Annika Wirken (1981, Tilburg) is a 2015 graduate of contemporary jewellery design from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Antwerp, Belgium, where she currently lives and works. Whether referring to her conceptual studies or her highly wearable pieces, Wirken’s practice always starts from her impulse to experiment with (almost exclusively) natural materials, and the acts of merging these substances together serve as important productive steps in her creative process.
Wirken often makes use of existential sensitivities during these decisive research phases to accomplish highly personal work in which she lets her desires, fears, and flaws unfold themselves as theoretical themes that lead the way. Due of her believe in perceiving all of life’s strong sentiments, a design can originate in solid instinct but end in pure concept, accepting change and transition as a constant state.
As a contemporary jewellery designer she places importance on purity and craftsmanship in her process. Owning to her use of material, color and form, the look of her jewellery is an union between intense sobriety and bold assertion which in turn, manages to create a notably versatile yet strongly recognizable output throughout her production.
Annika Wirken
info@annikawirken.com
2012 // 2015
BFA Jewellery Design, Gold- & Silversmithing,
Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp
2001 // 2004
BBA Fashion Marketing and Management,
TMO, Doorn
2013 // present
COS, Sales Advisor & Accessories Responsible, Antwerp
Spring 2012
Iris van Herpen, Production, Amsterdam
Spring 2011
Sabrina Dehoff, Production, Berlin
2007 // 2009
G-Star Raw, Communication Coordinator, Amsterdam
2006 // 2007
G-Star Raw, PR Assistant, Amsterdam
Spring 2006
Kamer 465, Styling & Production, Halfweg
2016
Schmuck, 25-28 February, 3Stations, Munich
2015
Sieraad Art Fair, 5-8 November, Amsterdam
Schmuck, 12-15 March, 3Stations, Munich
2014 // 2015
A Touch of Steel, Traveling Exhibition
Deutsches Klingenmuseum, 24 May – 31 August 2014, Solingen
Deutsches Goldschmiedehaus, 25 September 2014 – 25 January 2015, Hanau
Design Flanders Gallery, 21 May – 23 August 2015, Brussels
Reciprocity Design, 1 October – 1 November 2015, Liège
2014
Interieur 2014, International Design Biennale, 18-26 October, Kortrijk
Sieraad Art Fair, 6-9 November, Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam
Integration, 20-25 May, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen
It’s good to be a Jewel!, 21 March – 4 April, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp
2013
Sieraad Art Fair, 7-10 November, Westergasfabriek, Amsterdam
2015
Autor, Contemporary Jewellery Magazine#2, read by Jorge Manilla
2014
A Touch of Steel, Chrome Yellow Books
2015
Prijs KoMASK, Bachelor Award 2015
organized by Stichting KoMASK and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp
2014
Honorable Mention, Steel Prize 2014 / A Touch of Steel
organized by the Kolloquium Nordrhein Westfalen and the Royal Academy of Fine Arts
Antwerp
Design & Programming: Studio 24/24
Typefaces: Alice & Suisse light
Photography: Charis Boel