Bo Fortuijn
Jewellery Design Bachelor of Arts
St Lucas University College of Art and Design Antwerp
Specialisms: Jewelry / Fine Art /
Location: Antwerp, Belgium
Bo Fortuijn
First Name: Bo
Last Name: Fortuijn
Specialisms: Jewelry / Fine Art
Sectors:
My Location: Antwerp, Belgium
University / College: St Lucas University College of Art and Design Antwerp
Course / Program Title: Jewellery Design Bachelor of Arts
About
I'm Bo Fortuijn, a recently graduated jewellery artist. Something I have learned about myself throughout my education is that I need to create. I often only discover what a work is truly about through the act of making it. Creating becomes a form of release, a way of giving shape to emotions I experience but cannot put into words. Where words fall short, I turn to materials. Visual language is the language that comes most naturally to me. It is how I make sense of what I feel and communicate what words cannot express. Within my end project, I explored a feeling that resonates with me: the end of childhood and the quiet moment when something soft, magical and seemingly endless begins to disappear. At first glance, my work appears playful, colourful and irresistibly sweet. I move between confectionery and jewellery, creating objects and atmospheres that draw from the visual language of celebration, fantasy, and childhood. But beneath this sweetness, there is always a sense of loss. The longer you look, the more the playful becomes melancholic, revealing a small pain hidden underneath the sugar coating. I’m interested in the tension between what is temporary and what we desperately want to keep. Sweets dissolve, celebrations end, childhood passes, while jewellery is made to last and to be kept close to the body. It is within this contrast, between the fleeting and the enduring, that my work takes shape.
My practice revolves around the end of childhood: the moment when something soft, magical, and seemingly endless quietly comes to an end. Moving between confectionery and jewelry, my work explores the tension between what disappears and what remains. It is about the desire to hold on to what cannot be held: the end of the party, the last piece of cake, the ribbon left behind after the gift has been opened. At first, the work appears playful and sweet, and only afterwards reveals the small pain hidden underneath the sugar coating.
Competitions
