The brooch is inspired by a detail of the dress by fashion designer Azzedine Alaïa.

Reading was all I did this last week. In this time of year, many magazines have a Christmas edition twice as thick as normal so that was nice.

I also discovered a great new magazine; called PARK and the first issue came out last week.

PARK is best described as a journalistic glossy. Maybe an idea for under the XMass tree?  At the moment the subscription is very affordable. More info here.

More tips for under the XMass tree …
Sassafras Design is the Etsy shop of Claudia Zandstra-Burkhard. Claudia is a Dutch textile designer and works mainly with wool, silk and linen. Occasionally she also makes bags, including this really nice red POODLE bag, which I have a crush on.

This is PEARL “tinkling” beaded bangles. The design by me, Marion Pannekoek.

These are very festive bangles available individually in sterling silver or black oxidized silver. More info in our online store and of course they are also for sale in our Atelier.

And the last tip for fun (Christmas) gifts is…

KERST & CARRY in Almere, The Netherlands is the place to visit for gifts and original work by designers and artists for a reasonable price.

In Lelystad there is also a KERST & CARRY. More info on Corrosia!

Just like now we had our own Atelier and made our own line of handmade jewelry. We sold through galleries and did many (juried) Art Fairs.

On those Art Fairs we met many people and received lots of compliments and comments about our jewelry. The most common reaction we heard was; “ your jewelry looks so very Scandinavian” … and I always had the feeling people had to get used to the clean lines of our jewelry.

The brooch Confetti, with its clean lines by Atelier The Jewelry Story

I had to think about those comments when I read that Finnish textile and clothing design house Marimekko opens another flagship store in October 2011 in New York.  And …they plan to open 18 more new Marimekko shops in major cities by the end of the year 2013.

So by now Americans must be used to those clean Scandinavian lines …

Did you know it was Jacky Kennedy who back in the sixties put this brand on the map when she bought 8 cotton Marimekko dresses?

until I return from walking the dogs under typical Dutch skies …

The brooch is made of ebony, silver and rose wood.

The Kleine Beer Brooch is a design by my partner Jan Kerkstra. If you like more info about Kleine Beer please click overhere

And I think this will become the next brooch!

This beautiful wood storage is my new inspiration to make another brooch.

Last week I spend some time making the two outer sides. I sawed them out of a 30 year old piece of reddish cherrywood. Now I have to frame the two pieces in blackened Sterling. Still playing around with ideas about what material will be in the middle … will continue.

All images by Jan Kerkstra, except the last one is by The Brick House

In Belgium and French, en route on our holiday we saw many more of those walls. The walls sometimes have fantastic patterns and are mostly made of slate, although I think the blue tiles are made of copper.

I think it was Erica Hogenbirk, who pointed out to me that the blue wall was probably somewhere in Belgium. So she was right about that! By the way; Erica is a Dutch knitwear designer and makes wonderful products of wool and other materials. Please take a look in her Etsy shop.

On to the walls again… In the previous post with the photo of the blue wall I told you about my inspiration and that I was pretty sure that one day the Blue wall photo would become a brooch.

And here they are…made of cherry wood, silver and copper.

and one made of ebony, silver and copper rivets…

Soon they will be placed in our online store .

Photo of slate tiles by: Durley Beachbum

This is the latest … brooch made ​​of ebony, silver and acrylic isn’t she a beauty?

Jan my partner is experimenting with an idea for a simple (wedding) ring.

So far this is the very special result …

In the meantime we also played around with taking photos of our jewelry.
These are the results so far …

Beautiful necklace made of wood of the series “Hip To be Square”. It is 2 meters long, the design is by me (Marion Pannekoek)

New design silver ring by my partner Jan Kerkstra

These cuff links are inlayed with cherrywood. The design is by Jan and me.  More info in our online store.

For me inspiration is still a mystery, sometimes it works very indirect, sometimes it hits me in the face.

Like with this one … I am sure, one day this will become a brooch.

So sorry, I can’t give credit for who took this picture. I forgot to look at the name of the photographer.  Please tell me if you know who it is, would you?

Thanks everyone of you for visiting and all your kind words! Oh … and yes we both forgot to make pictures….

Very extraordinary indeed were the visitors who I until now only knew through Internet and who came all the way to meet in real life!

Pauline who I got to know better through her interesting art blog, Claudia from Sassafras Design who I met through Flickr and than can you believe this … Lois from 13Threads who came all the way from Edinburgh, looking striking in her own handmade clothing. Now how very privileged is that? Thank you so much it felt great!

On to something completely different altogether…
A while ago I came across these remarkable medical orthopedic attachments which, in my opinion are a pretty amazing inovation …

Bespoke prosthetics is a beautiful example of new technologies that allow us to rethink the dehumanizing mass production and return once again to a guild process, where a product can be created for an individual unique tot hem alone.

Bespoke resulted from a collaboration between an industrial designer; Scott Summit and Dr. Ken Trauner, an orthopedic surgeon