Gijs Bakker (born 20 February 1942 in

Amersfoort Amersfoort () is a Cities of the Netherlands, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht, Netherlands. As of 31 January 2023, the municipality had ...

) is a Dutch jewellery and industrial-designer, educated at the

Gerrit Rietveld Academie The Gerrit Rietveld Academie, also known as Rietveld School of Art & Design and Rietveld Academy, is an art academy in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It was founded in 1924 and offers programs in fine arts and design. History The Instituut voor Kuns ...

in Amsterdam, the Netherlands and the Konstfackskolan in

Stockholm, Sweden Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

. Bakker's designs cover jewellery, home accessories and household appliances, furniture, interiors, public spaces and exhibitions. He worked and works for numerous companies amongst which are Polaroid, Artifort, HEMA, Royal VKB, and ENO Studio. Bakker is widower of the jewellery designer Emmy van Leersum. In 1993 he founded Droog Design together with design critic and historian Renny Ramakers, a Dutch collective of designers, products and information. Together with Ramakers, he was the selector and art director of all products within Droog Design until 2009. In 2007 he and Renny Ramakers had been awarded the Benno Premsela Prize for their joint effort. Bakker has also taught for more than 40 years at different schools, among others the

Delft University of Technology The Delft University of Technology (TU Delft; ) is the oldest and largest Dutch public university, public Institute of technology, technical university, located in Delft, Netherlands. It specializes in engineering, technology, computing, design, a ...

and the

Design Academy Eindhoven Design Academy Eindhoven (DAE) is an interdisciplinary educational institute for art, architecture and design in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The work of its faculty and alumni have brought it international recognition. History The Design Academy E ...

, where he worked since 1987 until 2012 (since 2000 as Head of the Masters Programme). Together with Italian gallery owner Marijke Vallanzasca, Bakker founded the Chi ha paura...? (Italian for 'who is afraid of') foundation in 1996. With Chi ha paura...? (CHP...?) They wanted to show the international design world that a piece of jewellery is more than a decorative fashion accessory. With this CHP...? challenged the widespread fear for contemporary jewellery. From 2009 onwards, Bakker has investigated the relation between craft and design in the Netherlands. Abroad, he is active regarding this issue by becoming creative director for Yii Taiwan in 2009. Commissioned by the Taiwanese Craft and Design council, Yii was founded to create a stronger and more sustainable coherence between local Taiwanese craft traditions and contemporary design practice in Taiwan. The brand was also established to develop a more prolific design identity for Taiwan. Gijs Bakker travels around the world to give workshops, lectures and is frequently a member in juries. His retrospective exhibition "Gijs Bakker and Jewelry" (and accompanying monography) was on display in various museums around the world. His work is represented in collections, both in museums and privately, worldwide.

Public Collections

* Centraal Museum, Utrecht * Collectie Françoise van den Bosch *

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen Municipal Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen () is an art museum in Rotterdam in the Netherlands. The name of the museum is derived from its two most important donors, Frans Jacob Otto Boijmans and Daniël George van Beuningen. The museum is located a ...

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

* Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Arnhem *

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam The Rijksmuseum () is the national museum of the Netherlands dedicated to Dutch arts and history and is located in Amsterdam. The museum is located at the Museumplein, Museum Square in the stadsdeel, borough of Amsterdam-Zuid, Amsterdam South, ...

* Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim *

Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam The Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam (; Municipal Museum Amsterdam), colloquially known as the Stedelijk, is a museum for modern art, contemporary art, and design located in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

* Stedelijk Museum 's-Hertogenbosch *

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

References

External links

website Gijs Bakker Designwebsite Chi ha paura...?Yii official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bakker, Gijs 1942 births Living people Dutch jewelry designers People from Amersfoort Academic staff of the Delft University of Technology