THE FLOWERS THAT BLOOM TOMORROW ARE THE SEEDS YOU PLANTED TODAY.
This proverb, which I always like to keep in mind, translates in Dutch to: 'Je oogst wat je zaait'. So when I first encountered Nel Maertens's work titled 'Zaaien & Oogsten', it immediately caught my attention.
Much later, Nel bought our E6 hoop earrings so she could dress well daily, even during messy work at her atelier. You couldn't give me a bigger compliment. ' I wear these earrings all the time now, they are growing on me', she said recently. It seems we have a theme here..
WHEN WOCHE MEETS NEL
When Nel and I got to know each other better at Firma, thanks to Anne who brought us together, we immediately clicked. It only took a few hours before we decided to collaborate. We both enjoy working with others to learn from them. In this proces, Nel taught me to increasingly pay attention to the flowers around us, on the streets, where colors and shapes prevail. They linger only briefly before fading away.
With this jewelry collection, we tried to capture the essence of the city's flowers at this time of year. We each sketched the flowers in our own medium; Nel drew, and I sculpted, both intuitively.
It became a small collection of flowers wearable as earrings and brooches, allowing the jewelry to literally grow on you. The collection is available starting Thursday, April 25th at Firma in Brussels and online.
Each piece of jewelry will be packaged in a beautiful box, hand-painted by Nel.
I aim to invite you to observe your surroundings and grow fond of the small, everyday things. Let this collection, for example, serve as a reminder of a blossoming moment amidst rainy days.
See you in Brussels!
Clarisse
