simply decorative ‘empty vessels’.
There is a visual poetry in Making Home, not just in the exquisite workmanship and beautifully composed palettes of colour and texture, but also in the way Willemstijn allows each material to express itself. Framed by geometric forms, intricate wood grains flow like delicate brushstrokes. Natural organic forms harmoniously contrast with engineered edges, as Willemstijn intuitively combines the visual languages of home and garden. These are mixed media artworks on an intimate scale, and each piece is a love letter from the artist to a special place – home.
Mole Leigh, 2012


Herr Altbau brooch | Hazelnut, oak, golden rain, plane | Collection Modern Museum of Art | MMKA, Arnhem, NL


Made in Germany brooch | Hazelnut, grape, coral fossil | Private collection, DE




Miles brooch | Hazelnut, coral fossil | Private collection, NL


Door brooch | Hazelnut, pine, grape, paint

Pro m2 brooch | Hazelnut, oak, golden rain | Private collection, NL

Miles Roof brooch | Wood, slate, rheinzinc

Sneaky brooch | Mulberry, plane, hazel, ahorn, golden rain, taxus, leaf | Private collection, NL


1912 brooch | Oak, plum


Roads brooch | Hazelnut, stone, hazel, oak | Collection städtische sammlung, Idar-Oberstein, DE

Wishes brooch | Mulberry, plane, hazel, ahorn, golden rain, taxus, oak, plum


Stone brooch | Hazelnut, stone, grape


Fremdkörper brooch | Mulberry, rooftile laumans


Feather brooch | Hazelnut, stone, feather | Private collection, NL


Covet brooch | Oak, golden rain, plywood


Covet brooches | Oak, golden rain, plywood, leaf, pine

Making Home, 2012
This collection has been made possible by Fonds BKVB, NL and Fachhochschule Trier / Jakob Bengel Stiftung, Idar Oberstein, DE
Photography: Francis Willemstijn