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Annet van Egmond Biography

Annet van Egmond Biography

Art Space

Playful sparkles of light dance on the walls of Annet van Egmond’s Art Space. The tastefully designed space was built by Annet and her team to accommodate exhibitions as well as concerts, openings, book presentations and other events. The multifunctional space boasts museum quality and offers the perfect place for sculptures made by Annet. The interplay between the garden outside and the welcoming indoor rooms emphasizes the sunlight, the shadows and the waving tree branches that create a special atmosphere. Here, it all comes together. This is the sacrosanct area that works as a playground for original ideas. And not only for Annet, other artists may use this hidden pearl as well. The Art Space works perfectly for gallery’s or artists who look for a temporary exhibition space. The perfect light connects the garden and the Art Space through big windows that create a mesmerizing effect into the sculptures that come to life in this unique space. Even the birds in the garden are curious to see what’s happening inside.

Artspace Bussum Galerie Annet Van Egmond
Indoor Sculpture Rusted Iron Corten Steel By Annet Van Egmond

Artworks

After her successful career as a lighting designer, sculptor Annet van Egmond has taken an exciting step to a next level as visual artist. As the basis for her inspiration and originality Annet uses the numerous drawings in rhythm she made in 1988 when she was at the Academy. Her roots, going back to the Noordwijk Nature, the splendid seascapes and the trees surrounding her, form as always the signature for her striking new Artwork. With her team she is working on refreshingly innovative and sustainable works of art, always aiming to let Nature shine in the homes of the people who cherish her workin its own right. They recognize that Annet van Egmond is touched by Nature.

Earth hour launch with André Kuipers

“I aim to apply advanced and sustainable technology for long-lasting and optimal use. Together with a team of smart Dutch engineers, I spent three years designing and developing the innovative candleholder Miss Nightingale for the life-style brand Miss Solar Light, which is a portable, light-weight and rain-proof solar-light, and is fully charged by the sun. In addition, the lamp has been made from sustainable components, such as LED-lights.
It is extremely important to me to be a servant to Nature, to lift sustainability to a higher level with the use of technology and aesthetics, and to create long-life products.”

Annet Van Egmond Andre Kuipers Earth Hour Miss Nightingale Lighting

Miss Nightingale, sustainable solar lamp

“My love for Nature is so important, that’s why I love to give something back and focused on sustainable lighting design for 4 years.”
It is her passion to find solutions in Nature to resolve the problems in our society. Therefore, she designed and created a solar-light called Miss Nightingale for the life-style brand Miss Solar Light, to put a spotlight on the planet and to create an opportunity for the world to show how much we care. Miss Nightingale uses a minimum amount of energy due to the high quality of the solar cells and the LED-light and is fully charged by the Sun, which is why it is able to shine up to 60 hours. Van Egmond was invited for several foreign trade missions in South-Africa in 2015, led by Prime Minister of the Netherlands Rutte, and in 2017 with the Start-Up Delta initiative accompanied by His Royal Highness Prince Constantijn and Minister Kamp of Economic Affairs in Las Vegas CES and in Silicon Valley. As a result, on Earth Hour 2018, Miss Nightingale was launched in cooperation with WWF and André Kuipers, after which the solar light has been on display at many events. In 2019, Miss Nightingale was given a stage to shine at Super Studio in Milan and in the Dutch pavilion. With the help of the Dutch embassy and the Dutch consulate in Italy, the magical presentation of Miss Nightingale was filmed.

Inspired by the Nature of Africa

“We have created works of art for the Royals and the Rappers for many years. Now I want to develop lights for Nature and its people.”

“I have always loved Africa, since my first visit in 1997. The nature, its people. At night, it suddenly becomes pitch black, which means that in remote areas with basic conditions where electricity is scarce or even non-existent, lighting is necessary. That is when the idea came to me to create a light that is suitable for indoor and outdoor use, making travelling and living in areas with suboptimal electricity more practical. In the light of preserving Nature, the most sustainable way, I thought, is to use a free, abundant, and non-polluting source of energy: the Sun. With the use of solar light, we can give something back to Nature, and leave the smallest footprint possible on our Earth.”

art space annet van egmond bussum artwork

Solo Annet van Egmond

“In 2015, me and my former partner went different ways, after which I had the opportunity to rethink my path. This was the moment to give something back to Nature, to where all my inspiration came from. In Africa I experienced my awakening, seeing the huge problems caused by mankind and the growing population. Our Planet is in deep trouble, and humans are inflicting unbelievable damage. That is why I created a new Design and Exhibition studio in the workspace in the house in Bussum, the Garden of Amsterdam. The new studio was built in collaboration with talented architects and after a thorough renovation in 2017, it was ready in time for my new sustainable and innovative mission to raise awareness for our Nature. In the studio, I design new collections and display my sculptures as if it’s in a gallery.”

Annet van Egmond Studio in corporation with other brands

“All brands are in some way magical, and by crawling under its skin, we’re activating creative processes together. You can see something evolve from a concept to a product to photography or film.” In the link below, you can watch the processes in the studio, the production, the planning of the stands at art fairs, the photography of shoots, and the final product which in this case is a roll of wallpaper, becomes visible. This is the path to new collections. After presenting the new collections and stands on Art fairs, the new movie clips are shown, and the campaigns kick off.

