Kiki van Eijk
Eindhoven, Niederlande

Kiki van Eijk was born in 1978 and graduated Cum Laude in 2000 from Design Academy Eindhoven. She became known for her famous "Kiki Carpet". Now she's primarily working on her own collection which is presented in galleries, museums and fairs worldwide, in London, Paris, New York, Milan, Cologne, Venice, Kuwait, Tokyo, Montreal, Rome, Amsterdam, Basel, Miami, Rotterdam, Brussels, Monaco, Moscow etc. Besides her own collection she works on projects for companies and institutions such as Studio Edelkoort Paris, Design Academy Eindhoven, SKITSCH, MOOOI, Ahrend, Royal Leerdam Crystal, BKKC, van Kempen & Begeer, Serax, Brainport Operations, Bernhardt Design, Forbo flooring, Venice Projects, Audax Textile Museum, Zuiderzee museum Enkhuizen, Hermès, Saint-Louis and many more. For 2 years she has been the art director of the Design Academy restaurant "deWitte Tafel". Her work is published and sold world-wide. Publications include Wallpaper, Elle deco, Harpers Bazaar, Vogue, de Architect, Icon magazine, Glamour, and The International Design Year Book.

Her work has a very personal and emotional character. She loves stories. Her early sketches could easily have served to illustrate the imaginative stories of Mary Poppins or Alice in Wonderland. Kiki finds her inspiration in everyday beautiful objects and details, and becomes a collector of them, mainly in her head. She doesn't search for these objects; she just finds them. She meets them, as it were. They have all been made with love and care. She hopes people fall as much in love with her designs as she did when found the original objects. Lately her design process has become more and more intuitive and she starts more and more from a complete blanc canvas.

Kiki's work is easily recognizable by her mild and playful designs. But don't be mistaken by the first impression of her work. Where it might look very soft and playful, it can be really hard and serious. She has a great love for material and its layers within. This results in new and surprising techniques based on real craftsmanship which she applies on an unexpected object. In this way she not only surprises the viewers of her work, but also surprises the manufacturers and craftsmen who produce her designs. She finds a great joy, love and importance in "making things" by hand. This attitude also influences her more industrial projects. Her nostalgic approach combined with her poetic and personal style come to life in a wide range of work like carpets, lighting, furniture, ceramics, glassware and luxurious textiles.