Wall Covering

Van Egmond designed new collections for BN International, an amazing Dutch company that produces wallpaper and covering and delivers to more than 45 countries. For 3 years, she was the art director for BN International, in which they together launched 3 beautiful collections:

  • Shadows on the Wall
  • The Garden of Amsterdam
  • Diamonds are forever

“I had the wonderful opportunity to work with BN International in their design studio and production space to create a new perception of the brand, while I got all the artistic freedom to design and create new collections.”

Jewellery

Together with Gassan Diamonds, van Egmond designed sculptural Haute Jewellery collections. She discussed her sketches and prototypes with the Gassan design and production team on a weekly basis. They started with the ring collection, which was the guiding principle for the later collections, such as earrings and pendants. Since the rings are quite heavy, the earring prototypes were adjusted to make them more comfortable to wear. Furthermore, the pendants are designed in such a way, that it is possible to wear the pendant separately with other necklaces of as a brooch. Apart from the jewellery, she designed the jewellery boxes as well and processed some of the prints she designed for BN International into the boxes.

Working or Cooperation with other Brands

“During the 26 years in which I was a part of the Brand van Egmond studio, I gained experience all around the globe with private clients and premium brands such as Chopard and the Louis Vuitton Group, and regularly collaborated with world-renowned architects.

With my own Annet van Egmond Design Studio, I was an art director and designed new collections for BN International, a Dutch wall covering company, with which I launched 3 beautiful collections.

I also designed several jewellery collections for Gassan Diamonds, which included rings, earrings, and pendants, of which the latter are designed in such a way, that it is possible to wear the pendant separately with other necklaces or as a brooch.

Furthermore, I designed and created a solar-light called Miss Nightingale for the life-style brand Miss Solar Light, to help to put a spotlight on the planet and to create an opportunity for the world to show how much we care.”

annet van egmond chopard brand van egmond artwork
annet van egmond ring lighting brand van egmond artwork

Exclusive Lighting

Van Egmond was a founder and co-owner of the creative luxurious lighting brand: Brand van Egmond.

During the 26 years in which Annet was a part of the Brand van Egmond studio, she gained experience all around the globe with private clients and premium brands such as Chopard and the LVMH-group, and regularly collaborated with world-renowned designers and architects.

Next to her self-published art books, she published the book Lighting Sculptures together with the publishing house Terra, which was launched at the 20-year anniversary of Brand van Egmond. Lighting Sculptures has been on display in multiple places in the world, among which in the MOMA museum in New York City.

Brand van Egmond: A brand is born

“In 1993, me and my former partner decided we were going to be one company together: Brand van Egmond. From that moment on, we started to focus more on lighting, whereas before that, we created more sculptures, which we sold to museums and other organisations. Orders kept flying in, so we had to weld 6 days a week to keep up, which became all-consuming. During this time, the production process became more structured and organised. After my first son, Vincent, was born in Amsterdam, we decided to buy and renovate a former music school in Bussum, which became our home, design studio and our workshop in 1996. We ran our company in the workplace in the back of the house until 2002, when we built a larger company near Bussum where we could expand our production.

From 2001 on, we had our own stand as Brand Van Egmond at the fairs in Cologne, the Euroluce in Milan, and many other fairs. In those years, we released new collections on a yearly basis, travelled to in total 66 countries all over the world and met wonderful, extraordinary clients, literally from Royals to Rappers. For example, we designed internationally for Chopard and for the LVMH group, but we also decorated several locations of the Dutch children’s day-care organisation Koningskinderen.”

annet van egmond portret brand van egmond artwork
annet van egmond first chandelier 1990 female artist artwork

Van Egmond First Studio

“After I graduated from high school, I decided I wanted to study at the Art Academy in Utrecht (HKU) after all. I was admitted to the Fashion department, but noticed I preferred to work spatially such as welding iron and creating sculptures. However, I felt a bit of social pressure to do something that you can more easily earn money with, such as in the fashion industry. Nevertheless, in 1989, my parents suggested I’d use their garage to work in.
Since the Academy, I have always made a lot of sketches, which were painted with East-Indian ink to repeat the wavy black lines. These compositions were used to create smooth lines of iron, which has been my method ever since. I sold my drawings and sculptures to private clients and several museums, among which were the Art Museum in The Hague and the Architecture Institute in Rotterdam, and exposed my artwork in multiple galleries.
Furthermore, six-meter long iron rods from the blast furnaces got stalled there in the garage, I bought my first tools and welded my first chandelier in that garage, which got sold in Amsterdam quite quickly.
In the beginning of my first Design Studio, I had no idea how to organise and run a company. I welded daily during the week, and on Saturdays, I went to the glass factory to drill glass. By dreaming of a brand and having an entrepreneurship and meeting other producents and customers, my garage entrepreneur spirit got boosted.
I designed and welded in that unheated garage for 5 years, partially together with my former partner, in which my career really set off and I became more well-known.”

From Child to Academy Student

“As a child, I loved working with my hands. When I was born in 1964, there was practically nothing, so I had the space to dream and had to be creative in playing. I had a lot of time to draw, however, it was more scrabbles than actual drawings, and I had a lot of imagination to lift something to a higher level. I also liked photography a lot because that gave immediate results.
I regularly went to London as a child, where I visited beautiful museums such as the British Museum and the Tate gallery, which inspired me. Because of my creative dreaming, my mother told me from early on to go to the Art Academy, which I did not think much of at first. However, in high school, I took drawing classes and an art history course. I actually have loved history and Nature since I can remember, so going to Rome in my graduate year was very inspiring to me.”

annet van egmond biography HKU 1984 student
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